What was the first song to feature Glenn Frey on vocals?
Glenn Frey was widely recognised as the driving force behind the Eagles. While Don Henley could craft phenomenal songs with him, Frey brought a relatable, everyman quality to rock and roll, often strumming his guitar and singing tracks like ‘Take It Easy’. Before he even reached California, however, Frey received the opportunity of a lifetime to sing on his first record, thanks to Bob Seger.
Like most artists of Frey’s age, though, his first inkling to play guitar came from seeing The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show. The minute that the Fab Four crashlanded on American shores, it felt like a religious experience was taking place, where suddenly there were four Elvis Presleys onstage for the price of one.
While Frey got started by singing The Rolling Stones’ classic ‘Satisfaction’ at a high school party, he eventually met Seger when working in his first bands like The Mushrooms. Being friends tends to go a long way in the music industry, and Frey’s relationship with Seger led to him throwing in a few vocals on the song ‘Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man’.
When talking about meeting him, Seger said that Frey may have even bit a little too enthusiastic starting out, telling History of the Eagles, “I liked him right away because he was so funny. He had a great sense of humour. You can really hear Glenn on ‘Ramblin Gamblin’ Man’. He comes in really loud [with] tremendous gusto. Of course, that was one of the first major hits we had, which was really cool.”
Creating outstanding rock music was not Frey’s sole ambition. While Detroit’s late 1960s scene was dominated by acts such as The Stooges and MC5, Frey was also captivated by the Motown sounds emerging from the city. Despite this appreciation, he had no intention of emulating Iggy Pop’s notorious onstage antics.
No, his true calling was out West, and by the time he made it to California, it was like he had finally come home, eventually rubbing elbows with his heroes like David Crosby before meeting Henley when performing in Linda Ronstadt’s band. Still, ‘Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man’ is a pretty solid release for him.
Granted, it’s nowhere near the heights of what Seger or Frey would go on to do, but in terms of midtempo dad rock, you could certainly do worse, especially when Frey gives the backing vocals a bit of a punch on the choruses. Given this was the first song, no one would have seen a track like ‘Take It Easy’ or ‘Lyin’ Eyes’ coming later, but it’s still a decent piece of early 1970s rock.
In fact, this might have been the bridge for Frey to make something a lot more interesting later. There would always be a foot trailing back into 1960s rock whenever the Eagles released something, but this rough-and-tumble rocker was a reminder to Frey that it was okay to kick some ass when the time called for it.
