For every member of a successful rock band who forges a successful solo career (Sting/Stevie Nicks) there are just as many who do not (Andy Summers/Christine McVie).
The individual projects of such luminaries as Mick Jagger, Keith Richard and Jimmy Page have generally sunk on a tide of critical and commercial ambivalence – respective efforts beyond the collective strength of the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin, while not diminishing them as artists, doing little to enhance their reputations.
Drummer;
In the twilight world where solo careers often exist, ground covered by the long shadow of the mother ship, even the most accomplished work can lay hidden. For example, a 2002 Kinks compilation (and not one of the better assembled ones) has sold more than the entire series of solo albums made by front man Ray Davies.
So as career spans grow longer, the temptation to rest on laurels and not be damned by comparison to the excellence of yesteryear must come to bear. There are, however, those who have maintained a capacity to make new music that is valid and interesting, releasing an album only when they have something pertinent to say – the most obvious example being Eagles drummer Don Henley.
Not exactly prolific (five albums in a solo career dating back thirty seven years hardly makes him hasty), Henley has written a batch of relevant, incisive songs that range from ruminations on his own life to big statements on duplicitous politics, a fatuous media, greedy corporations and woeful treatment of the environment.
They are tempered by a sharp eye for the minutiae of everyday American life – an observation best described in the line, ‘That same small town in each of us,’ from the title track of his superb 1989 album ‘The End Of The Innocence.’
The Eagles had been two years into their 14-year vacation (so described by the late Glenn Frey on them resuming their career in 1994) when Henley emerged from behind his Eagles drum kit.
From the small town of Linden, Texas, but a Los Angeles emigre since the late-60s, founding the Eagles there with Frey in 1971 – the contrast between the country and city along with the changing landscapes of both would become recurring themes in much of the excellent material he would go onto write as a solo artist.
By far the most successful American band of the 70s, the Henley-Frey song writing axis provided the Eagles with just about all of their country-tinged soft-rock hits, culminating in the acclaimed ‘Hotel California‘ album of 1976 – for which Henley wrote most of the notable lyrics.
Lines in the title song and seven minute closing track ‘The Last Resort‘ examined the dark side of the American dream, California more parody than paradise as America entered the second half of the decade with 60s idealism, debilitated by Vietnam and Watergate, a fast-fading memory. Almost twenty years after co-writing the song Henley introduced ‘The Last Resort‘ as ‘The Vast Report‘ – or if you prefer ‘how the west was lost.’
The Eagles are found in the margins of his first solo offering, ‘I Can’t Stand Still,’ (1982) and although the material, particularly on side one would have sounded at home on the last Eagles album ‘The Long Run‘ (1979), detectable virtually from the off is a marked improvement in lyrical content.
The subject matter takes an unexpected, but nevertheless fascinating twist with the three songs that begin side two. Henley casts his acerbic gaze onto the dumbing down of television news (‘Dirty Laundry‘) teenage delinquency (‘Johnny Can’t Read‘) and nuclear conflict (‘Them and Us‘) – immediately finding his own niche among the LA singer-songwriter tribe in tackling issues rarely touched upon by his contemporaries.
Easily the best vocalist on the block, Henley receives good support from Bob Seger, JD Souther and fellow ex-Eagles Walsh and Schmidt, with production duties shared between Henley, Greg Ladanyi and stalwart LA session guitarist Danny Kortchmar, who co-writes half of the songs.
With more than enough good material on which to base a solo career (had the best songs gone onto an Eagles album of the time it would have given them a flying start to the new decade and gone someway to repairing the damage done to their reputation by ‘The Long Run‘). But eighteen months later and with the group showing no inclination of working together again, Henley put further distance between him and the past with ‘Building The Perfect Beast‘ (1984) – an intriguing record that could have not sounded less like his former band.
From the brilliant hit single ‘The Boys Of Summer‘ which kicks things off, the portents could not be better – Henley delivering a wistful, bittersweet lyric so nuanced it observes the fine detail of ‘a Dead head sticker on a Cadillac‘ and the make of sunglasses worn by his muse.
But rather than set his observations against a mesh of acoustic and electric guitars, Henley embraces the prevailing trends of electro-pop – synthesizers to the fore in providing context but not intrusion as he creates a defining album of the era. The only negative is omission of ‘A Month Of Sundays‘ from the vinyl issue (included on the CD release).
Set against a serene keyboard arrangement this genuine masterpiece, a breath-taking tale told from the viewpoint of an old-timer on how big business has eroded the role of the ‘independent little man,’ is song-writing of the highest order.
Concerns at how individuality is being diminished are further emphasised on ‘Down At The Sunset Grill,’ a fast food convenience store where customers are no longer known by name, the world becoming more impersonal by the day.
