'Kick 'em when they're up':* Backlash Lashback: Response to Eagles' Detractors

Long Road out of Eden era

* 'Dirty Laundry', Don Henley

This is really a rejonder to the general press’s reactionary response to the Eagles. Obviously the band don’t need me or anyone else to defend them but that won't stop me.

‘And still all the critics keep saying/Are they still around?/When are they gonna stop?’
(‘The Road’, The Kinks, the rest of the song is also pertinent)

I’m struck when I read the press reviews of the Eagles UK gigs that no one is saying very much. They’re very short and somewhat grudgingly appreciative but the common tenor is that the band have just been going too long. I was originally going to write a review but this rant got too long so I'm going to publish it as a separate blog.

'I was happy in the haze of a drunken hour/But heaven knows I'm miserable now' ('Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now', The Smiths) Miserable and not afraid to sing about it! Plus you can't knock a song with the lyric 'What she asked of me at the end of the day/Caligula would have blushed'

Prior to this tour, I read a really negative piece (worth reading for the cutting ripostes in the comments) in The Guardian (one of my least favourite papers) championing the new over the old and advocating that the Eagles, Fleetwood Mac and the Rolling Stones, if they couldn’t do the decent thing and chuck it all in to let the new bands have a chance, should at least pay a tax to finance the development of such bands. It is possible to like old and new bands. So-called 'old' music does not prevent so-called 'new' music from existing. Much of the new music sounds like either generic rock posturing or is unimaginatively derivative. Friends go crazy for the Scissor Sisters, Arcade Fire and their ilk who ‘are all about fun’ and the current stand seems to be that you can't be any fun unless your songs are a melee of different styles, all rehashed with a sardonic ‘aren't we clever, look what we’ve done?’ knowingness, with a general emphasis in the lyrics on ‘having fun’ as if, if you don't say it every second, you're suddenly miserable and being miserable is a crime. They sound anything but original but are more like a fusion of several styles I never particularly cared for in the first place. The word that always comes to mind is ‘ersatz’.

I think hell's just about to freeze over

‘We set out to become a band for our time. But sometimes if you do a good-enough job, you become a band for all time.’
(Glenn Frey, HOTE documentary)

But why should liking current bands prevent anyone from appreciating older ones? After all, although of its time, truly great music is timeless. It isn't finite. There’s always room for more. If someone is successful, it doesn’t stop someone else being successful. Instead of criticising the Eagles who have created (and we hope will continue to make) so many beautiful songs, how about noticing the fact that much of popular music these days is lyrically drivel and musically limited? Most songs that get to Number One have the same words rearranged plus some often quite objectionable and/or childish rap inserted for the sake of it. I’m not saying it’s all like that but shouldn’t we fight against this endemic deterioration in standards, where there’s a sample of a previous song (sometimes a good one – not so bad – at least it’s bringing it to another generation) and if we’re lucky one original but ever so slight melodic refrain? See my previous blog for more on this, and, in particular, the Black-Eyed Peas.

Anyway, who’s to say what’s new or old? If it’s new to you, does it matter if it was made in the 60s? What’s that got to do with whether it’s worthwhile or not? I’ve just discovered Poco and Gene Clark as well as more recently, Citizen Cope, Christian Kane, Shakey Graves. None of these acts have had the acclaim or success they deserve but I’m sure they don’t blame the Eagles for this.

Morrissey

‘I decree today that life/Is simply taking and not giving/England is mine - it owes me a living’

(‘Still Ill’, The Smiths, a band that seemed totally different to anything that had gone before, replete with passion and pathos, memorable tunes and witty, evocative, thought-provoking lyrics)

I fear this bleating, which is typical of the wishy-washy, bleeding-heart liberals at The Guardian, always ready to jump on the next musical bandwagon but always a couple of years behind the times; they just about grab onto it as it disappears into the sunset and the credits roll, as with Jackie Leven or the Fleet Foxes, or just after an act has become a parody of itself and ever so quick to denigrate something they think is passé, is all part of this ‘the world owes me a living’ attitude. It doesn’t.

It’s not only journalists who indulge in this kind of carping. Robert Plant (of Led Zeppelin) says he knows why the Eagles still tour: ‘It’s not about the money. It’s because they’re bored.’ Always amazes me when somebody has the gall to claim they understand someone else's motivation. Henley (never a shrinking violet) has hit back at this in Rolling Stone but also at the London shows when he said they don’t do it because they’re bored but because it’s the best job on the planet or words to that effect. Sort of reminds me of when Oasis and Blur gloved up in the 90s.

