Rocker Takes It to the Limit
Author: Ritchie Yorke
Publication: Sunday Mail (QLD)
Date: September 6, 1992
Abstract: Australian interview where Glenn discusses topics such as the fact that he's happy with his current life and work and his music's thematic progression from the Eagles to Strange Weather.
Coming to terms with midde-age and maturity is not something that megastar rock musicians have handled notably well.
Mick Jagger still struts around but as a parody of his sizzling Sixties persona, while his solo recording efforts (sans the Stones) have been dismissed off-the-cuff by the punters.
Recently turned 50, Paul McCartney - that most glorious superstar of the colorful Sixties - somehow has evolved into a talented middle-of-the-road songwriter caught in the deadly cross currents of time, unable to connect with the present generation and not meeting the expectations of those whose youth was serenaded so sweetly by Eleanor Rigby, Golden Slumbers, Yesterday, Penny Lane and The Long and Winding Road.
But middle age has arrived rather gracefuly in the enviable life of Glenn Frey, the former Eagles' guitarist vocalist and (in tandem with Don Henley) key songwriter, whose arsenal of Seventies angst includes such enduring warhorses as Desperado, Take It To the Limit, One of These Nights, Take It Easy, New Kid in Town and Hotel California.
There can be no doubt that those songs (among other Eagles' classics) helped shape the adolescence of many millions growing up in the Seventies, but Glenn Frey has taken that connection in his stride and is 10 years down the track on a distinguished and diverse solo career .
"Am I having as much fun now as I did with the Eagles?" he pre-empted the anticipated question during a visit to Brisbane last week. "Absolutely! And we did have a lot of fun during the Eagles' era (1972-81) - we really did.
"Now I'm having fun as well, but it's a different kind of fun, a little more mature kind of fun.
"There's a little more fine dining and golf involved in my criteria for having fun these days," he said, relaxing in a suite at the Heritage Hotel under a striking drawing of a pink and white striped Phalaenopsis orchid, the spectacular variety found blooming profusely around Brisbane. "One of my weak points is that I'm a fool for fun," he said. "I have a mandate for happiness."
Frey, looking fit and lean, was back in the Sunshine State for the first time since the autumn of 1988 when he was brought out here to appear with the Little River Band as their special guest at the opening Expo show.
The purpose of this "keenly anticipated" trip was to promote his newly-released fourth MCA solo album, Strange Weather, and to set the stage for a planned concert tour in late November.
It's been a full four years since the release of his last album, Soul Searching, and the comfortably articulate Frey had a ready explanation.
"It's taken me a couple of years to get my life organised since I was last in Brisbane.
"In that I got married, we found out that we were expecting a child and that was sort of the impetus to get me finally to move to Colorado on a permanent basis.
"I've owned a house in Aspen since 1975. It took us two years to get moved up there and have a recording studio set up, and another couple of years working on the Strange Weather album.
"Having my own studio is the only way I can live away from the major music-making cities. Otherwise I'd be recording in LA and stuck in a hotel room."
Frey's new-found domestic bliss obviously is one of the inspirations for the wide array of textures to be found in the Strange Weather album, which immediately declares its individuality with its opening instrumental prelude, Silent Spring, dedicated to US environmental pioneer, the late Rachel Carson.
As befits a composer who has etched out some of the finest lyrics in the annals of American pop music history, Frey's new album contains an array of reflections on topical social issues and concerns, an area that he has deliberately stayed away from since the poignant protest songs of the Eagles' era."I've been trying to figure out why this record is different than the other records I've made," Frey admitted.
"I've sort of taken myself through my own musical history. When I wrote with Don Henley in the Eagles, there was a lot of topical material.
"But I think that when the Eagles broke up (in 1982) I made a definite effort to steer away from that and to stick to having fun and not be required to make a heavy statement and have my world view on every LP.
"Somehow that's all evolved and now I have the confidence to write some topical material again, and this is what I happened to be thinking about.
"I'm going through what I think a whole lot of people my age are going through in America right now - I think we're disillusioned and dissatisfied and that feeling has made it into my work this time around.
"I think part of this record is probably wrought out of the frustrations of 12 years of Reaganomics and the sort of things which have happened in our country.
"Only experience and time can really bring confidence, and that's one thing that I have right now.
"It doesn't scare me to do a tune like Blues for Ronald Reagan or a little cartoon like Big Life and have a bit of fun with it."If you're in your early 40s and you're still making contemporary records, then your writing should show some sign of maturity.
"You wouldn't expect to write about the same things that interested you in your 20s.
"In the big picture I think that Nature's going to be fine. I think that Nature can deal with a little pollution and styrofoam.
They'll figure out a way."
With such a positive attitude, it's hardly surprising that Glenn Frey (and Don Henley) have evolved so strongly as solo entities - when so many former supergroup compatriots of the Seventies and Sixties have fallen by the wayside.
"I think that part of that comes from the fact that Don and I always concentrated on our songwriting," Frey said.
"Like they say on Broadway: 'If it ain't on the page, it ain't on the stage.' I believe in that.
"Rock 'n' roll may have some credibility problems at times but every time you get a record from Don Henley or from Glenn Frey, at least you're getting an honest effort. We don't have to churn out a bunch of albums every year to guarantee some mega advance."
