‘Visions’: the worst vocal performance by the Eagles
There aren’t many pieces of the Eagles’ catalogue that don’t rely solely on their vocals. Crosby, Stills, and Nash may have started people thinking about what the California rock sound could be like if they had the right vocals behind them, but when Don Henley and Glenn Frey had the idea for their next group, the biggest calling card was based around the fact that everyone had to be able to sing their lungs out. Of course, even they had limits to where they could go in the meantime.
As much as the country-rock superstars have a track record for phenomenal vocals on their tunes, not everything is a home run. As much as Don Henley slowly grew into the lead singer, the democratic process of having everyone sing lead led to a few tunes that either sounded half-baked during the first phase of their career or were an acquired taste, like whenever Joe Walsh opened his mouth for one of their tunes.
However, the quality control usually came from the fact that everyone knew their strengths. The band could have easily carried on as a four-piece for the rest of their days, but when they made their band a three-guitar assault when Don Felder joined Bernie Leadon on lead playing, they had a certain power onstage that no one could replicate. Then again, when everyone else got behind the microphone, there came a point when Felder wanted some action as well.
If he was only beginning as a vocalist, though, this was the wrong band to ask that question, Henley and Frey had spent years gigging with Linda Ronstadt and honing their backing vocals, so they were never going to let anyone get on one of their tracks and sing for the hell of it. And judging by how ‘Visions’ turned out, it’s not like they were particularly proud of Felder’s vocal debut for them.
While it’s far from the worst performance in rock and roll history, the whole track feels like a bit of filler in what is otherwise one of the band’s finest albums, One of These Nights. The lead guitar is where Felder does most of his talking, and while that part sounds great, the production of his voice feels either buried or far too compressed into the mix, to the point where you can barely make him out.
Compared to every other Eagles project, this is one of the few times when the vocals are completely forgettable. It’s easy to remember the warm sound of Frey’s voice or even the soaring register of Randy Meisner, but ‘Visions’ commits the crime of having vocals that could have feasibly been sung by anybody in the world and would have still had the same mediocre impact.
Say what you will about Walsh’s squawky delivery, but at least there was some conviction behind his voice. You can tell which one was him whenever he stepped up to sing, but Felder was clearly asking to run before he could walk vocal-wise, which is probably why he sounds like he’s trying to fight his way through most of the tune before everything starts to bottom out towards the end.
There are still pieces that work about the tune and it’s far from being one of the worst showings in rock history, but the reason why ‘Visions’ doesn’t work is due to expectations. Everyone knew what the band was capable of if they had the right singer on one of their tunes, but if all they had to go on was this feeble attempt at hard rock, it’s almost understandable why they eventually pulled Felder out of the studio to record ‘Victim of Love’.
