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Don Felder Rips on Eagles in "Heaven And Hell"

Don Felder, lead guitarist in The Eagles for 25 years and author of one of their biggest hits "Hotel California" rips on his bandmates in his tell-all autobiography "Heaven & Hell: My Life In the Eagles."  I'm not a huge Eagles fan by any means, but Felder's guitar work is excellent and the book is worth reading if only to get a glimpse into the excesses of California rockstar life in the 1970s.

Coming from modest childhood in Gainesville Florida, Felder tells the tale of his early years crossing paths with the likes of Duane Allman and Tom Petty (teaching him guitar!) and ultimately being asked to join The Eagles in 1974.  At that time, The Eagles were the epitome of the Topanga Canyon Southern California country-rock sound, picking up where the Birds and Buffalo Springfield left off.  Felder was key to bringing an edgier rock guitar sound to the band. 

Although The Eagles was started as an "all equal" band with no sidemen, over the years, the de facto leaders Don Henley and Glenn Frey pushed out founding members Bernie Leadon and Randy Meisner.  Felder managed to live through it all by keeping a low profile and not angering "the gods" as he referred to Henley and Frey.  He was even there for the epic 2 1/2 year "Hell Freezes Over" reunion tour.  But at that point, with years of ego and acrimony, he gave it up.  Although Felder was a 1/3 share owner of the legal entity The Eagles Ltd, he was getting a raw deal from Henley and Frey when it came to the finances and he was fired from the band.  Felder sued and the matter was later settled out of court.  (It seems that Henley and Frey also fought to keep the book out of print---talk about controlling!)

At 350 pages, "Heaven And Hell" is a long book, but still a breezy read, suitable for the beach or a coast-to-coast flight.  For any Eagles fan, there's enough drama, drugs and mayhem to keep it interesting.  Just about ever few pages it seems there's a description of a coke fueled-recording session or "E3" (third encore) party full of groupies.  Felder also describes his role in writing the music for few of The Eagles most well-known hits including "Hotel California," "Those Shoes" and "Victim of Love."

• Amazon: Heaven & Hell, Eagles Greatest Hits, Hotel California, Hell Freezes Over
• Don Felder: Official Site, Interview with Don Felder

Rock On by Dan Kennedy

"Rock On" by Dan Kennedy, is one heckuva funny book.  Kennedy describes his tour year stint as a marketing puke at Atlantic Records in 2002 while the company goes through massive turmoil as the music industry heads into the biggest slump in its history.  Kennedy is a mid-30's slacker coming to grips with the idea of even having a career, let alone what he thinks could be a dream job in the rock and roll business.  But rock & roll fantasy quickly gives way to boring staff meetings, mediocrity, internal politics, layoffs and a fundamentally broken business model.  Somehow Kennedy manages to keep a hilarious internal dialog going with himself as he assesses and re-assesses what's wrong with the music business.   

Here's a short excerpt where Kennedy is about to give a presentation to senior level execs in the company as he gets introduced by a VP who was famous for signing the Canadian band Rush in the 1970s' and is christened Rush Hair by Kennedy.

I grab a seat at the conference table just in time.  These two enter the room in a sensible fasion.  They set up their PowerPoint.  Rush Hair is already here.  He gets up and tells the strangest story about how kids don't even go to records stores anymore, and how they're, get this, downloading music from the Internet these days.  Rush Hair tells us that the problem with this is that it's killing the industry, because... well, partially because the biggest selection of online music resides on illegal networks where people get it for free since the legal options are still scant, to put it mildly.  And even if people use the legal downloading option of the iTunes Music Store, it means they can download single tracks for a  buck a pop, which basically means the industrycan't sell a CD with only two or three good songs on it and get twenty bucks for it.  I mean, this is never said out loud in our little family.  I mean, maybe that kind of thing is said aloud in the upper reaches of the company, but down here it's all kind of one big elephant in the room.

"We are really excited about trying to figure out a way to sell albums online.  This is a really exciting time.  It's a challenging time, but it's an exciting time.  And these gentlemen are here to give us a sneak preview of just how we might go about moving forward," says Rush Hair.

