A Good Day In Hell - The Official ILM Track-By-Track EAGLES Listening Thread

one day and one track at a time. in honor of Joe Walsh. we can do this, people. and may God have mercy on our souls.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Nb_x-mJ3FFw/TaSm412HHII/AAAAAAAAAaQ/SDDvvEHKOik/s1600/The-Eagles_l.jpg

http://www.walnutst.com/i/products/f1312567200.jpg

here we go...

"Take It Easy"

http://ring.cdandlp.com/groove-vibrations/photo_grande/114363815.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sS442e79mZ0

in the wild...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XByaqHhBFqE

I won't participate unless Ned does.

it's the soft rock shot heard 'round the world. and the world would never be the same. browne/frey at their most browne/frey. plus, banjos.

Something I like about this song: In the last verse, there's a single substitution of an Am where a C has appeared in all the other verses. It's also supported in the vocal harmonies and is unexpectedly sweet-sounding.

it is, in a lot of ways, dumbed down byrds. musically. except for the demented banjos in the background. the vocals are so slow and deliberate and clear its almost as if they were hoping that it would catch on with children. bubblegum country rock? a lot of countru and southern rock from 1970 to 1972 was seriously dusty or backwoods or blues-based or a hippie homage to old bluegrass heroes. this totally cleans all the dust off. but, obviously, this is the genius. simple, direct, and catchy as hell. it was a song designed to be played 4000 times in a row.

As I've said in other Eagles threads, this song exists in the impenetrable part of my mind labeled CHILDHOOD so is kinda untouchable on critical grounds. It came out when I was two-and-a-half years old, and my family was stationed at an Air Force Base in the middle of the Arizona desert. I probably DID hear it 4000x in a row, with my family driving down desert roads with open windows. It was literally created to be the soundtrack for exactly the world I inhabited at that time.

also think its such an appropriate start. and a true test for the cranky. if you can control the desire to feel superior to this song then you are on the path to sainthood. this song is exactly what people hated about this band early on. it is the Urtext of eaglesdom.

When I listened to this song (and this album) the other day, after not having heard the song for years (I don't listen to the radio, like, ever), I was kinda shocked by the banjos. Somehow, they'd never really registered when I heard the song as a kid. Which is weird, because if there's a sound in the world guaranteed to appeal to small children, it would probably be the banjo. I mean, it's the closest thing traditional musical instruments have to that cartoon "sproinggg" sound!

MUSICIAN: Kootch, what was your feeling hearing Don and the Eagles' early stuff?

KORTCHMAR: I'll ell you exactly what my feeling was. When the Eagles first came out, I thought they were absolutely appalling. I couldn't stand them. Absolutely terrible. Especially things like "Peaceful Easy Feeling" and "Take It Easy."'Cause what they were saying was exactly the opposite of what I wanted to hear, what was going on in my life. Take Jackson's "Peaceful Easy Feeling": here's this song that says "walking down the road in Tucson, Arizona, seven women on my mind." (sic) And here I am trying to keep my marriage together, and this guy's got seven women on his mind! God, it sounded like they were having fun, but I sure wasn't (laughter).

http://alumnus.caltech.edu/~markowit/interviews/dh/musician/both.jpg

as with most Jackson Browne covers this sucks some balls compared to the original. yes that includes you Nico, fuck you.

also Kortchmar is misquoting there, obviously.

There are definitely better Eagles songs. This is pretty wimpy stuff.

Pretty cool to see them on the California Jam stage in that clip from the very camera that Ritchie Blackmore would destroy only a few hours later.

it should be noted that this is a standard country and bluegrass song to cover. thousands of country and bluegrass performers have covered this song over the years.

On A Dark Desert Highway: A Vocal Bluegrass Tribute to the Eagles offers heartfelt versions of the band’s greatest songs with soaring harmonies and delightful pickin’ on the banjo, mandolin, dobro and guitar. You won’t believe how beautiful these songs sound in the hands (and throats) of some of the best Bluegrass musicians in the business. If the Eagles had settled in W. Virginia instead of California, this is how their music would have sounded!

http://www.cmhrecords.com/web/images/products/8917_lrg.jpg

do you think that jackson browne oould live off of "take it easy" royalties? not that he has to. but if he had to. i'm going to say yes.

i have a friend whose father wrote a famous song - in the 40's! - and i was kinda impressed by how much money it made the family in a year. not enough to live on, but not nothing either. its a very famous song.

"loosen my load" is such a gross-sounding phrase

Oh man, I never even thought of the sexual connotation there before.

the only thing i have to say in favor of the eagles is that at least they were kinda pleasantly sleazy

just a ragtag band of misfits...

yeah everything about this song is gross, which is compounded by its expert execution. no doubt dudes could harmonize, but not well enough to make me overlook the material or sentiments expressed.... I can think of other harmony or country acts whose singing is so beautiful and intense that it creates a compelling contrast with otherwise bothersome lyrical content, this tension becomes part of the appeal. But the Eagles are not the Louvin Brothers or the Beach Boys. They aren't weird or damaged or desperate enough, nor are they beatific or angelic enough, they're just gross.

xp

at least they weren't trying to sell us abstinence like the malevolent mumford banjo mafia

• I have the best memory of a buddy finally going insane at two in the morning during a poker game when "Take It Easy" comes on and he can't stop laughing over "running down the road, tryin' to loosen my load."

