“Just incredible”: Glenn Frey on the underrated genius of Eagles
Most of the best Eagles songs are better than the sum of its parts. Both Glenn Frey and Don Henley had the potential to write great songs together, but the minute that everyone else joined in harmony, there was a certain synergy of their voices that got them just as excited as their audiences whenever one of their tunes came together. There was still one musician who was beyond everyone else in the group, and Frey knew that whenever he heard this member soar.
Looking through some of the band’s greatest moments, though, it was never about having too much showmanship. Every one of them knew to approach their tunes very much like a craftsman, and that meant never trying to play more than what was needed and accentuating the right parts of the song no matter how little you had to play.
That also meant Frey having to let go of the reins on more than a few occasions. There was no doubt that he was the one leading the group, but even though he might have the perfect chord for a certain section, it was becoming abundantly clear that no one else needed to be singing that much in the group if Don Henley could knock it out of the park every time he sang ‘Desperado’ or ‘One of These Nights’.
And that also applied to how someone played guitar as well. The key to any good rock band is to not be the best musician in the room, and by the time Bernie Leadon figured he needed to step off, Don Felder was the answer to Frey’s prayers. Everything that he played was all over the guitar neck, and even if not everything was all that flashy, he had the melodic sensibilities that would have made Duane Allman give a knowing nod of approval.
Once that clashed with Joe Walsh, though, the band was unstoppable. They had their moments of guitar brilliance in the past, but the minute everyone heard the guitar solo for ‘Hotel California’, they knew that they had seen one of the classic guitar breaks of all time, complete with both Felder and Walsh playing in harmony throughout the final moments of the song.
Despite Walsh having a solo career all his own, Frey had to give it to Felder as the true guitar wizard of the group, saying, “Don Felder [is] the underrated genius guitar player in our band who didn’t have the name of Joe Walsh, but was definitely just an incredible player.” Considering how much of a character Walsh is, though, it would have been easy for anyone to feel a little bit overshadowed by design.
In terms of raw precision, Felder comes out as the victor in some parts of the ‘Hotel California’ guitar duel. The whole point behind his soloing was to give them chops, and hearing him make the guitar cry is the kind of thing that Eric Clapton had done so masterfully and Felder took to a whole new dimension.
And even though Felder would not return to the band after the 2000s, his spirit is still felt every time those haunting notes of ‘Hotel California’ start at every one of their shows. Felder might not have claimed to be a showboat all that often, but no one gets the nickname of ‘Fingers’ by accident.