‘You don't want to work, you want to live like a king/But the big, bad world doesn't owe you a thing’ ('Get Over It', Eagles) 

It’s always been difficult for new artists to break through and the talented don’t always thrive while the screechers and flavours of the day (according to the papers) such as Paloma Faith and Ed Sheeran (although I do like ‘I See Fire’) make it. Whether they do or not has nothing to do with whether Fleetwood Mac are touring or not. The two are not mutually exclusive.

The Mac

I hate this labelling. The Eagles songs and harmonies and ideas would still sound fresh and exciting if you were to hear them for the first time today. Same with the Stones. And there’s a reason that ‘The Chain’ is still used as background build-up for all the Formula 1 events on UK TV. It’s as exciting now as it ever was. A couple of years ago I finally discovered the Kinks who became a fairly long-lived musical obsession of mine. Not new but new to me.

So I say ‘live and let live’. Stop bitching and moaning. Good music is good music and it will endure. That’s not a fault, that’s a virtue. I like this comment on The Guardian article from MickGJ: ‘If it wasn't for these old acts there wouldn't be any 30-year old records for them to sound a bit like.’ I’m discovering new and old music all the time.That's how it should be.

The thrill ain't gone

Schmitten Part Two: Sweet Talking Guy

The Long Run

Part One is here.

YouTube Links in most song titles.

Binge Mode

Thanks to those who posted the Bill Simmons article on The Border. As well as being a great read, it’s reassured me that I’m not the only crazy person out there who has a ‘binge mode’ where music is concerned. Previous to my return to the Eagles (and via them my belated discovery of Poco and Timothy B. Schmit) I did this with the Kinks, a group I never really knew much about but whose personalities, stories, songs, completely captured my imagination for a long while (over two years) leading to excessive spending on Kinks-related trips, gigs, books, CDs and so on. It’s so nice to know it’s not just me.

Wasted Time

So why is it that I can now appreciate TBS when I couldn’t before? Perhaps again not as late to the party as I was to the Kinks one but pretty avoidably delayed. Still, got there in the end. Am I more grown up? Maybe it just wasn’t the right time. But I can't help but think if we had music TV back then and they’d shown I Can't Tell You Why some time in the 80s, I would have fallen at least a little in love.

The ubiquitous dungarees

‘O still small voice of calm’

In History of the Eagles, and in interviews, concerts, TBS comes across as so grounded, naturally optimistic and good-natured, with a sense of gratitude and humility, an awareness that the other Eagles probably didn’t have in 1979:

‘I’m a lucky guy. What can I say?’

but seem to have now (although HOTE proves that Don H and Glenn were always conscious of the transience of fame and success). I imagine Timothy can usually be relied on to see both sides of an argument although I expect he deems it wise not to rock the boat. In this interview on Bob Rivers, he’s affable but doesn’t let them get anything wrong (eg. the tapdance teacher misconception).

I wonder if his unassuming, placid presence and apparent all around wholesomeness have an effect on other people’s behaviour, their egos. Would it make them hesitate before swearing? Of course I could be wrong; he might be a total divo although this quote from TimothyBSchmitonline seems to back up my impression:

‘With his sweet, calm, caring demeanor he always manages to make a fan feel special … Timothy always takes the time to go the extra mile to connect with his fans … he loves to create music and is extremely grateful for all of his good fortune.’

In Part One, I speculated that the rest of the Eagles might eat him for breakfast. Learning more about him, hearing his solo songs, his sweet talking voice (surely the voice of reason, he’s so softly spoken in the aforementioned interview that you have to listen really hard to hear him), I think it was more like throwing a lamb to the wolves.Would they rip him to shreds or adopt him as a mascot?

The Lone Arranger

The Lone Arranger and the First Resort

But he was Glenn's first choice; he wanted him even though Irving Azoff reported him as ‘smashed out of his head and gakked up’ in a hotel bar. Still not entirely clear on how to spell ‘gakked’ up or what it means – any elucidation appreciated. Revved up on speed I think. With Glenn the most volatile member of the band rooting for him, he was safe-ish. Glenn seems to be the one who’s always had a vision of what the band should be, how it should develop, the man with the plan. I like what he says about Poco:

‘Back then, Poco was the band that impressed me most. Their vocals were pristine and perfect. They were the band I wanted to model us after. …but I had my eye on Poco… and I wanted to go beyond them too.’

