"...You Get The Best Of My Love..."
Since Glenn Frey's
dreadfully sad passing in January 2016 (aged only 67) – like many I’ve been
playing the EAGLES 70ts back catalogue with a strange mixture of wonder and
genuine loss – loving the melodies but also wallowing in many longhaired
memories – songs that I pulled girls close to – and songs that even eased a
heartache or two at times. I suppose it’s that all our heroes are passing...and
I for one would rather they were still playing, singing and inspiring us.
So I thought it would be a
good idea to return to this dinky 6-album EAGLES collection that so ably sums
up why these melodic Desperado's shifted so many millions of albums between
1972 and 1979. They were just so bloody good. And those Glenn Frey, Don Henley,
Randy Meisner, Don Felder and Bernie Leadon harmonies slaughtered all in their
path.
But while the lion’s share
of their legacy always seems to be "Hotel California" and "One
Of These Nights" – I've always loved their brilliant but overlooked third
album "On The Border" - where the ten-track mixture of rockers and
ballads balances itself out so well across both sides – a full listen. I'd also
argue that this is one of those occasions where a multiple purchase will serve
your musical needs better than a stand-alone CD. In other words get the album
within the 2013 Box Set "The Studio Albums Collection 1972-1979”. Here are
the Midnight Flyers...
UK released March 2013 –
"On The Border" by EAGLES is contained within "The Studio Albums
Collection 1972-1979" on Warner Brothers/Asylum 8122 7967468 (Barcode
081227967468) - a 6-CD Mini Box Set in which Disc 3 plays out as follows:
Disc 3 – "On The
Border" (40:25 minutes):
1. Already Gone [Lead
Vocals, Glenn Frey]
2. You Never Cry Like A
Lover [Lead Vocals, Don Henley]
3. Midnight Flyer [Lead
Vocals, Randy Meisner]
4. My Man [Lead Vocals,
Bernie Leadon]
5. On The Border [Lead
Vocals, Don Henley]
6. James Dean [Lead Vocals,
Glenn Frey]
7. Ol' 55 [Lead Vocals,
Glenn Frey & Don Henley] – Side 2
8. Is It True? [Lead Vocals,
Randy Meisner]
9. Good Day In Hell [Lead
Vocals, Glenn Frey & Don Henley]
10. Best Of My Love [Lead
Vocals, Don Henley]
Tracks 1 to 10 are their 3rd
album "On The Border" – released March 1974 in the USA on Asylum 7E
1004 and May 1974 in the UK on Asylum SYL 9014. "Already Gone",
"James Dean" and "Best Of My Love" were all issued as
successful US 45s in April, August and November 1974 ("Best Of My
Love" would their first US No. 1). Al Perkins of Stephen Stills' Manassas
plays Slide Guitar on Tom Waits' "Ol' 55" – the only cover version
amongst the originals.
The clamshell box pictures
all six albums on the rear and inside you get singular card sleeves with no
booklet. So the gatefold and inner of "Eagles" is missing, the
textured feel to the front and back cover of "On The Border" isn’t
there, the Embossed "One Of The Nights" front cover and it’s inner
sleeve is not here, the gatefolds, inners and varying posters that came with
"Hotel California" and "The Long Run" are all AWOL too.
Shame someone couldn’t have taken a leaf from the Japanese when it comes repro
artwork. However – in a nod to the period - each of the CD's label designs
reflect their original design (white Asylum for the first two, Boxed Cage logo
for number three and so on). They’ve even printed each album’s original vinyl
catalogue number printed on the disc too. But that's it. No lyrics, no booklet,
no photos, no appraisal or history – which is a damn shame. Cheap and cheerful
I suppose...
The Remasters are those
carried out by TED JENSEN in 1999 when the catalogue was reissued and they
sound really great (always did). But it’s the consistency of the music... What
hammers you time and time again as you wade through the albums is the sheer
quality of the tunes – hit after catchy hit – and none of it feels maudlin or
dated forty years after the event. Ok this is so American West Coast – but man
is it good. Even when they made a 2CD "Best Of" compilation there a
few years ago – there was still plenty of room for those album nuggets
in-between the hits. I've highlighted who sang lead vocals on what – Frey and
Henley getting the lion's choice – but in truth the Meisner, Leadon and Felder
tracks all impress too.
It opens on the rollicking
"Already Gone" (written by Jack Tempchin and Robb Strandlin) – Glenn
Frey and Don Felder squeaking out those high guitar notes during the solos. One
of the albums hidden gems is the sweet ballad "You Never Cry Like A
Lover" – a Don Henley and John David Souther song – Henley slyly caressing
the words like he's 'both' hissing and in pain. Country time with the
banjo-picking "Midnight Flyer" (written by Paul Craft) featuring a
genuinely fantastic Glenn Frey slide guitar solo towards its end and fade out.
Bernie Leadon's beautiful "My Man" was a tribute to Gram Parsons the
leader of the Country-Rock outfit The Flying Burrito Brothers who had died in
September of 1973 (only six months before the Eagles' third album was released).
It's the kind of effortless warmth they often achieved in ballads – the type of
song I used to play into the ground and ruminate on (deep baby deep). Side 1
ends on Rock brilliance. You can just about make out Glenn Frey's whispered
"Good Night Dick" as the title track "On The Border" fades
out – a caustic jab at President Richard Nixon's impending doom amidst the
infamous Watergate scandal and cover-up (Tricky Dicky finally resigned in shame
in the Autumn of 1974).
Side 2 opens with
"James Dean" penned by the foursome of Jackson Browne, Don Henley,
Glenn Frey and John David Souther. While Bernie Leadon does a great solo – it’s
never been one of my favourite of theirs. The mighty tunesmith and
Bukowski-type hero Tom Waits probably made more money out of his "Ol' 55"
on Side 2 than he did from the royalties of his entire first two albums on
David Geffen's Asylum label which went criminally unnoticed for years. "Is
It True?" sees Randy Meisner take Lead Vocal on his own song - while Frey
and Henley unleash their bitterness in "Good Day in Hell" – Don
Felder's slide shining throughout. But it's the album finisher "The Best
Of My Love" (a US No. 1 single) that practically defines what made them so
huge – stunning melody – Henley's fabulous voice – that effortless melodic
brilliance that has so stood the test of time.
You could of course simply
buy the album "On The Border" as a stand-alone CD remaster for
probably three or four quid – but this is a group worthy of the whole package
and "The Studio Albums Collection 1972-1979" is the place to get it -
musically comprehensive, attractive to behold and sounds damn cool too.
What a glorious sound the
EAGLES made for that whole brilliant decade – and what a sad loss to music is
Glenn Frey’s passing. Dig in, enjoy and remember him this way...
