Customer Reviews

The Eagles: An American Band

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

First, I'd like to mention the author Andrew Vaughan. He is a well-known, and well-respected, Nashville based writer, and an authority on American Country Music. As the book brings out, the Eagles were greatly influenced by American Country Music, especially the Los Angeles Country Rock Music Scene, of the late 1960's and early 1970's. They were greatly influenced by Country Rock musicians and bands, like the late/great Gram Parsons, the Byrds, the Flying Burrito Brothers Band, Poco, Linda Ronstadt,and J.D. Souther. Years later on (1980), J.D. Souther, a native Texan, along with Linda Ronstadt,were on the Urban Cowboy Movie Soundtrack album, along with The Eagles themselves.

This book covers how the band came together. Bascially Don Henley from Texas, met up with Glen Frey from Detroit at the Troubadour Club, in Los Angeles, and their meeting, eventually resulted in the formation of the Eagles in 1971. This book covers all the personel changes that took place in the band through the years, especially the addition of Timothy B. Schmit and guitar virtuso, Joe Walsh. It covers Don Felder's tenure with the band, an his dismissal from the band, between the "Hell Freezes Over" project, and the "Farewell Tour I" project.

The book covers the accomplishments of the Eagles, including 5 U.S.#1 singles, 6 grammy awards, their induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on January 12, 1998, and many more accomplishments. It covers all their albums, all the way up through their most recent one, "Long Road Out of Eden". It covers their breakup, their solo projects (including Glen Frey's "Smuggler's Blues" & his appearance on the "Miami Vice" TV Show), their reunion & the "Hell Freezes Over", Album and Tour, the "Farewell I" Tour, and many, many more details about the Eagles.

The book is very well illustrated, it is packed full of color photos. It is easy to read and follow. It is an excellent reference book on the Eagles. It includes a discography of the member's solo projects, which are many. It contains many quotes and commentaries from other artists in the music industry.

Overall, this is the best book on the Eagles, I have ever read, threrefore, I highly recommend it. If you like the Eagles, (and who doesn't ?), then you'll love this book. Thanks!!!!

I've always been an Eagles fan. So, if I see anything by them, I have to at least look at it. Sure, there are hack job books out there. But this isn't one of them. To me, it gives a great synoptic story and some wonderful photos. It was well worth the price!

This is a beautiful book, and is much more than I expected. It has loads of info on the guys from the beginning to the present. Great photos, too. Highly recommended for any Eagles fan.

Another tiresome re-hash by a guy who wasn't there. So-called "Rock Journalism" is chock full of parasitic opportunists and this book is simply another example. There is nothing new or insightful, here.
Same old photos, same old stories, many of which are nothing more than conjecture. This book is a waste of time and money.

When the Eagles laid the groundwork in the 1970s for country music stars like Travis Tritt and Trisha Yearwood, little did they know that those artists would help the Eagles reunite in the mid-1990s.

The 1994 Eagles reunion, along with the rest of the band's history, is laid out impressively in this book by Andrew Vaughan. The author, who compiled a staggering amount of information and quotes, embellished the product with numerous vintage photos and other graphics.

While it reads a little like a college textbook, the oversized book has the look of a coffee table collectible. Serious fans of the Eagles will want to own it.

Irving Azoff, who had served as the Eagles' manager in the 1970s, was owner of the Giant record label in 1993 when he recruited 13 Nashville acts to record a tribute album titled "Common Thread: The Songs of the Eagles." The CD was a huge smash, and the Eagles agreed to appear in the video for Tritt's rendition of "Take It Easy." During the filming they re-discovered the things that they had missed during the 14 years since breaking up. They enjoyed playing music and goofing off with one another.

Said drummer Don Henley, "We just started jamming together during the making of the video. That was how it all began. We always maintained that if we were ever going to tour again we wouldn't want it to just be two or three of us. Had to have all five of us together."

Early in 1994 Henley, along with guitarists Glenn Frey, Joe Walsh and Don Felder and bassist Timothy B. Schmit, filmed an MTV special which would become the CD and DVD "Hell Freezes Over." Then they went into rehearsals for a concert tour. The Eagles were back, and rock and roll lovers around the planet couldn't have been happier.

After a decade which saw the band go from Linda Ronstadt's backing group to international rock stars with No. 1 singles and albums, the Eagles reached their break-up shortly after a heated confrontation between Frey and Felder at a show in July 1980. They had successfully grown out of their country-rock beginnings to become America's favorite rock and roll band and survived the departure of two founding members.

But the Eagles' demise proved that success came with a high price. They would be criticized by some sections of the press for putting materialism and professionalism above art and expression in their career.

But Vaughan concludes, "... those critics always missed the very essence of the Eagles. What made this band different was their united desire to be successful as a band, to instill a disciplined work ethic and to take on the music business -- not as poor artistic victims but as smart, business-savvy equals."

While I rate this book as fantastic I do have reservations.
I noted that this book is not endorsed by the Eagles themselves. I would dearly like to read there own interpretations of what really happened. It is fantastic that they are together again and performing all over the world may it continue.
In conclusion long live the EAGLES

Manny

At first glance, this career compendium on "America's greatest rock band" seems like a bit of a hack job. Unlike the serious volumes already written on the subject (most notably Fred Goodman's "Mansion on the Hill" and Barney Hoskyn's "Hotel California") this coffee-table sized tome is basically a souvenier. A book that covers all of the historical touchstones, but with none of the actual `being there' of the best rock writing. Going back to cover the pre-Eagles scenes of early L.A. rock, the Sunset Strip even Altamont (none of which involved the actual band), the book displays the origins of a group born out of Glenn Frey's Detroit roots and Don Henley's Texas musical experience (in Shiloh) to come together to form the country-rock sound of California's biggest musical export. Despite its lavish photos and physical weight, this one comes across as a British historian's view of the California rock scene (Vaughn was a long time Londoner before moving to Nashville in recent years.) An OK book for the uninitiated, but at this point, who would that be?

this is an absolute must own by any Eagles' fan. the pictures and the story line is excellent. It isn't just a coffe table book. this is music history.

Wasn't really expecting much from this book. It came out last year and is already in clearance! It's a nice size coffee table book with great pictures and the History of the Eagles, with social and musical references to keep it interesting. My favorite music book of the year.