Eagles, p.20
Eagles, page 20
Randy Meisner co-produced, played bass guitar and provided backing vocals on Rick Nelson’s album In Concert at the Troubadour, 1969.
Randy Meisner played bass on James Taylor’s album, Sweet Baby James.
Bernie Leadon played guitar on Doug Dillard’s album The Banjo Album.
Rick Nelson and the Stone Canyon Band, with Randy Meisner, appeared as a musical guest on the syndicated TV show The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour.
Rick Nelson and the Stone Canyon Band, with Randy Meisner, appeared as a guest on the ABC TV show The Joey Bishop Show.
The Flying Burrito Brothers, with Bernie Leadon: The Grateful Dead, Seals & Crofts, The Dillards, Steppenwolf, Taj Mahal, The Doors, Rick Nelson & the Stone Canyon Band, Longbranch/Pennywhistle
Longbranch/Pennywhistle, with Glenn Frey: The Flying Burrito Brothers, Penny Nichols, Poco
James Gang, with Joe Walsh: B.B. King, Fleetwood Mac, Jack Bruce, Seigal-Schwall, Soft, Truth, Catfish, Canned Heat
Poco, with Timothy B. Schmit: Lee Michaels, Zephyr, Longbranch/Pennywhistle
Rick Nelson and the Stone Canyon Band, with Randy Meisner: The Flying Burrito Brothers, Steve Martin, Morning Reign, Looking Glass, The Glass Family
Don Felder (left) and his bandmates in Flow were signed by jazz producer Creed Taylor after an audition in New York.
Guitarist Don Felder and his new bandmates in the improvisational band Flow had secured a $5,000 recording contract from jazz producer Creed Taylor in the early summer of 1969. The contract was earned largely on the merits of the band’s uneven performance at the Fillmore East in Manhattan a few weeks earlier, but also partly through connections the band had with the chart-topping Young Rascals, whose management team was vouching for them.
Landing the deal with Creed gave the band a huge lift, and the $5,000 was the most money they had ever earned. It didn’t go far and disappeared fast. The band put down a deposit on a large delivery van. Because he was the only one with a solid enough credit report to get a loan, Felder was on the hook for the payments. After that expense, they each bought a warm coat, microphones for their PA system, weed, food, rolled cigarettes, and Jack Daniel’s, and they rented a run-down apartment on the Lower West Side on Horatio Street. The neighborhood was bad and they were beaten and robbed a couple times, but Felder stayed focused, even if his bandmates to him seemed far less motivated and frequently stoned.
The band began writing material with the help of the Young Rascals’ road managers, John Calagna and Andy Leo, and by the time they arrived at the Van Gelder Studios in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, they had nine songs ready to record. Lead singer and bass player Chuck Newcomb wrote four of the cuts, while keyboard player John Winter got six songwriting credits. Felder got his only songwriting credit on a track that he and Newcomb collaborated on, the first song on the album’s B side called “No Lack of Room.”
When they finally settled into the studio, Felder watched on curiously as sound engineer Rudy Van Gelder (credited as the engineer behind the signature Blue Note jazz sound) and Creed, the album’s producer, took their places behind the console and waited. And waited. It was Felder’s—and the band’s—first time in a major studio, but they received little guidance from Van Gelder or Creed, and he began to realize that the huge successes borne out of the New Jersey studio may have had more to do with each band’s self-motivation to create the music, rather than the producer’s insightful guidance.
Van Gelder applied the same engineering magic he did with Thelonius Monk, Quincy Jones, John Coltrane, and Miles Davis, but the result in this instance, Felder said, was a “very forced performance.” He said he would later come to recognize the session as a “train wreck,” though he was quite proud of the effort at the time.
Given that Flow was a rock band with heavy jazz influences, it was difficult for them to find a market for its music. The group had a small, but devoted following of jazz fans and would still pick up an occasional gig, Felder said. But it was usually playing another artist’s material. Stung by the high cost of living in New York City, the band rented a well-worn 20-room house in Dover Plains, New York, a little more than two hours outside of Manhattan. Long haired and deemed suspicious by local police, they were once arrested there for walking on the wrong side of the road. They traveled from Dover Plains into New York City and other locations when gigs were available, and they waited for the promotional push on their album.
