Heaven and Hell: My Life in the Eagles (1974-2001) | Don Felder

Heaven and Hell: My Life in the Eagles (1974-2001) | Don Felder | Life In A Disfunctional Rock Family

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Heaven and Hell: M...

	Heaven and Hell: My Life in the Eagles (1974-2001) Don Felder Wiley, 2008 - 352 pages average customer review:based on 99 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Inside look at the Eagles and it ain't pretty...

September 18, 2008, the Eagles, or I should say two Eagles out of the original band -- Don Henley and Glen Frey -- plus their two highly paid sidemen, Tim Schmit and Joe Walsh, roll into Nashville.

I pay an arm and a leg for the family to see them and we're treated to a concert that sounds a bit too perfect. No spontaneity, just a somewhat robotic performance. My 16-year old son is bored and I keep telling him -- hey, just wait ! These are the EAGLES -- they're just getting warmed up! However, after awhile, even I am wondering if these guys are even awake. We have a lot of really excellent musicians come and go through our area and the Eagles -- at least on this particular night -- just don't have it. Even Joe Walsh, one of my favorite guitarists of all time, is relegated to acting out the part of a rock and roller. (Man is he playing for the wrong band !)

The next day I'm curious as to what's the deal with the version of the Eagles I heard versus the band I enjoyed so much during the 1970s and 1980s, so I track down and read "Heaven and Hell: My Life in the Eagles (1974-2001)" by Don Felder -- and, I find the answer.

This is a great book; well-written with a good narrative flow that makes it difficult to put it down. Being from Jacksonville, Florida, I especially enjoyed Felder's recounting of his younger years in Gainesville, Florida. What a small world it was -- playing frat parties at UF with Stephen Stills who was only 15 at the time; teaching guitar lessons for Mr. Lipham of Lipham Music in exchange for his first Fender Stratocaster and having as his star pupil 10-12 year old Tommy Petty -- you know, of Tom Petty and the Hearbreakers (now there's a great band!). Those were great years as northeast Florida had a lot of really great bands forming and learning the ropes on the frat party-prom circuit, including Duane and Greg Allman who had just moved with their mom from Nashville to Daytona Beach.

But, for Eagles fans -- it's all here, the life and death of the real Eagles, before it became the Henley-Frey glitzy nightmare, laid out like a dissected frog. The real story that includes Bernie Leadon, his old Gainesville, Florida buddy whose dad was a nuclear physicist at UF and Randy Meisner of Poco.

Making the book even more interesting is the tension Felder has with his father; trying to adjust to living in Boston, then LA; the musicians that influenced him, including Miles Davis, B.B. King, and the Allman brothers; going to Woodstock; his struggle to be a good father and husband; and, the step by step journey that led him to becoming one of the Eagles. Readers will enjoy reading of his friendships and playing with contemporaries such as Crosby & Nash and David Blue. And, touring with a veritable Who's Who of the 70s and 80's rock world.

For those readers only interested in the Eagles, start on page 109, the beginning of Chapter 9. From this point on the narrative speeds up from being that of a memoir of a musician, to the story of the Eagles written by an insider. While very appreciative of the opportunity for being part of the group, Felder holds no punches and describes the almost evil egos of Henley and Frey; the sex, drugs and stress of the over-the-top excesses of their lives; and the emotional toll of being "fired" by Heley and Frey from the Eagles.

All in all, it's a great read -- one of the best of the genre I've ever read.

R. Neil Scott
Middle Tennessee State University

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Life In A Disfunctional Rock Family

The most interesting bit of information from this book is the financial and emotional treatment of everyone who is not Henley or Frey. WOW! Timothy Schmidt is my favorite Eagle and to learn of the arrangement he and Joe Walsh are under while the two "Gods" make a fortune is very telling about the management of the group and the greed of Henley and Frey.

A great read in which Don Felder takes an honest look at the personalities of all the members, including himself. He was screwed and yet in some way wants to excuse Henley and Frey by taking the high ground, not being vicious or brutal. Obviously he is a gentleman who took a moral stand against Henley and Frey, who are less than ethical. Yet again a story of rock egos run amuck with everyone else paying the price.

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A Magnificent Story of "Self-Reliance"

WARNING!! If you pick this book up...you will not be able to put it down.."Self-Reliance"...an essay by Emerson, inspired Don Henley to greatness, and it is clearly the path Don Felder took. Hey Don...if you are reading this...your performance of Hotel California on the Howard Stern show was a beautiful rendition...imho you should have NO "confidence problem" with your singing...talk about soulful...WOW! Anyone interested in hearing that classic, just go to YouTube....Peace and Love...

Awesome book!

Well written, really captivating book. Fast read. Always have been an Eagles fan but now I'm a Don Felder fan.

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life in the American Dream...you can check out but you can never leave!

I loved this book for the first 3/4's of it, the last 1/4 gets a demoted star because it gets a little whiny as we see our rock star go through what seems like a mid-life crisis. But I love the Eagles, always have and this book gives you all the fascinating details as Don Felder sees it. It is a fascinating story as Don goes from a dirt-poor kid in Gainseville FL where his father introduces him to music and encourages him to learn guitar. Some pretty incredible artists in Gainesville around that time as a high school kid he plays with a yong Steven Stills, a young Tom Petty auditions for the band also Don becomes friends with Duane Allman. Eventually after years of struggle in FL, New York and Boston, Bernie Leadon finally convinces him to come out west where it is all happening, so Don takes his girl(wife to be Susan) and dog and heads to LA. As fate would have it he auditions for a young band that is trying to expand it's horizons from country rock to more harder rock 'n roll. Fingers as the band leaders later call him blows them away and he is asked to join the Eagles! The rest is rock n' roll history and Don Felder lets it all hang out in this absorbing book that was initially banned in the US. Loved it! Made me go home after work and put on an old Eagles LP on my turntable and grab my kids hands and dance a lil jig. This is the music of the soundtrack of our generation and it still sounds so good. It must be from THE GODS!

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