History of the Eagles Part One Page #7

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Jerry Greenberg was the Vice

President of Atlantic Records.

They were excited to get

the second Eagles album.

We played him "Desperado," and he said,

"Hmm, that's, yeah, that's nice,

that's good, that's nice. "

And turned around and said, "God,

they made a f***in' cowboy record. "

Desperado

Oh, you ain't gettin' no younger.

I was extremely flattered that

Linda recorded "Desperado. "

It was really her that

popularized the song.

Her version was very

poignant and beautiful.

And freedom, oh, freedom

That's just some people talkin'

Your prisoner is walking

through this world all alone.

There have been a lot of articles and things

that identify me with the L.A. sound.

It's sort of, like, me and

Jackson Browne and the Eagles.

All of us are reaching out for other

musical influences all the time.

The so-called southern

California sound was developing.

It was fresh, it was

different, it was unique.

It was a melting pot, people moving

here from all over the United

States to pursue their dream.

Actors, musicians, wannabe managers,

agents, wannabe, you know, like me.

I picked up the phone cold

and called David Geffen,

who was just starting Asylum Records.

Long story short, I took a job

as a manager with Asylum.

I was intrigued.

I wanted to know about the

Eagles and meet the Eagles

Cos I was a fan.

Emergency?

I get a phone call. Glenn

Frey's on the phone.

"We need money for Christmas.

Can you book dates?"

I book some dates.

So, I get on a plane and

go out to meet them.

First of all, the show was fantastic.

Crowd was nothing like I'd seen a

year, year and a half earlier.

- Good evening. Welcome to the Portland version of...

- Spread Eagle.

Spread Eagle. Tonight, the

promoter gave us chopsticks.

I don't think we ever checked in a hotel.

We went from there to a

party at a sorority house.

One thing led to another, and I'd

never seen anything like this.

They wouldn't give us any booze in the bar.

We tried to get some

booze, but they f***ed up,

so we may burn the f***ing place down.

We're not sure.

I don't think we went to sleep.

It was Eagle mania.

And then they went off to England to

record "On the Border" with Glyn Johns.

They were quite open to being produced.

Understandably, that changed.

They began to be more opinionated

and less insecure, perhaps.

We wanted to play rock 'n' roll

or at least a more rock 'n -roll

version of country music, and Glyn Johns

was of the opinion that we

weren't really capable of that.

I think he had been bombarded by loud,

aggressive rock 'n' roll

for many, many years.

At that point in his life, he wanted

mellow people and mellow music,

and we weren't exactly at

the same stage in life.

Frey sort of took over more.

He had this desire to be something that

I didn't really feel that

they were capable of doing.

He and Glenn Frey were like oil and water.

They clashed frequently.

In the studio, Glyn Johns was

pretty much a schoolmarm.

He'd push, push, push, you know?

And then he'd say, "That's it.

"That's good enough. We're moving on.

You're not a rock 'n -roll band.

"The Who is a rock 'n -roll

band, and you're not that. "

After each of those records,

the band freaked out and said,

"We've made a huge mistake.

"Glyn Johns missed it. "

We actually had conversations.

You know, "Desperado" hadn't

done as well as the first album.

None of them were thrilled with

the way the record sounded.

We wanted more input into how

our albums were being made.

We wanted more input into the

recording process itself.

Don and I thought that

the vocals were too wet.

There was too much echo on them.

And he definitely told us,

"Excuse me, that's my echo.

"It's my signature. It's my bloody echo.

It stays there.

"You don't tell me what to do. "

We needed to make a change.

I joined the Navy at the

height of the Cold War.

One of the main things they were

doing was looking for Russian

submarines, and you do that by using sonar.

When I got out, I had a lot of

electronics education, obviously.

And I got a job in a recording

studio here in New York.

The first session I ever

saw, like day one, day two,

was a Carole King demo.

She sat down and played piano, and

it was like, "Boy, this is fun.

"These people are having fun here. "

I worked my way up through the

ranks, and then, of course,

after engineering for four

or five years, I was like,

"Well, I can produce better than

some of these guys I'm working for. "

At the time, I was managing

Joe Walsh, so I played them

Walsh music that I thought was an

example of how it could be edgier.

Joe and I had just finished an album called

"The Smoker You Drink, The Player You Get. "

And they heard that and said, "That's

what we want to sound like. "

So, Irving arranged for us to have

a meeting with Bill Szymczyk.

We really only had two questions

that we wanted to ask him -

do you mind if we have some input

about how much echo is on the vocals?

And we wanted somebody who

would put a microphone on each

and every drum so we could have

more control over the mix.

He said yes to every question, and

so we knew he was the guy for us.

I said, "OK, under one condition.

"I have to call Glyn and

make sure it's OK with him. "

So, I called him, and I said, you know,

"Glyn, the Eagles want me to produce them. "

"Better you than me, mate. "

That's pretty much how I felt.

I mean, it had come to a

fairly unpleasant end.

Well, OK, you know, so much for

Beatle country with Glyn Johns.

Let's have a warm round of applause

on a hot afternoon for the Eagles!

James Dean, James Dean

So hungry and so lean

James Dean, James Dean

You said it all so clean.

Along about the third album,

I was having some difficulty in

communicating, I felt, in the

band, and I was starting to think

maybe I should go at some point.

They still had this unfulfilled

desire to be a mainstream

rock band and not just a vocal band,

but I think they wanted to

go in a tougher direction.

Bernie Leadon was a country-based

guitar player, but every time

I wanted to do a rock 'n -roll song,

he was the lead guitar player.

Cos I'm already gone.

Every time we wanted to do something

country that Bernie sang,

I was supposed to be the

lead guitar player,

and I wasn't a country

musician by any stretch.

It always felt like we needed

a third guitar player.

We had met this friend of Bernie's,

this guy named Don Felder.

We were playing in Boston, and

he came back to visit Bernie,

and we were jamming upstairs

in the dressing room,

and this guy was all over the neck.

What he brought was great chops.

I mean, we called him

Fingers, Fingers Felder,

because he was an incredible player.

We did that session. I think

it was like three hours.

And then I packed up and went home,

not thinking anything more about it

than it was just another session.

And the next day, Glenn

called me and asked me

if I would like to join the band.

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