• Rich Hall has this chapter in his Vanishing America about going to Winslow, Ariz., and waiting for a girl in a flatbed Ford to slow down and take a look at him. He gets a ride with her and asks about Jackson Browne. "Kinda quiet," she says and he replies, yeah, that's what he's heard too.

• I'm sure I'll get into it later, but background vocals on Eagles songs scare the shit out of me.

Ok, I think I'm gonna lose my shit about "loosen my load" now.

everything about the arrangement is so uptight, SOMETHING'S gotta get loosened amirite

I imagine a constipated Yosemite Sam running through Roadrunner territory.

Mumford does not take it easy, which sort of makes them worse. The Eagles were hilariously smug and arrogant making lite music. Mumford delivers its music with that annoying faux gravitas, as if it was Important. I'm sure the Eagles though they were Important, too, but only after enough people told them they were, and that probably only came after they were hugely successful and everyone around them was too afraid to say otherwise. "Wow, guys, 'Hotel California' really is like holding up a mirror to America. Like you said, it's about the American dream, but also the American nightmare!"

Song does nothing for me, and never did. Really, the Doobies' "Listen To The Music" is my own personal substitute for "Take It Easy" (not only banjo, it's got steel drums too!) for that 1972 west coast highway-driving feel.

The phrase "There's a girl, my lord, in a flatbed Ford" does sing nice.

I won't participate unless Ned does.

I am avoiding this shit like the plague. Aside from this post, obv.

All right, everyone. Ned's in.

Being from California, these are the songs of your people, correct?

Only Eagle actually from California was Timothy Schmit.

Listen, this isn't the place to start on any of your anti-immigrant rhetoric.

Being from California, these are the songs of your people, correct?

I take great umbrage at this suggestion, good sir

Sorry to get all Soft Rock Civil Defense Corps on you.

All native Californians are from Iowa iirc

"Listen To The Music" is my own personal substitute for "Take It Easy"

i love "listen to the music" to death. its an amazing song when all is sad and done. and the production is arguably just as tightassed as eagles but somehow it opens up into a field of infinite possibilities by the time you get to the psych break where the lazy flowing river does something to the castles in the sky.

lighten up while you still can

apparently frey came up with the flatbed ford line.

http://memimage.cardomain.com/ride_images/1/2179/3261/5446630016_large.jpg

oh fuck, where is my statues thread.

http://maxmccoy.com/blog/uploaded_images/IMG_0174-769036.jpg

Take It Easy is unfuckwithable; tight structure, sweet harmonising, singalong up to your eyeballs. Was this their first song? What pros.

lol @ the reflection

take it easy is ok

but it is sort of impressive, as far as "first song on first album totally defining the aesthetic of the band"

right up there with "black sabbath"/black sabbath/black sabbath

I feel like the first two missing panels of this cartoon involved Mr. Magoo somehow.

http://img571.imageshack.us/img571/9619/hs56.jpg

What's going on in those upstairs windows?

Well, when two trompe l'oeil figures love each other very much . . .

"it's a girl my lord, in a flatbed Ford, slowin' down to take a look at me" is the only contribution Frey made to the song. Save for that one line, the song is written by Jackson Browne whose own version of the song I prefer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMA3lIeqV8M

Of course Frey would write the line that makes him look like Paul Newman.

I'm curious about the exact nature of the relationships with those seven women, particularly the one who says she's a friend. Why is that was enough distinction to call her out specifically? Did most of the women he knew not want to be mistaken for being friends with him?

RHCP are uhhhh more taxing.

Damn the torpedoes. Perhaps both could have a... simultaneous release.

you guys vote for a winner title i'm gonna do some stuff here at the store but i'll be back in like 20 minutes.

i'm good with the earl one though!

You sure you're up for Petty, then?

For just listening to Petty? Well, yeah. But *running & maintaining a daily thread* on RHCP is another thing entirely (particularly for me in '22-3). I did the math again last night using the Spotify versions of their album catalogue (some of which have bonus tracks), and it weighs in at 225 songs -- which doesn't include some other stray material. Doing five tracks a week...that's almost *a year*.

Like I said upthread, California Death March.

haha pplains was totally making a joke. i laughed. read their post again.

anyway we are live. git on it pettyheads.

XP That darn internet humor!

This is the thread revive that made be think it was possible: Does anyone really like the Red Hot Chili Peppers?

Nice engagement, and most interestingly, a set of varying user opinions about what are the best parts of their catalogue.

Also. Chi-Peps!

https://www.billboard.com/business/legal/eagles-stolen-notes-trial-ends-don-henley-manipulated-prosecutors-1235624765/

At a hearing in open court on Wednesday, Justice Curtis Farber sharply criticized Henley and Azoff’s conduct: “It is now clear that both witnesses and their lawyers … used the privilege to obfuscate and hide information that they believed would be damaging to their position that the lyric sheets were stolen.”