He goes on to tell the story of how dangerous it is that kids are downloading from Limeware and these different peer-to-peer networks.  He gives the example of coming home to find his daughters downloading music illegally on the Internet and seeing pornographic pictures on the same network.  Note to self: apparently there is also free pornography on the peer-to-peer networks people use to illegally download music.  Dude, seriously?

It's a fast read and you can see the fundamental problem with the record business as clear as an iceberg off in the horizon.   Kennedy doesn't really offer a ton of suggestions beyond the obvious, but it's still a fun read.  That said, the last 40 pages after the story's climax could have been left out.

• Amazon: Rock On
• Rock On: Official site, Backstory, Reading group guide, Blog

Andy Summers: One Train Later

 

Andy Summers, guitarist for The Police, penned a very solid bio in 2006 before the band had even thought of doing their high profile reunion gig last year.  The resulting "One Train Later" is an interesting recounting of Summers' life as a young man growing up to become a professional guitarist and one of the most under-rated guitar heroes of the 1980s as lead guitarist in The Police. 

Summers had a career as a rock-and-roll gun-for-hire long before he joined The Police.  By the time he was 23 he'd already toured with UK's Soft Machine and Eric Burden and the Animals, sold his sunburst Les Paul to Eric Clapton and consumed enough drugs to sink the Royal Navy, finally settling in near LA.  At the risk of becoming another Laurel Canyon burnout, Summers hunkered down and studied guitar full time 8 hours a day earning a degree in music.  After a few years and with a chop shop Telecaster bought for $200 from a student, he headed back to London with his new bride and scratched out a living touring with various bands around the UK. 

When Summers joined The Police they were a band with no songs, no signature sound and no gigs.  They were bottle-blonde poseurs with little besides a faith in each other.  It wasn't until they blended the reggae style with Sting's pop song-writing sensability that they found a unique voice.  And it was Summers' subtle off-beat chords and open spacing that made room for Sting's melodies.  One can only imagine Summers' frustrations with the punk rock "no solo" ethos at the time.  Here was a guitar player who had jammed with Hendrix and was now subject to the narrow confines of punk rockers who didn't have the ability to play a 10 second guitar break.  Summers recounts the tale with candor including the ups and downs, the fame, fortune, drugs and divorce. 

For fans of The Police and aspiring guitar players, it's a good read about the years of hard work required to become an overnight sensation.  Also worth checking out are Summer's coffee table photo book "I'll be Watching You" and drummer Stewart Copeland's DVD home movie "Everyone Stares ".

• Amazon: One Train Later, I'll be Watching You, Everyone Stares, Anthology
• Andy Summers: Official Site, News, Photography, Music

Twenty-Eight Years of GuitarWorld Magazine

GuitarWorld magazine seems like it's been around forever.   Well, maybe not forever, but 28 years --and counting.  That's a longer stretch than most bands, other than Led Zep and a few other classic rockers.  As a tribute they posted an online version of their first issue, published in July 1980.  It was around 80 pages and cost a mere buck and a half.  But it started what has been a long running love affair with guitar players eager to learn their craft from the best.

GuitarWorld has had a pretty storied history with some amazing columnists, interviews and reviews over the years, not to mention top-notch guitar tabs (now available online).  If you wonder what state-of-the-art looked like in 1980, take a look at the online version of issue #1 complete with original ads in all their splendor.  The user interface is a bit cumbersome, but it's still a treat to see some of those big sideburns and 'staches.  Also great articles on Merle Travis, Johnny Winter and up-and-comer George Thorogood.  They've also posted their 5th anniversary issue (featuring the first of many Jimmi Hendrix covers) and promise more back issues in coming months.

Hey, how about a reprint book: "The best of GuitarWorld Interviews?"  or "Classic Rock Lessons"?  People would be thrilled to have some of this material in book form.

