They Will Not Go Quietly: The Official ILM Track-By-Track DON 'n' GLENN Listening Thread

This track also looks forward to Henley/Kootch bringing in genuine New Wavers (Martha Davis, Patty Smyth, various GoGos) on sessions.

DON: It was an exciting time to be making music in Los Angeles. The punk scene had given way to a slicker, more professional New Wave movement that I for one could get behind. You'd turn on MTV--then still a very exclusive service--and get exposed to The Motels...Scandal...The GoGos, and think to yourself, "I like the sound of this". A few phonecalls later, and they are guesting on my sessions.

GLENN: I used to conduct my own sessions listening to those records up in Coldwater Canyon. I used to call it Beauty And The Beat...My Meat!

DON: Well, yeah.

HAPPY ELECTION DAY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USlHqwTQVrU

I like to think of Henley running into Billy Joel in the studio hallway while one is recording "Johnny Can't Read" and the other is doing "Pressure."

The last verse of "Johnny Can't Read" could be an outtake from "We Didn't Start the Fire"

Sitcoms, t.&a.
Johnny's mind is blown away
Cop shows, horror flicks
Johnny's brain is full of Vicks
Rock show, video
Boob tube, rubik's cube
King Cool, Sunday school
Ten Frames, gobble games
WOCKA WOCKA WOCKA

(Full disclosure: I owned the 45 of "Johnny Can't Read." I can't remember if I knew it was that guy from the Eagles or not.)

Last Don & Glenn exchange actually made me "blerugh" out loud. Funny because it's true, etc.

Henley was trying for a Costello song but ended up with a Nick Lowe one instead.

"Don't Give Up"

http://alumnus.caltech.edu/~markowit/interviews/gf/musician/bed.jpg

http://youtu.be/0eUPFQBNDEs

What the hell is this – Tommy Tutone rhythms and riffs vs vehement Boz Scaggs backup singers?

"Don"t Give Up": Wow, this one really doesn't fit in with the rest of the album. His biggest New Wave concession ever? And by "New Wave" I mean the one that included early Loverboy, that definition that's arena rock with synths and quirky rhythms. I put this one in the "Keeper" file for this set, as it's on the more listenable side and at least kind of interesting on a mostly meh album.

the other day some jackass at the park was playing/singing "Desperado" on his acoustic guitar and after shuddering in revulsion/quickly ushering my child in the other direction I thought of you guys/this thread. true story.

No getting it Don today?

I haven't been able to find a clip for "Them and Us"!

In fact, until I found "Them and Us" and "La Eile" here's:

"Lilah"

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nq2pTk40IQU/TzCHoFWBdBI/AAAAAAAAASw/d53tG9aicEU/s1600/506963_356x237.jpg

http://www.wat.tv/audio/don-henley-lilah-26h7b_2hw1b_.html

I like this -- a second-tier country tune we woulda heard on a Ricky Skaggs album.

I found those other two songs on the hard to link from Grooveshark site. "Them and Us" is a bluesy groove song with a Cold War lyric about 'The Bomb'. Johnny from the previous track appears in the lyrics. Good guitar, otherwise forgettable. "La Eile" is one minute flute & harp instrumental (performed by part of The Chieftains?).

"Lilah": Yeah this is nice '80s Country. The flute (carried over from the prior track) is a nice touch on a track that doesn't wear out it's welcome.

and the switch from lower to higher register is effective

Is the 'H' 'O' on this Freyday, or did that come after The Allnighter?

I'm gonna do that and a couple other soundtrack odds 'n' sods this weekend.

In The Wild: I'm having lunch with my sister. Out of nowhere she comments on the song playing on the Country muzak, "This sounds like Glenn Frey!" I shazam the track, and it's Colin Raye channeling his inner-Freydaddy on "My Kind Of Girl".

PS: She knows nothing of these listening threads.

behind again:

"Don't Give Up": This is such a mess, with its water-torture keyboards, aerobics rhythms and louche guitars, it's kinda enjoyable.

"Them & Us": Opening couplet: "one finger on the button/one finger up his nose." Late Cold War sociopolitical song. "Lusty" singing from Don on the chorus.