Listen to this high audio quality Keep On Tryin’ and you’ll see what he means. In HOTE, TBS affirms that he belonged in the Eagles (see Bashful's poem).

There’s no doubt that the Eagles surpassed Poco in terms of success and effectively bridged the divide between country/folk and rock music but more of that in a bonafide Eagles/Poco blog later. I believe Poco were a prototype for early Eagles.

Hell Freezes Over

'I don't know when I realized the dream was over' (Waiting in the Weeds)

These lines could just as easily refer to the dissolution of the band than as to any other relationship (not with a bang but a whimper). By the time I was old enough to go to gigs though, ‘the dream was over’, the flame had fizzled out. Then, by 1994, when hell froze over, it was Kurt Cobain all the way. I was going to tons of shows but had forgotten all about the Eagles. But Hell Freezes Over - what a fantastic title for a tour and an album. It shows they didn't take themselves too seriously and could laugh at the past.

But, at any time, I could go back, and often did. Would decide to play the old vinyl albums I’d bought long after the first Greatest Hits had come out, Desperado, etc. Also had The Long Run but never really got into it, apart from Heartache Tonight, which still had the vitality of the early days. Didn’t rate I Can't Tell You Why, which I now love. It didn’t fit with my idea of the band at the time.

‘I have my place in the band’

However, I do think TBS has been a little pigeon-holed in the Eagles; he’s proved himself great at tear-jerking ballads but he did much more than this in Poco and in his solo projects. The Eagles had lost Randy’s high vocal range and Bernie’s soft side (songs like I Wish You Peace) and country credentials and Timothy was the ideal substitute. He had those three things in spades.

I find his phrasing so distinctive, so unusual. I can never anticipate where he will pause or what he will emphasise. He reaches the high note on a word or elongates a word unexpectedly. But however he does it (and probably he doesn’t have to think about it), it works brilliantly and after a while seems the natural and only way to sing the line. It’s almost like he’s having a conversation and you can hear the cadences and rhythms of his normal speaking voice in the songs.

So, first a retrospective look at his vocals with the Eagles.

To die for cute ...

I Can't Tell You Why

Discussed this in Part One but have a little more to say. A little rewriting of history is taking place, as implied by this from Don H:

‘Timothy came in with the title and other bits and pieces. Glenn and I just wanted to surround it with everything we could. Glenn came up with that wonderful counterpart … Glenn also composed and played that great guitar solo.’

And Glenn’s version:

‘Timothy joined the band and the real challenge, as Don and I saw it, was to get a piece of material for him that wasn’t country. So we got him over to LaFontaine, and the three of us got down to work. I said, “You could sing like Smokey Robinson. Let’s not do a Richie Furay, Poco-sounding song. Let’s do an R&B song.” He said, “Sure, love to try!”’

[I think I’d just do what Glenn told me too. And it turned out to be a great choice, leading as it did to a no. 8 single.]

Glenn makes it sound as if they racked their brains and came up with something but surely that’s a revision of the original story? And personally, I love the Poco sound and who better to deliver it than one of Poco? I do agree there is a Smokey-like quality to Timothy’s voice, something that has been exploited to good effect in the songs he gets to sing with the Eagles. However, Timothy’s role seems to have been minimised in the retelling. I don’t doubt that Don and Glenn had a lot of input but the emphasis was different before.

When we get crazy, it just ain't right/(Try to keep your head, little girl)/Girl, I get lonely, too/You don't have to worry/Just hold on tight/(Don't get caught in your little world)/'Cause I love you/Nothing's wrong as far as I can see/We make it harder than it has to be/And I can't tell you why

Can't help but wonder if the lines ‘Nothing's wrong as far as I can see/We make it harder than it has to be’ are an oblique reference to the situation in the band, with the in-fighting and eventual implosion. TBS has said before that he thought to start with that it was just the usual band friction rather than anything worth breaking up over. 

‘Come on, guys!’

Timothy didn’t have to think twice about an Eagles reunion. You can tell from his comment about their experience during the Travis Tritt Take It Easy recording in 1992 that he was ready and waiting. Incidentally, has Tim’s hair ever looked more gorgeous than in the video for this?

HOTE

Love Will Keep Us Alive 

A version from the current tour (2013) with a nice introduction by TBS. Don says something during this that makes him smile.Also love it when he performs this solo. It has a different feel, more personal.

I grew up in the 80s so even though I know very well what the song is called, every time I say the title it comes out as Love Will Tear Us Apart, a Freudian slip perhaps indicative of my natural negativity. Timothy’s a glass half-full person; I’m a glass half-empty, I hesitate to say more like Don Felder. Always ready to look a gift horse in the mouth.