Time and again the messages hit home while the music offers scope to dance – even if his world view is often less than cheery.
Five years elapsed before Henley returned with ‘The End Of The Innocence,’ (1989), another embarrassment of riches that barely wastes a second through ten lyrically insightful, well-constructed songs.
‘The Last Worthless Evening‘ and ‘The Heart Of The Matter,’ showed he continued to have a deft touch when discussing matters of the heart, but there is no softening of approach when expressing his anger at Regan-era America (‘Little Tin God‘, ‘Gimme What You Got‘) – while in ‘If Dirt Were Dollars‘ Henley skewers conniving politicians and shallowness of the press in one witty swoop.
Side one closer ‘New York Minute‘ is an absorbing, atmospheric triumph, with the title song, co-written with Bruce Hornsby, a touching eulogy to lessons learned on the journey from innocence to experience – and as a hit single a worthy successor to ‘The Boys Of Summer.’ Both songs earned Henley a Grammy for best vocal performance in their respective year.
Resumption of the Eagles career in 1994 created an eleven year wait for his next solo offering – although the 1995 compilation ‘Actual Miles – Henley’s Greatest Hits‘ contains two new songs worth a listen, the venomous ‘You Don’t Know Me At All‘ and ‘The Garden Of Allah‘ a sprawling, ambitious update of ‘The Last Resort‘ where the devil visits a large Western city to find there is nothing and nobody left to corrupt.
On the first few listens ‘Inside Job‘ (2000) comes across as over-wrought, over-produced and at thirteen lengthy songs, over long. After such a gap between solo projects it feels Henley has much he needs to say and so many melodic directions to explore, that some of his observations become lost in a huge swirl of fresh material.
There are also times when he sounds a touch too complaining and opinionated. Yet for every track that doesn’t quite engage there is generally one that stands tall (‘Goodbye To A River,’ ‘Damn It, Rose,’ ‘Miss Ghost,’ ‘Annabel‘, ‘My Thanksgiving,’). On ‘Workin’ It‘, containing the line ‘New York to Hollywood, hype and glory/Special effects, no story,’ he presents a less than glowing endorsement of Millennium America.
In 2007 the Eagles released ‘Long Road Out Of Eden‘ their first album of new material since ‘The Long Run,’ the two CD-set only of genuine interest when Henley was at the controls (compare the title track, ‘Waiting In The Weeds‘ and ‘Frail Grasp on the Big Picture‘ to some of the relatively tame efforts from his band mates). Frequently on tour with the Eagles, fifteen years elapsed between ‘Inside Job‘ and what currently stands as his most recent work ‘Cass County‘ (2015).
Making up for the lost time Henley put out a sixteen song set split between eleven originals and five covers. Twenty minutes shorter than its predecessor, ‘Cass County‘ manages not to outstay its welcome – even if a couple of the covers occasionally over-egg the pudding as Henley returns to a more traditional, country-influenced sound.
As usual it is expertly crafted, but immersing the music in what has become known as ‘Americana‘ he still manages to avoid the project becoming a 70s soft-rock re-tread, his lyrics finding wisdom to accompany the wit, words more reflective than ranting as he fast approaches 70.
‘No Thank You‘ is a humorous take on growing old with ‘The Cost Of Living‘, ‘Take A Picture Of This,’ ‘That Old Flame,’ ‘A Younger Man,’ and ‘Where I Am Now,’ taking a more philosophical approach to the same issue.
But as effective as those songs are Henley saves his most poignant lines for ‘Praying For Rain,’ a moving piece concerning the impact of global climate change on the crops of a family farm – world issue, small town implications, Henley at his very best.
Throughout ‘Cass County‘ he shares vocal duties with the likes of Mick Jagger, Dolly Parton, Merle Haggard, Vince Gill and Alison Krauss, who each make their customary impact and although his own voice may not quite have the range of yore, it serves well the lived and learned nature of several tracks.
Should he decide not to record again Don Henley has already created a small body of work that for the most part is intelligent, literate and at its finest impossible to forget. He has written lyrics bearing a simple but poetic quality, conveying his message with candour while at the same time avoiding undue ambiguity. One of the few writers able to infuse their songs with a cinematic feel, Henley finds a way to transport the listener to where the scenes are taking place, be it Capitol Hill or the rural backwoods.
From the finest song writers, of which Henley is definitely one, we should expect no less.
DON HENLEY – Solo Album Discography:
I CAN’T STAND STILL (1982) A-; BUILDING THE PERFECT BEAST (1984) A; THE END OF THE INNOCENCE (1989) A; INSIDE JOB (2000) B+; CASS COUNTY A;
This article was first published on 22/2/2019.
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NEIL SAMBROOK is the author of MONTY’S DOUBLE – an acclaimed thriller now available as an Amazon Kindle Book.
