Bringing obscure songs from the 1970s such as deep album cuts, underrated cover songs and forgotten singles back on this blog. The 70s was a great time for music, possibly the best and the most diverse; that some gems that need to be rediscovered
It's been a week since we lost the great Glenn Frey, the mastermind behind the Eagles sound who juggled lead vocals, lead guitar and song writing duties on their hit multi platinum albums. I chose this gem from his creative peak, the early 70s when he effectively fronted the Eagles, a hot young country rock band that was far less traditional than their competitors mixing heavy doses of Pop, Rock and Soul with mild country flavourings. Though 1973's Desperado album was a commercial failure for the band that started on the back of a hit single, it featured some of Frey's best work. Doolin Dalton a Henley/Frey/Souther/Browne collaboration begins with Frey's old west harmonica setting the scene atmospherically on a cinematic scale. The vivid landscape already created due to the downbeat mix of acoustic and electric guitars played with a strong wistful echo. While Don Henley handles most of the lead vocals as a joint narrator with Frey, it's Glenn's dramatic asides that give the song an electricity. His deep, rugged declarations of "Lay down your law books there no damn good!" or "Well the towns lay out across the dusty plains". But it is that last bridge section where sonically the song spotlights Frey strumming his lone acoustic guitar like a camp fire storyteller spinning a yarn. His voice crisp, defiant and yet with a sweet sensitivity. His powerhouse moment is the real highlight, the climactic crux of the song before the fading denouement and it keeps you engaged in the edge of your seat. Glenn's arrangement is wonderful because the little details make this song, notice how at the end after Henley's closing verse both lead singers then exchange a humming pattern similar to their tag team vocal work during the composition.
Overall this along with Desperado is based around the Post modern criticism of Old West savagery and is delivered in a monumental arrangement that proved they would always be bigger than Poco and the Byrds simply because they wrote bigger sounding tunes. It's a triumph for Frey's vocals and arrangement and final proof of his genius; a man who had to chose between his 'back' and his 'brains' and used both.
This mellow country rock song closes Player's Debut album, an album filled with funky soft rock and disco ballads melding jazz instrumentals with hard rock vocals. This soft rock ballad builds from flamenco guitar to orchestra sweeps with heavy guitars underlining the ever-present rock feel. But it works primarily due to JC Crowley's engaging voice bringing conviction to this R. L. Mahonin tune about a staff songwriter failing to connect with his emotional state.
An apt message considering the numerous losses to the music world. All from the 70s, including amongst the multi hit superstars and masters of reinvention like Frey and Bowie is Otis Clay, a soul singer from Memphis. Keeping the classic Stax sound alive with thus incredible hit that only reached no.102 on the charts it displayed a rougher, down to earth sound to the dreamy lushness of the Philly groups. After Glenn Freys death this song resonates quite a lot possibly as it almost certainly served as a template for one of their last singles The Long Run. To get past this unusually intense period of music mourning it will take listening to these classics to heal in the long run.
Glenn Frey, Lead Singer of The Eagles has passed away at 67, he was my musical idol I loved his solo records just as much as his heavy contribution to The Eagles. He was the foundation and creative core, along with Don Henley, of America's Greatest Rock Band; he was able to sing lead, perform expressive, concise guitar solos, write and arrange. In fact all Eagles tunes feature a strong imprint of his work usually instrumentally if he is not the singer or songwriter, such as in the case of Randy Meisner's tunes like Try and Love Again, Is It True and Certain Kind of Fool where he played all the guitar solos. He began in music learning piano as a child and contributed the classic saloon bar piano progression of Desperado; possibly his most timeless composition.
But it was his flawless vocals that set a high standard for his fellow band members from the start with their first single, Take It Easy, onward through all the reunion tours to the end of the very last tour date in July. He particularly shone on his duets with Henley, possibly to show off his smooth and sultry, wide ranged tenor voice against Henley's bluesy rasp; his cool demeanour always nicely contrasted Henley's raw passion. He used every facet of his voice; creating a spectrum of characters and characteristics including the growly outlaw, the sensitive troubadour and the cool cocksure party rocker. He conveyed the dark complexity of male emotions but also nailed the glowing, easygoing feeling with the simple power of his laid back delivery. It was his vocal arrangements that were key to cracking the commercial breakthrough for the Country Rock genre to a mass audience. His phrasing particularly on the first lines of his Eagles songs were pitch perfect and original, which is why I have chosen my personal favourite Glenn Frey vocal which is on the album cut, After The Thrill is Gone.
From an album where he memorably began to decrease his vocals, Lyin Eyes being his only full solo lead on One of TheseNights album. Here he exchangesverses with Henley as he would many times on some of my favourite songs like Ol 55, Doolin Dalton, Teenage Jail and What Do I Do With My Heart. The track begins with synchronizedacoustic strums waltzing in a off kilter rhythm, when Frey's wearied yet youthful vocals come in they express a general malaise and discontent with all time great lyrics such as 'Half the Distance takes You Twice as Long' , 'Some Habits That You Just Can't Lose' and 'No Tellin What a Man Might Use, After the Thrill Is Gone'. Echoing the solemn intonation of his lines in Doolin Dalton he captures the creeping disillusionment and detachment of the 70s Post-Watergate generation with a subtle country inflection. The thick Don Felder guitar and Henley's more soulful bridge sections give the song a Stax quality leaving you not sure whether this is country rock, arena rock or soul. This chamelionic quality particularly by Frey's middle of the road vocals, that had a general North American twang to them and no affiliation to any one genre of music, is what Frey should be celebrated for most today.
Last night we lost a giant in 70's music and I lost my idol but as the song says 'Time Passes and You Must Move On..'
The week that saw us lose David Bowie and Alan Rickman has ended with the passing of another artist fondly thought of but hugely under appreciated. And while Dale Griffin of Mott The Hoople wasn't as internationally known as Bowie he had a great career as a Producer in the 80's and 90's, proving he had much more talent then people generally knew. One of their hardest rocking tracks with a raucous chorus and a 50's nostalgia that was prominent in a lot of the Glam sound a'la The Rubettes, T Rex etc. From their 1974 The Hoople album it has a strong Doo Wop sound amplified with that 70's sonic quality but I have chosen this primarily for Griffin's stupendous contribution as his dynamite fills and rock steady drumming during the dramatic, echoey bridge along with the powerful saxophones; he's at the core powering the whole RnB package and sadly we've lost another lost 70's talent.
Beginning with two minutes of Eastern sounding, blues slide guitars twanging away gloriously before slipping smoothly into a sensitive, uplifting Christine McVie patented piano ballad.
An intoxicating and subtle piece from Isaac Hayes it is superior to the better known Shaft Theme that he is known for. The last great singer from Stax records Hayes brought together a darker more palpable emotion to his songs like the flip side to Barry White's sensual songs. Best known for being in the popular French film La Haine where the song was used to score a scene of drug taking it is a hypnotic song that pulls you in with its flights of synths, strings and that incredible bass line. It reminds me of a soulful rendition of Led Zeppelins Kashmir in how it builds it's layered design.
