https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/27/entertainment/randy-meisner-death/index.html
Farewell to former Eagle and Poco bassist, Randy Meisner - who in all fairness, was too nice a guy to have been in the Eagles to begin with. I always loved his bass lines and vocals. "Take it to the Limit" - one of the Eagles' finest moments for me.
(EDIT: spelling error)
@robslob Randy's time in the Eagles came to an end when Randy didn't feel up to singing Take It Too The Limit at a concert.
Glen Frey became upset at this and told him " There are people here who have been waiting over a year to see us perform that song live". But Randy maintained he didn't feel up to singing a lead vocal that night so Glen Frey exploded and cursed Randy out and said " Why don't you quit? Get the hell out!!"
According to the source, Randy Mesiner quit that very night.
Randy had a great voice!
@robertdee: And you're spelling his name wrong just like the original poster did.
@robslob Rob - it's a sentiment of courtesy on a website - not a death certificate or official document. "To-may-to - to-mah-to". Sorry if Randy was a relative or personal friend to you. Truth be told - my eyes are goin' out on me ... and I guess I just didn't know the correct spelling. Still mourning the loss of a fine musician.
@robslob Oh!! Thank you. Randy was more or less kicked out of the Eagles by Glen in 1977 and though I saw the Eagles' twice before Randy lelt, I wasn't positive of the spelling so relied on the original poster:)
I remember in 1980 when I bought my copy of Reach For The Sky by the Allman Brothers, Dickey wrote or co-wrote all the songs but I think two. And on the album's label his name is spelled DICKIE Betts under every song he wrote or co-wrote.
It shows people didn't take the time to properly check including me!
@rusty: Actually I corrected you out of respect to Randy. I feel like he was a good enough musician that he deserves to be eulogized with the correct spelling of his name, that's all.
Late saying RIP Randy. Here is one of my favorite Eagles tunes, from the amazing side 2 of Hotel California (which thankfully was not overplayed by FM radio).
So much going on in this song...3 guitar parts doing different things, keyboards, bass, exquisite lead and harmony vocals, mournful lyrics. A Don Felder solo that fits perfect. Some absolute melancholy magic right here.
Late saying RIP Randy. Here is one of my favorite Eagles tunes, from the amazing side 2 of Hotel California (which thankfully was not overplayed by FM radio).
So much going on in this song...3 guitar parts doing different things, keyboards, bass, exquisite lead and harmony vocals, mournful lyrics. A Don Felder solo that fits perfect. Some absolute melancholy magic right here.
I love that song too. Bernie had some tasty bass fills and Felders solos are always great!
@hotlantatim: Really nice tune and I had never heard it. I have a comprehensive two disc Eagles compilation but I never owned Hotel California, mostly because the title cut is one of the most overplayed tunes in the history of rock and roll.
Rob if you want to check out some of their older releases, listen to those. Some of the "deeper" cuts, the ones that weren't played to death, are really good. The Hotel California album for instance, has some good tunes. Side two is awesome. Don Felder added so much to that band. Too bad they kicked him out.
Everything in Moderation. Including Moderation.
@lee I still have my vinyl copy of Hotel California and you're right. There are some really good songs that haven't been played into power on the radio.
Don Felder was a tremendous addition to the Eagles. I think Felder wrote much of the music for the song Hotel California. Fantastic guitarist.
But like Randy Meisner, Don Felder got on the wrong side of Glen Frey. Glen was ready to pick the hell out of both Meisner and Felder and that also ended their time in The Eagles.
With Felder, Glen told him during Felder's last live performance with the Eagles he was getting his ass kicked the moment the last song ended.
Too bad very good and talented musicians can get cross threaded like that.
Check this out.
@robertdee I really hate to speak ill of the dead ... Eagles, even - but Glen Frye was an @$$hole.
@robertdee Glen gave Meisner the boot, Felder the boot twice, and also Bernie Leadon. I believe every member reunited to participate in the band's RnR HOF induction, and Leadon joined them for a tour about 10 years ago. Maybe Frey softened a bit with age. Joe Walsh has always credited the Hell Freezes Over tour with saving his life and getting sober. I think people forget the degree Joe Walsh helped take a successful California country rock band over the top.
Meisner had a rough go of it in recent years, dealing with mental health issues and his wife accidentally shooting herself to death. Whenever people roll their eyes at dinosaur bands touring endlessly charging $250 nosebleeds, Randy Meisner will remind you why they keep the money train rolling.
@porkchopbob Thanks Porkchopbob. I've always been a Joe Walsh fan from his James Gang days. And I came to appreciate Don Felder as an excellent guitarist and a good song writer.
Too bad these bands have these internal situations.
As Joe Walsh said about the Frey-Felder fight, " When you have that kind of stuff going on on stage in front of people...you have real problems!"
@lee: To support what you are saying, I always liked On The Border, and it was certainly not one of their most popular records. Had it on vinyl and upgraded to CD. The Eagles sure didn't do many covers but their version of Tom Waits' "Ol' 55" which is on On The Border is one of my favorite tunes that the Eagles ever recorded. Song about driving home in the morning from your girlfriend's place and knowing in your heart that you are falling way head over heels for this girl. That one always really got me big time. On The Border is the only Eagles record I own other than The Very Best Of The Eagles, an excellent 33 cut compilation which came out in 2003 (Ol' 55 is on that one too).