Creed was a well-known jazz producer with A&M Records, but was striking out on his own. His new label, CTI, was barely formed when it released Flow’s jazz-heavy debut album in January 1970. The band began picking up errant gigs to support the album, including sets at the Emergency Club in Washington, D.C., and at the Tompkins Square Park Spring Festival. But there were no real tour plans set up to support the LP. Taylor didn’t start the promotional effort until April 1970, and the album got token recognition in Cashbox, Record World, and Billboard. While the trade magazines were generally supportive, the music critics were brutal. The Asbury Park Press, one of the few newspapers to review the LP, recognized good musicians in Winter and Don Felder, but ravaged Newcomb’s vocals and lyrics as “horrendous.” Ultimately, CTI released just one single, “Mr. Invisible,” and it failed to chart.
Eighteen months after they moved into the house in Dover Plains, and finally convinced that Flow was done, Felder quit the band. Taylor offered to get him an instructor’s job at the Berklee School of Music in Boston, but he wasn’t ready to give up on his musician’s dream just yet. His Florida girlfriend, Susan, had moved back to her native Boston and suggested that he could find session work there, so Felder headed to Beantown. He would find menial work there, but he would soon get a call from an old friend in California who had struck it rich with the Eagles. Bernie Leadon was an important part of Felder’s early musician journey, and he would play an important role again shortly.
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Record World, April 11, 1970
Two tracks stand out on this debut LP from Flow, a prog rock jazz hybrid band who are newcomers on Creed Taylor’s just-launched label, CTI Records. Check out “Daddy” and “Mr. Invisible.” The first is a very pretty recollection, and the latter is a bubbling rocker with lots of groovy changes.
Twin Falls Times-News, July 10, 1970
There’s some very good musical moments in this album. The music is all original and shows sparks of true inventive genius. It’s all very polished, very professional and varies from eclectic rock to almost jazz. The best tunes are “Winter’s Gone,” [sic] which has some fine flute work, and “Arlene,” a soft ballad. Three stars.
Asbury Park Press, August 2, 1970
This rock group contains some good musicians, particularly John Winter and Don Felder. Lead singer Chuck Newcomb has some horrendous vocals that spoil the good effect Flow achieves. The arrangements, heavily tainted with jazz, are first rate. “Summer’s Gone” is a great cut. But oh those vocals! –Don Lass
1
1 [1198] Smith, B. (June 25, 2004). A Mood That Flows, The Gainesville (Fla.) Sun
[1296] Lass, D. (August 2, 1970). Record Previews: Flow (CTI), Asbury Park Press (N.J.)
[1311] Cashbox. (February 28, 1970). Creed Taylor Forms CTI Label, Operation Sets lndie Status.
[1312] Cashbox. (May 16, 1970). CTI Flows On.
[1313] Cashbox. (May 30, 1970). Insight & Sounds: Flow.
[1314] Record World. (May 16, 1970). Album Reviews: Flow (CTI 1003).
[1315] Record World. (June 6, 1970). Success Comes In No Easy Flow.
[1316] Billboard. (April 18, 1970). Flow-CTI CTI 1003 (S).
When Randy Meisner abruptly left Poco after being locked out of the final mixing of the band’s debut album in the summer of 1969, Jim Messina took over on bass for the group’s live shows. Messina was a well-rounded musician, an excellent engineer, and a talented bass player too, but the band’s leader, Richie Furay, wanted his guitar skills, so they went to a familiar source.
During the original auditions when they chose Meisner, it had been a very close decision. Furay and Messina ultimately sided with bandmate Rusty Young’s preference for Meisner. But with Meisner gone, Furay planned to reach out again to the bassist not chosen, Timothy B. Schmit.
Furay knew that reaching out to Schmit would be difficult. In his book Pickin’ Up the Pieces, he acknowledged that Schmit “had moved on with his life” and that he thought it was unrealistic to think he would just drop everything to join them. Young, who was Meisner’s strongest advocate, presented another roadblock in reaching out to Schmit. He had never warmed to Schmit, Fyray said, and questioned his musicianship, which had Furay mystified.
“In my opinion, Timothy was an extremely competent bass player and a very good, if stylized, harmony and lead singer,” Furay wrote. “In the end, though, Rusty wanted what was best for the band, and he saw how the rest of us felt about Timothy, he agreed to go along with whatever we decided.”
