Customer Reviews

Playing It Cool

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This former Eagle does a great job with this CD, it's a real joy for me to listen to. It's a touch of Glenn Frye and Jackson Browne all rolled into one. It has some good surprises. If you like soft rock you'll love this CD.

Timothy B. Schmit released his first solo album in 1984 with "Playin' It Cool", & it's a respectable effort that's quite enjoyable, although there are some unfortunate problems. You really get the impression that this album is something of a hodgepodge that had been recorded over the course of several years following the Eagles final studio album ("The Long Run") prior to their initial disbandment--the fact that one of the tracks here, "So Much In Love", had been previously released on the "Fast Times At Ridgemont High" soundtrack in 1982 adds further proof to this suspicion. Plus, "Voices" is a tune Schmit had during the Eagles "Long Run" era, and "Tell Me What You Dream" just TOTALLY sounds like it was recorded in 1980 or '81 (3 years tended to make a big difference back then), and I imagine it probably was. All that said, "Playin' It Cool" sounds like an assortment of tracks from various projects that were ultimately compiled into one album, resulting in a somewhat weirdly varied tone. A bunch of the tracks here find Schmit trying to rock out, with lukewarm results--the plodding "Something's Wrong" is exhaustingly rote & tossed off, plus the synths heighten the annoying corporate rock feel of the song; the more lively and relatively short "Wrong Number" is much better, though it's nothing extraordinary; the album closing "Gimme The Money" is respectably riffy, but the 'macho' corporate rock feel is rather annoying. On the other hand, the album opening title track is a blast with its surf-rock flavor, super cool guitar riff, and enthusiastic Schmit vocals; the coda, which runs on for over a minute, is a tad excessive, but it's still one of the most infectious feel-good songs ever. There are a couple of nicely stripped down tunes that showcase Schmit's impressive command of harmony vocals--the cover of "So Much In Love", which isn't a great song in the first place, is still nicely done; "Voices", although it has Schmit's impressive harmonies, is unfortunately a rather dull (and short) tune. The three remaining tracks are soft rock/ adult contemporary songs--Josh Leo's "Lonely Girl" is a catchy tune, but the demo-like arrangement of it here, with its drum machine and blaring keyboard sound, does it a disservice (it was done much better by Crystal Gayle on her 1986 album "Straight To The Heart"); "Take A Good Look Around You" is a solid, tuneful ballad; and the arresting, atmospheric "Tell Me What You Dream" is totally reminiscent of "I Can't Tell You Why", and it's a terrific, moody soft rock tune in its own right (unfortunately, the group Restless Heart did a clearly inferior version with a carbon-copy arrangement that became a big hit). Overall, although "Playin' It Cool" is quite uneven, any serious Eagles/ Schmit fan should find it to be an interesting, worthwhile album that definitely has its moments.