Some Thoughts on Glenn Frey

A rare non song related blog post, just some musings on the recently passed member of the Eagles Glenn Frey.

The thing that is most apparent about Glenn Frey in the wake of his sudden death is no one could readily get hang on who he was. Unlike Bowie there is a disparity in how Frey is being remembered. He is eulogised as 'the Eagles guitarist' but it's an odd label as he has once claimed to be the worst guitarist in the band and there is some insecurity and deprecation about his lead guitar as he hired guitar heroes like Joe Walsh and Don Felder to the band. He became the bands chief pianist in the latter half of the band. Not to mention he sang on more singles than the others and had more songwriter credits than any of the other six Eagles. Then there is the fact Hotel California is played in many of the tribute articles over say a song Frey sung lead on or lead guitar even. While it is a huge pinnacle wouldn't something like Take It Easy which was a huge cultural point for them have worked as Frey is front and centre, even New Kid in Town or the last chart topper Heartache Tonight would be more appropriate. Another noticeable thing is the strong difference in  physical appearance. He had a certain look in the 70s with the long flowing hair, patches on his flares and Tex-Mex tache; he looked like a 70s country rocker, but since 1978 he has had a more clean cut look that has lasted the rest of his life;  suited and not with the glam lookof many ageing rockers. On the surface you may have never guessed they were the same person and possibly you realise he was going through a phase and maybe it was just a trend and not the real Glenn. 

It all leads to my biggest point which is musical; Frey did Country ballads,  Hard Rock, RnB,  Soul and all convincingly but only had major success in country. I realise The Heat is On and You Belong to The City aren't country but we're both part of larger soundtracks rather than just him as a isolated creative entity. His tender pop voice and harmony arrangements were key to Country Rocks success while other artists were too traditional he mixed the right amount of pop, rock and balladry some say it's watering down country's raw emotions but I feel it adapted it to legions of young rock and pop audiences and added a new lighter edge to it. Possibly it was his and Henley's shared fondness for Al Green's smooth, layered Memphis soul that was the hidden secret to their approach to suave, sleek Country Rock. 

After listening to Frey's achingly tender voice on solo tracks like Some Kind of Blue, his cover of Caroline No and The One You Love, I am reminded of Gram Parsons' delivery. Parsons wanted to fuse different genres of American music to create an Americana, and like Frey had a fondness for rock and roll as well as ballads.  The Cosmic American Music he spoke of never sounded as tangible than in the magical strums washing over you in Take It Easy. Frey went further into soul, another American genre and shared a love of Gospel tunes with Gram. And while Gram labelled the Eagles bubblegum and too sugary, this was based only on their first album; he died tragically in late 1973 before the dark, bitter songs of Desperado and Hotel California albums. While Gram had more grit and less commercial arrangements I feel Glenn kept his spirit going more than anyone if not his sense of tradition which is the reason I prefer Glenn. 

Glenn Frey was definitely an enigma and misunderstood even after his death but his legacy will grow as people realise just how well constructed those songs were.