Schmit was still with his band, Glad, and was studying psychology at Sacramento State College when Furay decided to approach him. Furay and Davis attended one of Glad’s shows later that summer and found him after ward. They were straightforward in their explanation of where Poco was as a band—and they invited Schmit to join. There worries about rejection dissolved when Schmit said, “Sure, I’d like to get involved.” He joined the group in May, though he didn’t actually perform live with them until September.
But Young still felt some animosity toward Schmit when rehearsals started.
“Rusty may have said he would go along with making Timothy a member of the band, but that didn’t mean he was pleased about it,” Furay wrote. “When we brought Timothy to the Troubadour so he could start learning our songs and get a feel for the band’s dynamic, Rusty was very chilly toward him. In fact, the tension was thick enough to slice. For example, if there was only one chair available at a table, but it was next to Timothy, Rusty wouldn’t sit in it.”
That continued for a while, but Furay said that Schmit and Young maintained a professional relationship from that point forward. Outwardly, no one who watched the band would have ever known there was an issue between them at all.
Poco had navigated the rough waters of filling their band, and set out to begin touring and recording. Meisner was gone, but not for out of work for long. Davis, who doubled as stage manager for the Troubadour had told John Boylan, producer for Linda Ronstadt and Rick Nelson, that Meisner had quit Poco, and that there was an opportunity there.
“When Rick heard I was leaving, John Boylan, his producer, asked if I wanted to put a band together with Rick,” Meisner told Sheree Homer in her book Rick Nelson: Rock ‘n’ Roll Pioneer. He agreed and soon Boylan had Meisner playing bass behind Nelson as The Stone Canyon Band, and he tapped his former bandmates from The Poor to join him. 1
1 [463] Sharp, K. (November 10, 2016). Catching Up with Eagles and Poco Co-Founder Randy Meisner (Interview), Rock Cellar Magazine
[781] Homer, S. (2012). Rick Nelson, Rock 'n' Roll Pioneer, Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc.
[1199] Crowe, C. (April 26, 1973). Poor Poco: They Were ‘The Next Big Thing’ Four Years Ago, Rolling Stone
[1269] Furay, R. (2006). Pickin' Up the Pieces: The Heart and Soul of Country Rock Pioneer Richie Furay, Colorado Springs, CO: Waterbook Press
Just more than a year after James Gang released their first LP, they were in the studio again in the winter of 1970 with producer Bill Szymczyk to begin work on their second album, James Gang Rides Again.
Their first LP, Yer’ Album, was a modest success, climbing into the lower reaches Billboard’s Hot 100. That success caused a shuffle at the label, and the band was lifted to the Bluesway’s parent, ABC Records, which hoped fora strong follow-up effort. The band didn’t disappoint.
Rides Again got strong reviews when it was released in July 1970, led by “Funk #49,” a song co-written by the entire James Gang band—Jim Fox, Dale Peters, and Joe Walsh.
Though the song was a group effort, the nearly four-minute, lyrically light song about a wild girlfriend is largely driven by Walsh’s signature guitar lick and Fox’s thumping percussion (and a thematically well-placed cow bell). Walsh told the BBC in 1983 that he came up with the basic guitar lick, and even though he didn’t believe the lyrics were that intellectual, they worked well for the song.
“The only thing we really added was the percussion middle part, which the three of us actually played,” Walsh said. “Putting some parts on top of the drums, but that’s the three-piece James Gang, and that’s the energy and kind of the symmetry we were all about.”
The song followed a naming formula from their first album, which featured a mild hit, “Funk #48.” The band told Record World during a promotional visit to their New York office in July 1970 that fans shouldn’t expect a “Funk #50,” and that there was no specific significance to the name. That proved untrue years later when Walsh recorded “Funk 50” for his Analog Man album in 2012, and invited former James Gang bandmates Peters and Fox to record it with him.