[There’s a version on YouTube with some over-keen fans that’s torture to listen to. Timothy comes across as such a sensitive soul – when someone’s putting his heart into a vocal, why do people think it’s ok to ‘sing’ along, and so badly? Makes me angry when this happens at gigs. I didn’t go to hear Joe Bloggs yell out the lyrics. I paid money to hear the person on stage. I can understand people getting carried away, wanting to express their enthusiasm. Please do it some other way. We all know the words, you don’t need to prove it. Fine to join in if the singer asks you to (as Ray Davies insists on doing) but otherwise mouth the words and save your vocals for the shower. It just shows a lack of respect for the singer.]

Timothy endows the lyrics with his own sanguine, romantic sensibility and tenderness:

I was standing/All alone against the world outside/You were searching/For a place to hide/Lost and lonely/Now you've given me the will to survive/When we're hungry/Love will keep us alive

I Don’t Want to Hear Any More

Moody

Nice to see TBS run the show so sweetly, with such grace, humour, confidence and joy in this 'solo' rendition, segueing smoothly from an easy rapport with musicians and audience:
‘Alright then! … Ready, Herman? I know you are’
to the heart of the emotion in the song. I feel tears start in my eyes. I only wish he’d sung the chorus too. I don't know whether he is naturally able to invest the melody and words with soul or whether it’s simply a quality or tone he always has in his voice that makes you  quiver. Incredible.

This Paul Carrack song has rather drippy lyrics:

It's not the first time/That I've had the sense that something's wrong/But I'm old enough to know/That things don't always work out like they should/I know you're tryin' hard/To break it gently to me, now/But there's no easy way/To tell it like it is, so baby

but Timothy manages to lend them credibility because of his gentle persona and manner. Instead of thinking ‘What a sap!’, you think ‘Oh how sensitive’.

Photogenically windswept

Do Something

Amazingly not available on YouTube so can't link to it. Another plaintive break-up ballad, co-written with Glenn and Don H. Timothy’s vocal is perfect as ever, like the iridescence in a bubble, light and beautiful, floating over our heads:

But when I feel like giving up/And there’s nowhere left to go/That’s the time I dig down deep/It's the only thing I know

But these slightly sappy songs are not solely reserved for TBS. People have criticised IDWTHAM but the sentiments in What Do I Do with My Heart are very similar, maybe even wimpier:

You don't have to say a word/I can see it in your eyes/I know what you wanna say/It's so hard to say goodbye

But then Glenn is able to counterbalance this with the brilliant paranoid rant of Somebody.

Learn to Be Still

Although it’s a Henley song, it’s a lesson that could be learned from Timothy. More haste, less speed. You get the feeling that he’s paid his dues and finally gets to reap the rewards. Too often that never happens to the most-deserving people. His attitude:

‘Don't take yourself too seriously and all that stuff. That’s hard to do sometimes.'

But only to note his lead vocals would not fully cover his contribution to the band – the harmonies, the solid bass rhythm, his personable and peaceful presence, spreading ripples of good humour and calm across stage and studio. Well, I feel it when I watch him.

‘I’m doing alright’

This is his sweet understatement on the Bob Rivers show. He just seems so endlessly optimistic and positive, almost Pollyanna-ish, ready to find the good in any situation. Of course that’s just my idea of him and may not be accurate at all. Strikes me he might be the Mark Owen of the band if it’s not an insult to compare the Eagles with Take That. Robbie Williams talked of ‘the Tao of Mark Owen’. He (Robbie) would be bitching and moaning about something and Mark would just say ‘It doesn’t matter’. He managed in this manner to stay friends with everyone and win Celebrity Big Brother.

Back together

Collared by a reporter (on HFO DVD), TBS is unable or too polite to shake him off. He’s pursued and shepherded around till someone rescues him (Irving Azoff I think).

As a recent convert, I’m only just beginning to investigate Timothy’s solo work. Hardly an arduous task. Admit I was a little afraid of Playin' It Cool and Timothy B. and the big 80s hair, not to mention the ‘at-first-sight’ fairly naff videos. But that’s what all music and videos were like then. At least that's what I remember. Dry ice and wind machines. I’ve chosen a few of my current favourites, discovering more all the time, that demonstrate Timothy’s versatility as arranger, composer, singer and his ability to interpret someone else’s song while staying true to its spirit.

