Post by rick on Aug 21, 2022 13:18:19 GMT -5
Wasn't sure if people would be able to access the link -- 'John David Souther,' an Album That Inspired The Eagles, Turns 50 -- so I copied and pasted it below.
From The Wall Street Journal
Aug. 20, 2022
CULTURAL COMMENTARY
‘John David Souther,’ an Album that Inspired the Eagles, Turns 50
The former Longbranch Pennywhistle songwriter’s debut LP features country-rock storytelling, tight vocal harmonies and train-whistle melancholy.
By Marc Myers
For her “Silk Purse” tour in 1971, Linda Ronstadt hired guitarist Glenn Frey and drummer Don Henley to accompany her. Bassist Randy Meisner and guitarist Bernie Leadon joined the other two that July for Ms. Ronstadt’s week-long concert run at Disneyland. In September, the four musicians were signed by David Geffen’s Asylum Records and retreated to Aspen, Colo., to jell as a band. They emerged soon after as the Eagles.
Curiously, J.D. Souther never joined the group—despite having been Mr. Frey’s roommate, songwriting partner, former bandmate in Longbranch Pennywhistle and one of the first artists signed by Asylum. Explanations for his absence from the Eagles have varied, ranging from personality clashes and bad blood to Mr. Souther’s own motive told to American Songwriter magazine last year: “I am a terrible team player . . . and I don’t really like being told what to do in any sense anyway.”
Rather than saddle up, Mr. Souther recorded “John David Souther,” his debut solo album of 10 originals released 50 years ago this month. The country-rock record remains a towering work that exhibits Mr. Souther’s honey-toned vocals, genius for harmony and crafty songwriting. The songs’ soft ache and tight vocals rubbed off on many emerging artists in Los Angeles’s country-rock scene at the time, including Ms. Ronstadt, James Taylor and the Eagles, for whom Mr. Souther would co-write three huge hits—“Best of My Love” (1974), “New Kid in Town” (1976) and “Heartache Tonight” (1979). The last two won Grammys.
Today, “John David Souther” sounds remarkably like a lost Eagles album—or the recipe book Frey took with him when he co-founded the Eagles. Exactly when Mr. Souther recorded his album is unclear. Warner Music reportedly doesn’t know, and dates don’t appear on the session’s tape boxes. Given that Frey is on guitar on three of the songs—“The Fast One,” “Jesus in ¾ Time” and “Kite Woman”— a chunk of the album was likely captured before the Eagles recorded their self-titled first LP in February 1972.
For all of its potential, “John David Souther” was released two months after “Eagles” and without the support of album singles. These decisions by Asylum all but ensured that the LP would have a low profile and wouldn’t chew into sales of “Eagles.” Mr. Souther’s LP only peaked at No. 206 on the Billboard album chart. The Eagles, of course, would become one of North America’s most successful music acts.
Listening now to the two albums back-to-back, “Eagles” has plenty of rock punch and gloss but lacks earthiness and yearning. By contrast, “John David Souther” is laced with train-whistle melancholy and Buck Owens innocence. In the liner notes for the 2016 expanded reissue of “John David Souther” by Omnivore Recordings, Mr. Souther named Miles Davis and George Jones as primary influences: “The commonality was the clarity of tone.”
The opener, “The Fast One,” has a country kick and should have been released as a single. Thanks to the inclusion of demos on the expanded edition, we now know that the original lyrics told the tale of a love interest who pulls “a fast one.” When the song appeared on the album, the lyrics had become shrewder as a request for an up-tempo jukebox song to heal a broken heart: “Put your money in a fast one / I don’t want to hear the blues / Put on another fast one / Trying to forget about you.”
The midtempo “Kite Woman” unrolls neatly with a two-step pulse and tight overdubbed vocal harmonies by Mr. Souther, a sound that would become an Eagles hallmark. On guitars are Mr. Souther and Frey, who midway in serves up a descending lick from Brook Benton’s “Rainy Night in Georgia.” The lyrics are about an unattainable woman: “She looks farther away as she’s reeling you in / But it’s nearly worth it, nearly worth the magic / Of that minute or two when you think you might win.”
The heartbreaking piano intro on “It’s the Same” is credited to multi-instrumentalist Gary Mallaber. The ballad, with Ned Doheny replacing Frey on guitar, pines for a woman named Angeline: “You can’t go home again, you’re treated like a memory / It’s just someplace you used to be.”
“How Long” also should have been a single. The quick-paced country rocker examines loneliness and the prison bars of fame: “Everyone is out there on the loose / Well I wish I lived in the land of fools, no one knew my name.” The Eagles’ cover of Mr. Souther’s song appeared on their “Long Road Out of Eden” album in 2007 and won a Grammy.
“Lullaby” closes out the album and features Mr. Souther alone with his guitar, showcasing all of his many musical gifts without adornment.
One can argue that comparing first albums by Mr. Souther and the Eagles isn’t fair—that the slick, high-octane country-rock of “Eagles” was revolutionary in 1972. And yes, it was. But all these years later, “John David Souther” seems a more rewarding and meaningful ride.
