If Music Were Only Made By Nice People...

 ...we would all have a whole lot less music around than we can enjoy now. I think it might have been Jonder who mentioned that it's better not to read musician's biographies (or, for the honest ones, autobiographies), because most simply aren't very nice people. Having read I'll Sleep Shen I'm Dead: The Dirty Life And Times Of Warren Zevon I can heartily concur. Though, really, to me Zevon never came off as a particularly nice person, so anyone who expected something different was probably always going to be in for some uncomfortable truths. For some people you don't even have to read a book to know that they're not a nice person, they'll gladly show that to you.

Glenn Frey was a lot of things - boisterous frontman, songwriter, vocal arrangement specialist, part-time acctor - but most of all he was a colossal dick most of the time. And he was proud of that fact, too. If you listen to him explain things in The History Of The Eagles Vol. 1 - hands down one of the best music documenaries ever - you are often amazed at how unabashedly awful Frey is (this is probably even worse in the otherwise forgettable Vol. 2, cf. his comments on the Felder royalties dispute or his pride in getting a tiny role in Jerry McGuire), while he no doubt  thinks he's the coolest shit on God's greeen earth. As Bill Simmons pointed out in his fabulous review of the doc it's fantastic to see Frey and Henley stage "a Pretentious Douche-Off", with both having clearly defined roles, seemingly spun out of their high school experience: Henley is the sneering pseudo-intellectual, who always has words for the unwashed masses, even if they don't deserve his wisdom. Arrogance, thy name be Henley! And Glenn Frey is the jock, the bully who gives unpopular weaklings wedgies and swirlies - loud, obnoxious, doesn't know when to shut up (until Bernie Leadon gives a strong hint while pouring a beer over his head). Bonus points in Frey-ness: The Eagles technically don't have a 'The' in their name, because Frey insisted that would make them sound more like a tough Detroit street gang...uh, Glenn, about that...

Frey's impression of what a Detroit street gang looks like (artist illustration)

But I digress. A nice guy he might never have been, but a decent musician he certainly was. And even if his solo stuff could never touch the best things he brought to the Eagles (no doubt because, as awful as these two are, as a musical duo they were really good), there's still some fun to be had with a collection of Glenn Frey solo stuff, which is our record of the day. I stole the artwork froman existing comp, but this collection was selected and sequenced by the One Buck Guy. Generally speaking, Frey's career was a disappointment - and he was probably very unhappy that Henley got all the sales, accolades and Grammies - but to be fair, Frey often treated his solo career like an extravagant hobby rather than a career or a calling. Whenever Jack Tempchin had a couple of songs (or half-songs), he would go and polish these up, get in the studio and record these. But Frey never was much of a writer or composer during these years, which made his sudden jump into some (mild) social commentary on Strange Weather even stranger. Amid all the middling pop rock songs, there's usually one or two songs per album that are worth keeping, all in a breezy Top 40 airwaves spirit. 

Of the hit songs, I always liked "The Heat Is On", having picked up the soundtrack to Beverly Hills Cop as a teen after seeing the movie, while "You Belong To The City", written for Miami Vice never did much for me (it's still here, can't leave it off any honest career overview). This comp has been sequenced around three short atmospheric instrumental doodles from Strange Weather, serving as a prelude, an interlude and an epilogue. The comp has songs from all of his solo albums, including his 'old man does pop standards' album After Hours, though I specifically chose the two that best went with the sound of his earlier recordings: country number "Worried Mind" and his take on the Beach Boys classic "Caroline No". 

"You ready for your wedgie, boy...?"

Glenn Frey may not have striven to make great art as a solo artist - and he didn't. But he made some very fun pop songs, which you can now all have under one roof with the One Buck Guy's special Solo Collection.