Something Sad from Tell Me the Truth

This song showcases the perfect bell-like clarity of his voice. The middle eight is mellifluous and highlights his peculiarly effective phrasing. He reaches a peak on the ‘up’ of ‘wake up’, extends ‘dream’ into two syllables and ‘really’ into three. Interesting.

Deep in the night I dream we're together/Nothing can do me wrong/But then I wake up and find you're really not there/Like a singer without a song

Caroline, No from Stars & Stripes, Vol. 1

TBS’s interpretation of this Beach Boys tune is clear and true, full of energy; the original seems to drag a little in comparison. There’s a clip of the recording on YouTube with the Beach Boys comments about TBS ‘really feeling the song’ and singing it ‘beautifully’. They recorded some background harmonies that weren’t there first time around so all in all a new improved version.

One More Mile from Expando

He deflates any sexiness in this bluesy number by singing:

Well, I cleaned up the kitchen and it looks so good/I'm ready to live my life/I got my umbrella and my rubber boots/I even got my pocket knife

He’s not exactly living on the edge. Before he can live his life, he has to clean up the kitchen and then makes sure to take an umbrella out in case he gets wet. Bless.

Top of the Stairs from Feed the Fire

Beautiful acapella – so striking and intimate. Because of the layering of the vocals, you don’t at first realise that there are no instruments. Perfectly constructed.

I know a place that's right/Meet me at the top of the stairs tonight/And we'll remember what heaven's for/It's waiting behind that door

I’ve been waiting a while now, honey. When you gonna show?

The Shadow from Feed the Fire

His voice is totally sublime, I feel a catch in my throat as he sings the first line, the acoustic guitar refrain so delicate.

I've been so brokenhearted/You've been so far away/I don't know how it started/To be this way/I want to tell you something/I want to play with fate/Come over here and listen/It's not too late/We need to feed the fire/Gotta stir the wind/I will never tire/And I won't give in

I realise that I'm probably preaching mainly to the converted but I've always evangelised where music is concerned, hence all my blogs on the late, great and much-missed Jackie Leven.

But, if I thought TBS was a revelation, Poco were an epiphany so more on them in the next blog.

Schmitten Part One: 'The flow of energy was so fine'*

AAhh

* A line from Keep On Tryin' by Poco.

So – a diversion from Opinion8 and the Kinks. Let’s go on the road, tune into FM radio …Links in the song titles as usual.

Watching History of the Eagles documentaries on BBC2 has made me rethink some of my previous opinions.

[These are practically the only programmes I’ve watched on the BBC this year, with the exception of the Scandinavian strand on BBC4. So really I’m paying my licence fee to ensure that the already overpaid BBC staffers can recommend that they all get exorbitant severance packages, over and above those specified in their contracts, because they weren’t chosen for promotion or they made a complete hash of the promotion they were given. £60 million in payouts. ‘It’s been a long time coming but a change is gonna come.’ Scrap the licence fee.]

Don’t get me wrong. I’ve always loved the Eagles and nothing’s changed there. I know they don’t use the definite article but I always have and it doesn’t seem right not to. Whatever other stage I’ve gone through in my life musically (and there’ve been some embarrassing ones), they’ve remained the one constant. I could at any time suddenly experience a resurgence of interest and dig out the old vinyl albums to play. They captured the 70s for me, that laidback West Coast vibe that was a thousand miles from my life in 80s London suburbia. In my imagination, I was there. Like Lloyd Cole, I was crazy for Americana, had read Kerouac and Kinsey and thought the US was impossibly romantic

I can recognise most of these songs from the first couple of notes and seeing Joe Walsh sing Pretty Maids had me in tears. That was unexpected. And it was a great programme – might review it later. I love Don Henley’s quote: ‘We set out to become a band for our time but sometimes if you do a good enough job, you become a band for all time’.

The original and I used to think the best

However, I lamented the departure of founding members Bernie Leadon and Randy Meisner and never rated Timothy B. Schmit. I thought him a poor substitute. I’ll leave Don Felder out for the time being – the news that the Eagles are intending to tour again and that an ex-member is planning to return is tantalising. I would love it to be any of these three. Just discovered it’s Bernie. Until now, Bernie was always my favourite Eagle but that’s because I had never appreciated TBS, never given him the time. Still, wouldn't it be brilliant if they played My Man? I live for that.