From The Wall Street Journal
Aug. 20, 2022
CULTURAL COMMENTARY
‘John David Souther,’ an Album that Inspired the Eagles, Turns 50
The former Longbranch Pennywhistle songwriter’s debut LP features country-rock storytelling, tight vocal harmonies and train-whistle melancholy.
By Marc Myers
For her “Silk Purse” tour in 1971, Linda Ronstadt hired guitarist Glenn Frey and drummer Don Henley to accompany her. Bassist Randy Meisner and guitarist Bernie Leadon joined the other two that July for Ms. Ronstadt’s week-long concert run at Disneyland. In September, the four musicians were signed by David Geffen’s Asylum Records and retreated to Aspen, Colo., to jell as a band. They emerged soon after as the Eagles.
Curiously, J.D. Souther never joined the group—despite having been Mr. Frey’s roommate, songwriting partner, former bandmate in Longbranch Pennywhistle and one of the first artists signed by Asylum. Explanations for his absence from the Eagles have varied, ranging from personality clashes and bad blood to Mr. Souther’s own motive told to American Songwriter magazine last year: “I am a terrible team player . . . and I don’t really like being told what to do in any sense anyway.”
Rather than saddle up, Mr. Souther recorded “John David Souther,” his debut solo album of 10 originals released 50 years ago this month. The country-rock record remains a towering work that exhibits Mr. Souther’s honey-toned vocals, genius for harmony and crafty songwriting. The songs’ soft ache and tight vocals rubbed off on many emerging artists in Los Angeles’s country-rock scene at the time, including Ms. Ronstadt, James Taylor and the Eagles, for whom Mr. Souther would co-write three huge hits—“Best of My Love” (1974), “New Kid in Town” (1976) and “Heartache Tonight” (1979). The last two won Grammys.
Today, “John David Souther” sounds remarkably like a lost Eagles album—or the recipe book Frey took with him when he co-founded the Eagles. Exactly when Mr. Souther recorded his album is unclear. Warner Music reportedly doesn’t know, and dates don’t appear on the session’s tape boxes. Given that Frey is on guitar on three of the songs—“The Fast One,” “Jesus in ¾ Time” and “Kite Woman”— a chunk of the album was likely captured before the Eagles recorded their self-titled first LP in February 1972.
For all of its potential, “John David Souther” was released two months after “Eagles” and without the support of album singles. These decisions by Asylum all but ensured that the LP would have a low profile and wouldn’t chew into sales of “Eagles.” Mr. Souther’s LP only peaked at No. 206 on the Billboard album chart. The Eagles, of course, would become one of North America’s most successful music acts.
Listening now to the two albums back-to-back, “Eagles” has plenty of rock punch and gloss but lacks earthiness and yearning. By contrast, “John David Souther” is laced with train-whistle melancholy and Buck Owens innocence. In the liner notes for the 2016 expanded reissue of “John David Souther” by Omnivore Recordings, Mr. Souther named Miles Davis and George Jones as primary influences: “The commonality was the clarity of tone.”
The opener, “The Fast One,” has a country kick and should have been released as a single. Thanks to the inclusion of demos on the expanded edition, we now know that the original lyrics told the tale of a love interest who pulls “a fast one.” When the song appeared on the album, the lyrics had become shrewder as a request for an up-tempo jukebox song to heal a broken heart: “Put your money in a fast one / I don’t want to hear the blues / Put on another fast one / Trying to forget about you.”
The midtempo “Kite Woman” unrolls neatly with a two-step pulse and tight overdubbed vocal harmonies by Mr. Souther, a sound that would become an Eagles hallmark. On guitars are Mr. Souther and Frey, who midway in serves up a descending lick from Brook Benton’s “Rainy Night in Georgia.” The lyrics are about an unattainable woman: “She looks farther away as she’s reeling you in / But it’s nearly worth it, nearly worth the magic / Of that minute or two when you think you might win.”
The heartbreaking piano intro on “It’s the Same” is credited to multi-instrumentalist Gary Mallaber. The ballad, with Ned Doheny replacing Frey on guitar, pines for a woman named Angeline: “You can’t go home again, you’re treated like a memory / It’s just someplace you used to be.”
“How Long” also should have been a single. The quick-paced country rocker examines loneliness and the prison bars of fame: “Everyone is out there on the loose / Well I wish I lived in the land of fools, no one knew my name.” The Eagles’ cover of Mr. Souther’s song appeared on their “Long Road Out of Eden” album in 2007 and won a Grammy.
“Lullaby” closes out the album and features Mr. Souther alone with his guitar, showcasing all of his many musical gifts without adornment.
One can argue that comparing first albums by Mr. Souther and the Eagles isn’t fair—that the slick, high-octane country-rock of “Eagles” was revolutionary in 1972. And yes, it was. But all these years later, “John David Souther” seems a more rewarding and meaningful ride.