The 1975 album Glenn Frey knew “perfected” the Eagles
When Glenn Frey began his musical journey, being a member of the Eagles didn’t seem possible just yet.
He had been told that he wasn’t going to make it as a solo artist, and when listening to him working with Don Henley, he found the musical partner that anyone else would have dreamed of having by their side when making so many of their classics. But it took more than just a couple of songwriters to help turn their tunes from decent sing-alongs to the greatest tracks in American music.
But Frey was willing to put in the work every single time they made one of their records. It was never going to be easy for him to write a good song, but when he heard about the way that Jackson Browne approached writing every one of his songs, he felt that all anyone needed was that little bit of elbow grease to turn a song from something with potential to a magical piece of writing.
And if the foundation sounded great, it was going to be spectacular when you had the right people around it. Randy Meisner was the perfect high harmony for the band throughout his time in the group, and Don Felder had given them a fifth gear whenever they needed to rock out a little bit more, but when you look at those early days, Glyn Johns never seemed to truly get what they were going for.
Frey wanted the chance to be in a kickass rock and roll band, but Johns knew that they weren’t capable of that. He had been used to producing The Who and The Rolling Stones, and listening to even the band’s heaviest efforts, it wasn’t like they were going to be making a tune as heavy as ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’ any time soon. Desperado had already been a flop with Johns, though, and Frey figured the next best thing was to bring in someone like Bill Szymczyk to figure out where they were going wrong.
They had already loved the sound that Szymczyk got on Joe Walsh’s solo records, and they felt that Johns wasn’t giving them the control over the mix that they wanted. They wanted to put a microphone on every single drum to have a better say in what everything sounded like, and by the time that they reached One of These Nights, Frey knew that they had reached the kind of peak that they needed to hit.
Desperado came dangerously close to sinking them in the eyes of the public, but Frey felt that getting One of These Nights to the top of the charts was all down to the way that Szymczyk worked with them, saying, “Bill Szymczyk was also very instrumental in helping us with the musical side of this album. He’s always influenced us in the R&B direction and in the rock’n’roll side. I think that the recording technique we developed and perfected by the time we got to One Of These Nights.”
So when they actually had the chance to bring Walsh into the band, Frey and Henley had an absolute field day when working on Hotel California. Everything was in its right place when they reached the studio, and now that they had someone they could trust behind the board, they could make records where they didn’t have to be looking over their shoulder for what sounded right and what didn’t.
Johns was an incredible producer for the time that he was with the band, but every band needs a change of scenery once in a while, and Szymczyk was their tour de force that could get them anywhere they needed to go. All the pieces were laid out for them to take over the world after that album; it was just a matter of putting them all in place and getting the songs down onto the tape.
Never Miss A Tale
The Far Out Classic Rock Newsletter
All the latest Classic Rock content from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.