I didn’t think (then) that TBS added anything to what the band had, dismissed his songs as sappy and sentimental and his voice as weak and insipid. I thought he was a feather-weight thrown in with heavy-weights and there was likely to be a smackdown. Surely the other Eagles would eat him for breakfast? Something sweet they could spread on their toast. But I was wrong. Not too proud to admit it. I don't know why I didn’t see it before, that what he contributes is … ineffable, a quality of calm – all wholesome goodness, a purity of tone, all sweetness and light. Something sensitive and touching and beautiful. And still. It’s like the whole band whirls around him and he’s this gentle, peaceful presence in the midst of the vortex. He doesn’t seem to get rattled, the closest he gets is looking a little fed up in the studio, like a child who’s been told he has to eat his greens.

He looks so happy!

First thing I learned was that he was with the Eagles before they broke up in 1980, for three years. And he looked really cute. I’d previously assumed that he’d only been in the 1994 reunion line-up. 1994 would have been the first chance I had to go see the Eagles but I decided it was too expensive (£40 a ticket). You’re laughing, right? Now it’s at least £100!

Prompted to re-explore Poco who were around three years before the Eagles formed. I used to think of Poco as Eagles-lite, pleasant enough but without the punch of the real thing, without the edge, a soft-focus, diluted version but now I see them differently. There’s a clarity and a feel-good atmosphere to most Poco songs. It’s obvious from the clips on YouTube – wish I’d had this when I was young – then I might have known, albeit after he left them, how incredibly pretty young Timothy was. And I would have had a way of listening to more of their material because what Poco had/maybe still have, or what they communicate, is a palpable joy. It’s evident in the way they play together. That Eagles ‘In Concert’ from 1973 is similar. Makes me wish/yearn that I could go back to that time and be the right age to go to a Poco show. Where’s the Hot Tub Time Machine when you need it?

Assumed the name meant something in Native American but learn that they originally chose Pogo, after some cartoon character and had to change it because someone objected. Well, I’ll stick with my romanticised version.

Totally gratuitous Tim pic

Ok, they weren’t roaring, they were purring. But how lovely. Hearing them, you never doubt that they mean what they’re singing.

Now I see that he’s the perfect addition. He has that high, delicate, pure voice, he plays bass, he writes. Ironic and a little sad that as soon as he joins, he gets to contribute a song, have it chosen as a single and sing the lead himself. So much for feather-weight. Poor Don Felder must have been spitting blood.

Obviously not an alpha male (unlike Frey, Henley and Walsh), not even obviously a male (flowing locks, softly spoken, that girlish, apologetic-sounding talking voice), I suppose his charm and his unassuming humility meant he wasn’t viewed as a threat. And in he came to steal the first hit.

Although people have made fun of his laidback, easy-going manner, he was asked to join this notoriously difficult band without playing a note with them so how’s that for respect?

His voice doesn’t sound as strong as it sounded with Poco (although he’s always had access to that sublime upper register), it’s as if he’s realised that he needs to cover different ground in the Eagles.

A quick word on a couple of tracks Timothy’s been on, not necessarily composer or lead singer but which benefit from all the above-mentioned qualities.

I Can't Tell You Why

This video with Tim in big headphones I now love. All that beautiful hair, that earnestness: he’s adorable. The song I thought was tepid, trivial, unworthy of the band, I find myself singing. He’s right – the song has space to breathe, develop; simple, unalloyed and his voice fits it perfectly. And then there’s Don Felder’s solo … what more need I say?

Rose of Cimarron

I remember a certain song very well – Rose of Cimarron, from hearing it on pirate radio, must have been reasonably catchy. Written by Rusty Young. But this song that I thought of as slender, slight, insubstantial even, is so much more. Heavenly harmonies, a perfect blend of voices, a lovely melody. And TBS’s voice has a heartbreaking sweetness and purity that takes it to another plane.

Keep on Tryin’

In this video, they look and sound a little like they’re underwater.

More spot-on harmonies, another amazingly contagious, uplifting tune. Real tenderness. Just the ohs at the beginning make my heart flutter and when the words come in, it’s incredibly beautiful. Not so much a wall of sound as a lace net curtain of sound. Their voices are delicately interwoven into something fine and intricate, that lets the light through to cast filigree shadow patterns on the wall.

Wow!

I will write more later on other outstanding Poco tracks, such as their magnificent version of Magnolia and on some TBS solo songs, lightweight but lovely confections, such as Something Sad.

Please forgive the devotion and zeal of the newly converted.I've taken photos from all over so please let me know if you want a credit. Thanks to: http://eaglesonlinecentral.com.

Bashful Badger was inspired  to write a poem about TBS; you can read it here.

Part Two of this blog is here.