8 replies to this topic

[SimonH]

RIP Glen, should be some jam session going on in heaven tonight:

 

Bowie

Lemmy

Glen

Edited by SimonH, 18 January 2016 - 03:44 PM.

[Langford Rat]

Take it easy, Glenn. Thanks.

[Nparker]

Looks like Heaven's got another New Kid in Town.

[AllseeingEye]

2016 hasn't been very kind to musicians thus far; Natalie Cole, Bowie, the drummer from Mott the Hoople, Ravi Shankar, and now Glenn Frey. I was always struck by how articulate and thoughtful Frey was whenever interviewed. Wasn't a half bad actor either considering it wasn't his mainstream vocation. Although I preferred the "old" Eagles lineup including Randy Meizner and Bernie Leddon, "Hell Freezes Over" from 1994 remains one of my favorite LP's. Great band, great musician. And gone way too young......

[Bingo]

...and BB King

[Rob Randall]

Ravi Shankar died four years ago.

 

Interesting to compare the careers of Frey and David Bowie. Both had success and acclaim in the 70s, followed in the 80s by huge top ten singles on the pop charts along with high-profile acting roles. Then they both seemed to hit some sort of creative stagnation.

 

While Frey was only able to restart his old band and go back on the road giving the fans the old Eagles hits, Bowie regrouped and reinvented himself and spent the next 25 years until his death putting out a string of new and challenging albums. Jagger and Richards should take note but alas, they too are constrained by their history and their fans' expectations. That's the curse of rock success--you eventually become your own cover band with Bowie being a rare exception.

Edited by Rob Randall, 20 January 2016 - 09:59 PM.

[AllseeingEye]

Ravi Shankar died four years ago.

 

Interesting to compare the careers of Frey and David Bowie. Both had success and acclaim in the 70s, followed in the 80s by huge top ten singles on the pop charts along with high-profile acting roles. Then they both seemed to hit some sort of creative stagnation.

 

While Frey was only able to restart his old band and go back on the road giving the fans the old Eagles hits, Bowie regrouped and reinvented himself and spent the next 25 years until his death putting out a string of new and challenging albums. Jagger and Richards should take note but alas, they too are constrained by their history and their fans' expectations. That's the curse of rock success--you eventually become your own cover band with Bowie being a rare exception.

Odd, because CNN ran the Shankar story with a link 3 days ago...then again, it was CNN....anniversary of his passing perhaps? Dunno....

 

I think its likely easier for a Bowie (and admittedly I was not a fan of his music) to come up with new and interesting material as a solo artist since he essentially answered to no one but himself. By contrast Frey was in a group collective, and had a very complex and sometimes tempestuous relationship with Don Henley, the other heavyweight in the band. The 14-year Eagles' breakup between 1980-94 was due to the fact the two of them were continually at odds. One can only imagine some of the substance-fueled "discussions" involved re: touring, recording, the musical direction of the band and of course finding the will and motivation to write new songs (or not).

[Rob Randall]

^But that was my point: Frey had top ten success as a solo artist then dropped out of sight. He only managed to release one solo album in the next 30 years and that was a cover album of old 40s standards. Frey had free reign to do as he pleased but he ran out of ideas a generation ago. No disrespect to the Eagles' amazing oeuvre, it's just interesting how their careers veered at virtually the same time.

[AllseeingEye]

I think two factors that impacted Frey's (lack) of recording productivity during those years were first his foray into acting starting in the mid-80's with Miami Vice; he continued with the acting career to the mid 00's including both TV and movies (remember Jerry McGuire?) and his second marriage in 1990, which produced three kids, on top of the child he had with his first wife.

 

Doing the math that means he was a "new dad" three times after age 41 - that alone would seriously impact "creative time", on top of which by that time he was obviously a very wealthy man. I often wonder for musicians (or actors) at that stage of a career how difficult it must be to stay hungry, creative and maintain the competitive drive to release altogether new material in the case of musicians - as opposed to sitting on a beach living on your investments. It would be pretty easy to choose the latter option especially if you had enough financial security that you could literally drop out of sight to spend years helping change diapers, take the kids to school and soccer practice. With all that going on, in addition to the occasional acting gig + occasionally making more guaranteed mega bucks touring with the Eagles, I would think it would be a very tough task to lock yourself away wracking your brain in an effort to pound out new songs....