• GuitarWorld: Main, Back Issue Gallery, Tabs

Too Much Too Late

I just finished Marc Spitz's rock and roll novel "Too Much Too Late."  Despite the promising circa-1979 cover art, it's about a fictional band called the Jane Ashers (don't ask) from the 1990's that implodes before success and then reunites again 13 years later as a bunch of middle-age misfits.  And then they implode once again. 

Spitz's background as a rock writer at SPIN magazine serves him well and he captures the excitement and chaos of rock and roll.  However, the story itself feels too convuluted and as its spread out over so many years, it doesn't have the intensity that it should.  Imagine if in the middle of watching The Commitments it paused for a ten year hiatus.  As a result you never really get any deep understanding of the characters.  He throws in some cliche's about drugs, missing fathers and lust for a teenage blogger, but it doesn't make up for the overall story.  Might make a good movie if they tightened it up.

• Amazon: Too Much Too Late

Time Won't Let Me

I read Bill Scheft's book Time Won't Let Me recently while on vacation and really enjoyed it.  It's a story of a Boston-area garage bands that reunites some 30 years later.  Or or at least tries to.  Well I'll let you read it and decide for yourself. Scheft is a one time, writer for Dave Letterman, and he's able to capture the spirit and passion of what rock 'n roll is all about.  Or at least what it used to be about for garage bands in the 60s.  And he does it with with humor and wordplay at every turn.  This is a very enjoyable book about roots rock 'n roll. 

The inspiration for the book came from Scheft's brother, who really was in a 1960's garage band called The Rising Storm that did reunite and is touring Europe this June.  The title is taken from a hit single from the Outsiders. 

• Amazon: Time Won't Let Me, Rising Storm
• Rising Storm: Official site, CDs, Tour

Guitar Man

Guitar Man, is a non-fiction account of  UK writer Will Hodgkinson's mid-life quest to learn guitar, going from zero to a live gig in six months.  Hodgkinson is entertaining as he trots around London and then the United States seeking wisdom and inspiration from a cast of professionals including Roger McGuinn of the Byrds, Johnny Marr of the Smiths, James Williamson of the Stooges, 84-year old southern bluesman T-Model Ford, british folky Davey Graham and the godfather of guitar, Les Paul.  Hodgkinson's book conveys the frustration and allure of learning guitar when you can't play a note. 

My only gripe with the book is the occasionally sloppy spelling which should have been caught during proofreading.  But for any middle-aged aspiring guitar wannabe, it's a fun read. 

• Amazon: Guitar Man
• Reviews: LA Times, The Guardian

Treasures of Hard Rock Cafe

I've always been fascinated by the guitars and memorabilia at Hard Rock Cafes.  There seem to be around 100 items at most stores and given that they've got thousands of locations worldwide, well, that's a lot of guitars up on walls.  Some are obviously crap bottom-of-the-line guitars (I'm sure Eric Clapton didn't spend a lot of time playing some of these signed Squiers.) 

At any rate, there is an interesting story behind the gold records, guitars, cymbals etc.  Hard Rock created a comprehensive book that covers the story of the gear and also showcases with high quality photos and descriptions.  For $30, it's a great coffee table book for any aspiring guitar player.  (Or suffering guitar widow.)

• Treasures of Hard Rock Cafe: Overview
• Hard Rock Cafe: Online store
• Ebay: Search for Hard Rock Treasures

Hugh Cornwell: Multitude of Sins

 

Hugh Cornwell, ex-frontman for the Stranglers, has always been one of my favorite punk guitar players.  He left the Stranglers back in 1990 after 14 years of ups and downs and went on to have a passable solo career.  Cornwell's written two books, both of which are highly interesting to Stranglers fans.  The first "Stranglers: Song by Song" logs every Strangler song and describes how it was written, what it's about, and what was going on at the time.  His second book, "Multitude of Sins" is a more straightforward biography covering life before, during, and after the Stranglers.  Some might not enjoy the non-linear approach Cornwell took with the book, but I found it to be a good read.  If you want stories of rock & roll excess from a Telecaster guitar guru, you won't be disappointed!

• High Cornwell: Stranglers: Song by Song
• Hugh Cornwell: Multitude of Sins
• Hugh Cornwell web site