Eagles soar despite biased writing
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Having long been a fan of the Eagles, I was quite ready to read a biography of this splendid, though somewhat lacking Southern California band. Eliot does a fair job of presenting their history, but he lacks in descriptions about the making of the music, and he focuses too much on Don Henley. On one hand Eliot seemed to be fixated with Henley, and on the other hand he seemed to have an axe to grind with him. To The Limit really came off more as a Don Henley book, than an Eagles book.
For one thing there are too few quotes from Glenn Frey, who in my opinion really gave the band its heart. Just because Henley began singing almost half of the songs on the last two albums, doesn't mean he should have. I can think of several songs, that Glenn Frey could have sung just as well. I'd also like to have learned more about why Leadon and Meisner quit. Though Eliot did explain it in some detail, there was much missing. It would have been interesting to have heard from Glenn Frey on those issues, as well as from Leadon and Meisner.
The book is heavy in quotes from Henley, but short on quotes from any other band members. Much of the material seems to come from other previously published material, i.e. Rolling Stone reviews, interviews, articles, and much of it comes from Mansion On the Hill, a detracting book written in the early 90s which includes a section on Geffen and Azoff.
While is was interesting reading about Henley's take on Joe Walsh joining the band, I would have really liked reading about Joe's take on joining the band. In my opinion, Walsh's guitar playing saved the Eagles from fading into country-rock mediocraty.
I would have also liked to have learned more about Felder's role in the band. Learing about Felder's role in the song, Hotel California was really interesting, but it made me want to know more about Felder's and Walsh's guitar work. How did they work out strategies? How did they bounce ideas around? Did they feel left out of the inner-cirlce?
Nonetheless, I really enjoyed reading about the Eagles, and I'd like to read another book about them, though I'd really like for it to be less about Don Henley, and more about the Eagles.
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Unreadable
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I am filing this "review" in the hopes of bringing down the average number of stars for this truly awful book. I love juicy rock bios, so I thought this would be just the book for me. Look how wrong you can be! The two main problems with this book are as follows: 1) It is unspeakably boring. I honestly couldn't even finish it; the grind just wore me down. 2) Factual errors. Others have already pointed this out, but it is especially galling to see George Grantham (the superb musician and singer from Poco) referred to as George Lantham. And how 'bout that gig in Hawthorne Beach? Where the heck is that? Somewhere between the City of Hawthorne and Hermosa Beach, perhaps. You get the idea . . . . It would drive you out of your mind if you weren't already bored out of your mind. Perhaps the fact that Amazon has 62 used copies ("from $2.95") gives you the best indication of this book's overall merit. Proceed at your own risk.
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Dull,Boring......Just like its subject.
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Unfortunately,most of the airwaves of the 70's were assaulted by the mellifluent,pedestrian,nondescript, and light rock sounds of the Eagles. This book is written in a smug tone.....Again,just like its subject matter. The Eagles were/are everything that is wrong with popular music. Think of it as watered down Bud Lite. Music for extremely white folks. Henley's exploits are enough to cause R.Kelley to blush. And I'm not talking about Henley's nondescript drumming abilities. WOW!! Whoda thunk it? Too bad so little attention was directed towards the other players. Most of whom,have accomplished music careers outside of the Eagles. Notice without the collective known as the Eagles,Henley and Frey can't write a decent tune.....And I use the term decent quite loosely.
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Obvious mistakes cast doubt on author's research
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It wasn't a bad book; neither was it a great book. I also noticed some of the odd errors and omissions that other reviewers have pointed out. An obvious mistake that the author makes is describing the song "Get Over It" as "...a comical, good-natured nod at the feud between Henley and Frey." Did Eliot even listen to the song? I always thought it was about low-brow, opportunist morons on afternoon talk shows like Oprah and Montel. This is confirmed by the Eagles themselves in the liner notes of the recent release of "The Eagles: The Very Best Of." When the author makes overt goofs like this, the reader has to wonder about other 'facts'.
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To The Limit - not really
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I was interested to read that Don Henley wanted to stop publication of this book as it seemed to me to be extremely pro-Henley particularly in its account of the leadership struggle. It is interesting enough but far too tabloid in its approach, that is, the Eagles' music is secondary to the endless stories of drugs, womanizing etc. Is anyone really surprised by this anymore? As a devoted Eagles fan I hope that someone someday will write about their music. And on a personal level I would like to hear the story told from Glenn Frey's perspective. Having read other reviews of this book I would like to expand on how heavily focused it is on Don Henley, to the exclusion of Glenn Frey, who whether the author admits it or not was and is the Eagles' leader and driving force. Frey's solo career was admittedly not as successful as Henley's but it is all but ignored. Some gratuitous comments about their respective physical appearances (again, pro-Henley) are annoying. Even any attempt at analysing why the two of them are both such great singers and songwriters never occurs. The assumption that it was Henley who was responsible for the majority of the Eagles' lyrics is a fatuous cliche that all true Eagles fans have long abandoned, and as for Hotel California being about Henley and no-one else, this should be treated with the contempt it deserves. Then there is the way Henley's arrest in 1980 is totally glossed over, while a similar incident that Frey experienced while shooting a movie is over-emphasised. Frey had a car crash, while Eagles fans know what happened to Henley. Some attempt at balance occurs at the end when the band have reformed, but it is too late to save the book. Avoid.
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