A couple of people wrote me offline about this, agreeing with my assessment of the Eagles as America's best rock 'n roll band, ever. Thus I'll follow up on my original post to see whether anyone else has different ideas of who the Best American Band Ever might be.
I have to hold out for the Eagles, for many reasons. One is their unique sound, that heavenly blending of voices on their classic songs. In the documentary I commented on earlier, there is a great moment in which legendary rock producer Glyn Johns described meeting the Eagles. They came seeking him, because he was considered the best, but he listened to them and came away underwhelmed, telling them he had no interest in producing their records. And he was about to walk out when he heard them improvising around "Seven Bridges Road" in the studio they were rehearsing in. THAT stopped him in his tracks. See the documentary or listen to the clip below; those harmonies still have that same ability. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-q7Mih69KE <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-q7Mih69KE> Another reason they were the best was the songwriting. Superb. Top flight, matched only by a handful of other songwriters in history. Don Henley and Glenn Frey were a "natural" songwriting duo from Day One, and learned a lot from people like Jackson Browne and Joni Mitchell along the way. Many of their songs are as close to Art as rock 'n roll has ever gotten. The third is their very longevity. As is discussed (and recorded in the documentary), rock 'n roll bands are almost *destined* to break up. *Everybody* in a band expects it to break up at any moment, just because of the constant volatility of creative people bumping uglies with each others' egos to create music. And, of course, the Eagles were not immune to this. But they got over it. When they did, in fact, the first song that Glenn and Don wrote together -- the first *day* they got together again after 14 years apart -- was a little ditty called Get Over It: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gek3maVEoLY <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gek3maVEoLY> Even on the level of financial and popular success, the Eagles rule. If asked, "Who released the record album that sold the most copies in history," most people would cite the Beatles, or Elvis. No way, Jose...it was a certain California band. There is a reason the Eagles hold that honor, and it's *all over* this great documentary. So if you have Showtime, or when it comes out on DVD or Bluray, again I highly recommend it. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb <no_reply@...> wrote: > > For those of my generation who were, as I am, total music freaks in our > youth, there is a certain nostalgia we share that is associated with > remembering the classic bands of that youth. We've certainly seen that > here in FFL posters' uber-nostalgic reminisences of the Beatles. Until > the Beatles broke up, that is. > > And yet, if you think about it, there really wasn't a real on-the-scene > documentary of the Beatles' breakup. The closest we have is the footage > from "Let It Be" of their last public performance as a band. > > Segue to America, and to what was arguably the best rock 'n roll band > that country has ever produced, the Eagles. I found them early, back > when a couple of them were still Linda Ronstadt's backup band. And then > I watched them take off as Linda and Jackson Browne and others first > covered their songs, and then found their versions dwarfed by the sound > of the originals. > > Let's face it, the Eagles were the quintessential California Band. Try > to come up with more iconic songs about that crazy state -- and that > crazy state of mind -- than "Take It Easy" and "Hotel California." And > then they imploded, and went the way of so many bands before them, > breaking up and not even *speaking* to one another for 14 years, saying > they'd never get together until hell freezes over. And then, all those > years later, getting back together for the Hell Freezes Over tour, and > recording the album that celebrates it not after a few months of getting > their performing act back together on the road, but on their *first* > performance together in 14 years. That's class. > > The Eagles were one seriously class act, and still are. Oh, if we only > had a documentary of what went down when *they* broke up, as so many > bands before and after them have done. All the drama both onstage and > off, all of the things that led up to it, all of the other musicians > they interacted with, and what happened later, everything. > > We do. There were cameras on the scene -- early on, at the time of the > breakup, and later on, up to the present day. And all of it was compiled > into a remarkable rockumentary and released recently as a two-part, > three-hour special on the Showtime Network. > > And it's superb. Whether you lived through that era like I did or just > followed along while listening to the records, if you've ever loved > these guys' songs, don't miss this almost Castanedan recapitulation of > where they came from. > > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlOSWRZ4bl0 <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlOSWRZ4bl0> >