@porkchopbob I have that album on vinyl. I bought it in 1974 as my second Eagles album.
I just checked and it was released in 1972 and went Platinum (1 million copies). I didn't know they sold that well on their first release. ABB went Platinum in 1972 with Eat A Peach.
Says on the internet the album was recorded in three weeks in London. That particular song was written by Leadon and Clark when they were in the Byrds.
That is Bernie singing lead.
The Eagles were/are extremely talented and throughout the turmoil that kept affecting the band and instigating personal changes, the new players hired by Glen and Don always were very talented too.
Don Henley said in an interview I read years ago that it was working with the band trying to be a democratic operation so he (Don Henley) and Glen Frey decided they would run the Eagles and anyone who couldn't fall in line would have to be replaced.
After Hotel California the pressure from their record company to equal or top the 22 million copies Hotel California sold and he (Don Henley) and Glen Frey no longer seeing eye to eye is why they broke up.
I think Don said Travis Tritt got them back together when he talked Don and Glen into being on his track for a various artists Eagles salute album.
Yes I think this is it. Various artists album saluting the music of the Eagles.
That particular song was written by Leadon and Clark when they were in the Byrds.
Leadon was never in The Byrds, they wrote it for the group Dillard & Clark
@porkchopbob I think Bernie Leadon was in the Flying Burrito Brothers - I forget the exact lineage and timeline, but they're associated with the Byrds and the Eagles.
@porkchopbob Okay. I'll go back and read that again. Maybe it said when Clark was in the Byrds.
It's a great song though and I can see why you really like it.
@rusty yeah he was in FBB with Hillman and Parsons and in Dillard & Clark with Gene Clark. You put the Venn diagram together and I guess you get The Birds 😉
@porkchopbob seems a lot of the guys from the byrds, eagles, poco, FBB, etc are all the same members lol
Yeah, wasn’t bassist Timothy B. Schmidt in those bands - poco, Eagles, also Byrds, less sure about Byrds tho
@stephen Timothy B. Schmidt is the current bass player for the Eagles. I've been reading more about them. Glen Frey stole Timothy from Poco when Glen ran Randy Meisner out of the Eagles and Glen Frey said Poco is where he got Randy Meisner for the Eagles.
Glen threw Randy Meisner out of the Eagles when Randy announced he wasn't going to sing Take It To The Limit at that evening's concert. Randy said he didn't feel like singing it that night. Well that pissed off Glen Frey big time. He got mader and mader. Glen said he told Randy that they have hundreds of people out there tonight who have been waiting a year or two or more years to watch us perform that song live and we are not going to do it????? Randy said he didn't feel up to it.
Well that was it. Glen was done with Randy Meisner. Suddenly Randy was out and they hired Timothy B.Schmidt. Don Henley backed Glen and Don and Glen decided early on that they couldn't function as a democracy and that Don and Glen are running the Eagles period full stop!!
They ran Bernie Leadon out because he was dating Ronald Reagan's daughter and Glen and Don couldn't stand Ronald Reagan. But surprisingly a song Bernie co-wrote with Reagan's daughter is on one of the Eagles albums.
Plus Bernie plays on the tracks and co-wrote some of the songs that are on The Eagles Greatest Hits Vol. 1 which now is the biggest selling album in United States history at 38 million sold as of this year. That is sufficient to make Bernie Leadon a multimillionaire alone.
And we were just discussing why Glen with Don's backing fired Don Felder and Senator Alan Cranston. Or was it just Felder who was fired?:)
Don Henley is in the top 10 richest drummers in Drummer World magazine with a net worth of $200 million dollars. Here is Don with Randy Meisner and Don Felder still in the band but Joe Walsh has replaced Bernie Leadon. The sheat will soon hit the fan two more times.
@matt05 yeah the whole early 1970s LA country scene was a bit incestuous wasn't it? The Eagles started out as Linda Rondstadt's band; The Byrds and Buffalo Springfield all birthed a bunch of groups; even Mike Nesmith, Lowell George, Bonnie Raitt, Emmylou Harris, and Jackson Browne were all collaborating with each other.
@porkchopbob Gregg Allman almost became involved but it wasn't his kind of music I suppose. Gregg was impressed with and befriended Jackson Browne.
I guess Duane getting the ABB together in Jacksonville, FL is what pulled Gregg out. Glen Frey or David Crosby would have fired Gregg in a few years anyway:)
I was 19 in 1965 and was going to college two hours away but home on weekends and my parents had a big Zenith radio that was as big as and looked liked at piece of furniture. I think they bought it in 1944. I would listen to the radio on it. It wasn't in stereo, just one big speaker but it sounded fantastic I thought. I still remember one of my favorite songs in 1965 was by the Byrds!
Stereo records were out by 1965 and my dad had a great set up. AR-3 speakers and right now I can't remember the name of the turn table and the preamp but it was powerful.
He was a distributor for Acoustic Research speakers and Sylvania televisions so I grew up with quality TVs and Hi Fidelity record players and radios.
Acoustic Research had a sound proof display room in Grand Central Station in Manhattan. I was there with my dad every summer in late 50's and 60's.