The judge said he was also troubled that prosecutors had been “manipulated” into bringing the charges, and questioned why they had not more thoroughly vetted the accusations and the evidence. But he praised them for dropping the case once new evidence had come to light.

Wow. Who could have expected such douchebaggery from Don Henley and Irving Azoff?

Doucheperado

xp I am shocked, shocked.

The Eagles will come up at my Pop Conference presentation in a few hours.

"Uh, Your Honor, new shit has come to light."

time time tickin
tickin

i gave my friend ray records i didn't want for his monthly media/book sale at his shop down the street from me and he posted this picture on social media. :)

https://scontent-bos5-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/434048722_808398104658107_5037311667719064062_n.jpg?stp=cp6_dst-jpg&_nc_cat=111&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=5f2048&_nc_ohc=UXB7OhYyO70AX9uVSNi&_nc_ht=scontent-bos5-1.xx&oh=00_AfCrEoEplOoVR7xLsuWbB-XuUSmhomJHT6Va-qZLkTpr1A&oe=6604357D

Howdy ma'am...

https://wornandhaggard.com/products/this-could-be-heaven-or-this-could-be-hell-walnut-hoodie?view=shop-womens

And she’s buying a highway to hell

https://relix.com/news/detail/life-in-the-fast-lane-eagles-announce-sphere-residency/

Confirmed to be the next Sphere residency after Dead & Co. wraps up. Huh. Hard to imagine them of all groups taking advantage of the visuals, but I guess they've got the aging fanbase with the disposable income.

Takin' a big ol' chug hit instead.

Eagles ain’t the eagles without Frey
Just kidding

I guess any band with 50 years of iconography can find something to put on the screen, though their audience isn't looking for a Dead/Phish mind-blowing concept. Maybe there'll be a gigantic David Geffen holding marionette strings 100 feet above the band.

Larger than life-size view of that corner in Winslow, Arizona.

I’m guessing footage of the band in their heyday with everyone edited out except don and Glenn

Well, yeah.

I would never listen to them but their late 70s LA shaggy vibe is pretty cool

i'm sure the sphere will just be a lot of stupidly literal graphics featuring stuff from their songs...cowboy shit for "desperado," some sort of speeding car motif for "life in the fast lane," spooky stuff for "witchy woman", a sunrise for "tequila sunrise," etc.

some of the aforementioned shaggy 70s LA stuff, some wide-open american spaces, and yeah almost definitely the corner in winslow arizona mentioned above

Prob right on the graphics, I’m sure they would use the cheapest royalty free stock stuff

Glenn Frey hologram

i'm hoping they just project the "history of the eagles" doc onto the sphere and the band doesn't even bother taking the stage. maybe they could bring that actual corner in winslow arizona to vegas and put *that* on the stage while the movie plays all around it.

unaired South of Sunset episodes in a continual loop or maybe played simultaneously

don felder put on a good show in the park yesterday. he was backed by touring pros who could hit the notes, and his own voice was acceptably midway between frey and henley. the crunchy ones sounded nice and crunchy -- already gone, heartache tonight. it was basically all-eagles, including songs from before his tenure. he didn't overstay his welcome. hotel california, which i was imagining would drag on for ages, was nice and terse -- just twice through that dual line. over and out.

Pretty thorough rundown of the Sphere show: https://www.setlist.fm/news/09-24/setlist-goes-there-eagles-land-at-sphere-63d6a643

Wow. Little embarrassed to say that sounds like a great show

Well, yeah.

The screens projected digital art to the audience members, who were later entertained by the sounds of the Eagles' biggest hits.

Cocktails were sold at an adjacent bar in the lobby area. Nineteen dollars was the cost of a "Tequila Sunrise". No breadsticks were available.

Hotel California Bar & Grill

Already Gone breadsticks

Heartburn Tonight Super Nachos

i watched the "hotel california" and the AI art on the sphere was.................lame.

i mean i'm sure if i was on ketamine and E and shrooms and corona with lime it would have been awesome.

https://rockcellarmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/the-eagles-sphere-hotel-california.jpg

can almost smell the colitas

Awaiting the Lefsetz review

But really, before the Sphere I cannot imagine a year where I’d feel FOMO missing U2, Dead, Phish, and now Eagles concerts, but I’ve heard nothing but great things from people who’ve gone to the first three of those.

Hell, I even liked the little 45 minute movie that's running there.

‘can almost smell the colitas’

lock borad

So...at Publix this morning in the canned food aisle I heard a familiar-in-that-mid-'70s-way midtempo jam with crinkly Big Star guitars. Then the chorus hit: it was "Try and Love Again"! Randy! His best composition for the Eagles, no? I hope he made a mint off it from its inclusion on HC.

About a minute too long, though.

pic.twitter.com/6vCiBTkj9T

— Slouching Towards McDonaldland (@FugaziTruther) June 11, 2025

Recently uploaded & monstered: Eagles w/Linda & Jackson on Don Kirshner in 1974

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xhgLacxSmE

She is unimpeachable, her only crime being the creation of the Eagles