“Funk #49” became the band’s first real hit, climbing to #59 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart. Meanwhile the album, Rides Again, debuted at #164 on Billboard’s Top LP chart, and by October 31, it had peaked at #20. Walsh was prolific on the album, with writing credits on every song except the “Bolero” and Vince Gurauldi segments of the album’s medley, “The Bomber.” Poco’s Rusty Young was invited into the studio to help with steel guitar and the well-traveled Jack Nitzsche helped the band and Szymczyk with the arrangements. 1
1 [135] Tobler, J. (1983). The Guitar Greats - The 1982 BBC Interviews, Buckinghamshire, UK: Northdown Publishing Ltd.
[363] Crowe, C. (February 1, 1975). Joe Walsh Tends His Garden, Rolling Stone
[375] James Gang. (1970). Album Credits/Liner Notes: James Gang Rides Again
[762] Cashbox. (July 18, 1970). ABC/Dunhill Gives Ray and James Big Push.
[763] Cashbox. (July 18, 1970). James Gang Rides Again - James Gang.
[770] Record World. (November 28, 1970). James Gang Takes Over.
Longbranch/Pennywhistle, Amos Records, January 1970
When J.D. Souther and Glenn Frey walked into T.T.G. Studios in Los Angeles to record their first album as Longbranch/Pennywhistle, they weren’t quite songwriters yet. By their own estimation, they were still finding their way in the singer-songwriter world in the fall of 1969.
Once in T.T.G.’s large studio on Sunset Boulevard and Highland Avenue, they recorded nine original country-rock songs. Amos Records released “Rebecca,” “Jubilee Ann,” and “Bring Back Funky Women” as singles from December 1969 through February 1970, but they couldn’t get airplay—not even locally in Los Angeles.
The album’s failure had more to do with unpolished material and threadbare experience than with musicianship. Amos Records President Jimmy Bowen and producer Tom Thacker brought in first-rate session players to punch up the quality. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee guitarist James Burton, slide guitar virtuoso Ry Cooder, and steel pedal guitar master Buddy Emmons were all contributing in the session. Wrecking Crew veterans Larry Knechtel (piano) and Joe Osborn (bass guitar) sat in, as did former Derek and the Dominos drummer Jim Gordon and master Cajun fiddle player Doug Kershaw. The album’s instrumentation was crisp with thoughtful guitar phrasing throughout, but the songs weren’t really radio-ready.
Souther would put a revised version of “Kite Woman” on his debut solo album three years later, but he said the songs were lacking. “I listen to it now and think, ‘That’s not very good,’“ Souther told the Chicago Tribune in 2016. “I think [it lacks] the maturity to know what to leave out, and what’s the appropriate investment for a song of any particular topic…it just sounds immature to me. I’d only been writing for a couple years, and that was the first bunch of even decent songs.”
Amos released Frey’s “Rebecca” as the first single. It dripped with potential, had meaningful lyrics, poignant guitar phrasing from Burton and a great hook leading into the chorus. But Amos couldn’t get it on the radio. Souther’s Allman Brothers-esque “Jubilee Ann” followed as a bluesy second single, but it didn’t catch on either. Finally, Amos went with a thumper next in “Bring Back Funky Women,” co-written by Frey and Souther. The song’s vibe hearkened to Dusty Springfield’s “Son of a Preacher Man,” but it didn’t get played either.
Geffen Records reissued the album in 2018, two years after Frey’s death. In a statement with the reissue, Souther credited Frey as his roommate, best friend, and first songwriting partner in Los Angeles.
“Quite honestly, we were just trying to do our best work in a very competitive environment,” he said. “If in doing that we evolved a new architecture of some sort, fine, but remember we were all listening carefully to each other and to the giants before and among us.
“We listened to Miles [Davis], Hank Williams, Laura Nyro, Joni Mitchell, [John] Coltrane, Bach, Cole Porter, Tim Hardin, Bob Dylan, James Taylor, and Carole King to name a few. We always said that if you want to make great music you should listen to great music. This album was our freshman project.”
Geffen Records re-released the album in 2018 after Glenn Frey’s passing. Souther, looking back, said “We were just trying to do our best work in a competitive environment ... this album was our freshman project.”
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Cashbox, December 20, 1969
An energetic vocal duo, Longbranch Pennywhistle come across as fine performers and writers on this entertaining package. Sturdy arrangements build a country-folk-rock sound, and the lyrics are appropriately down to earth. Possibilities for Top 40 as well as underground exposure and sales.