"La Eile": Irish filler. Paddy Mahoney (the Chieftans) on tin whistle. I worked with some Irish immigrant kids in Boston in the early 1990s: this sort of thing ("Irish" music favored by Irish American sentimentalists) drove up them up the wall. "All that fooking tin whistle shite"

"Lilah": agree this is 2nd tier Ricky Skaggs, which puts it above about 80% of the Eagles catalog, mind.

"The Heat is On"

http://i.ytimg.com/vi/teljgwFfl94/hqdefault.jpg

http://youtu.be/fCLbGh0n9y4

Written by Harold Faltermeyer and Keith Forsey
Produced by Glenn Frey

man do I loathe this song

oh God, didn't realize this was already coming up. Sweaty, stubbled Glenn did the solo, and makes sure that you know it in the video. One of those songs that seems to be one long punishing chorus, repeating over and over again, until you're beaten into submission.

The H is O!

http://snl.jt.org/caps/impressions/WiFe-Glenn%20Frey.jpg

Thanks to the Miami Heat, I can't escape this song.

This song is literally everything that depressed me in the 80s, all wrapped up in a cheesy little 3 minute and 45 second package.

Worst of the seventies...and now they're trying for the eighties

In its native context:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fb6e2iBsRjc

Frey's solo is the best thing in it.

It's no "Heart of Rock and Roll."

And by that I mean, it sort of is "The Heart of Rock and Roll," isn't it? '80s movie soundtracks be ripping off Huey Lewis.

"The Heat Is On": Where our hero finally breaks free from the legend of The Eagles and...this is pretty hateable song. A real hookmonster earworm, and a song that says "Welcome To Reagan Country" like few others. I think the main reason I don't completely hate it is it never got too overexposed to me. I must have missed it on the radio as a kid in the '80s, and it never quite took hold on Classic Rock Radio like a # of solo Don & Joe tracks did. Local TV used to use it in promos for playoff/pennant race games in the early 90s, and I had a Nolan Ryan biography video that a highlights reel music video set to this song. So there is that nostalgia (and--as pointed out by JIC--let us not forget that Stiller/Farrell SNL thing). Glenn applies himself well with the vocal. Seems like I've been hearing it more in the wild as of late. Better cheese than previously delivered by Frey in the '80s.

WTF? Kids Incorporated Cover Video: http://youtu.be/paTdrChb3-0

Choice User comment:

ThunderII5 years ago

This is horrible! So was the cover of "You Belong to the City"! Stay away from Glenn Frey classics!

^^And yes, the "YBTTC" video is up on youtube too.

There are no Kids Inc. Don Henley covers. :'(

Those opening seconds of T.H.i.O. are pretty avant-garde, though.

I'm telling you, this has it, too!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7JVlpm0eRs

"She's On the Zoom"

http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/236x/20/60/6f/20606f47ebcdc5fb1ff81bef405768c0.jpg

http://youtu.be/3VOJDr-WiZs

from the Vision Quest soundtrack, and by far my favorite Henley to date.

One of the least pedantic Henley storytelling songs.

omg that photo.

Belinda Carlisle and Jane Wiedlin on backup!

GLENN: I'd back those two up anytime! Head...over...heels!

DON: Well, yeah.

BTW, I've had The H Is O stuck in my head since last night.

My sister always sang it as "He dissolved ... On the street ..."

It's almost like the Heat/Heart intros are there for a DJ to talk over.

The songs, too.

Or do a rundown of the day's sports scores, or traffic...

"She's On The Zoom": This is fun! New Wave Chuck Berry AND a Female Analogue to "Johnny Can't Read" that manages to be less contemptuous for once. A+ Belinda'n'Jane.

and for no reason, here's a picture of Jane Wiedlin and Stevie Nicks, taken from a Jane Tumblr

http://41.media.tumblr.com/8644fed552960c68a1479c067f95b40c/tumblr_n5gotj3PWM1tziohao1_500.png

never heard this one before! Jane Wiedlin's presence alone elevates it, but it's also a sign of the diverging paths of Glenn and Don: Don getting more adventurous (or at least showing signs of listening to a few contemporary records and letting his collaborators call some of the shots), Glenn moving into this high Eighties sleek retro conservatism

Track us very Buckingham, no?

Is.