Norman still producing today, and won his first Grammy in 2021 for his work on the Fisk Jubilee Singers' "Celebrating Fisk!" album. Nashville and became president of the label in 1989, guiding the careers of Randy Travis, Faith Hill, Dwight Yoakam and others. He found his way to Music City, where he joined Warner Bros. Norman went on to do arrangements for several more Eagles albums, including "Hotel California," as well as recordings by Linda Ronstadt and Bob Seger - but that was just the beginning.īy the end of the '70s, he was an in-demand producer, working with Anne Murray on a string of successes. As he began to conduct the musicians, he peeked back at Henley and Johns, and found their "mouths agape." He'd spent weeks listening to a demo of "Desperado" and writing a lush arrangement that he felt would best serve the lyric and melody. In other respects, however, Norman was beyond well-prepared. "Just that day, my life as an arranger, composer and conductor happened all in one fell swoop (laughs)." He brought this up to producer Glyn Johns, who responded, "Well, you're going to conduct, aren't you, mate?" And it wasn't long before I was a nervous wreck.”Īs those musicians took their seats, Norman noticed they didn't have headphones. One of them played cello on (The Beatles') "Yesterday,” and others played in the Queen's Chamber Orchestra. “I had a large group of musicians, and I was introduced to each one of those players as they arrived. “It was the very first thing I'd ever done,” Norman recalls to The Tennessean. They were about to record a song called “Desperado.” Behind him, in the control room, were members of what was soon to be one of the biggest bands of all time: The Eagles. In front of him were the country’s best classical musicians. In 1973, at age 24, he found himself on the conductor’s rostrum at London’s Olympic Studios. The band famously said that they’d only get back together when “hell freezes over.” The ‘Hell Freezes Over’ tour began in 1994.For a 50-year vet of the music industry, Jim Ed Norman had one heck of a first day. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,’ MJ’s ‘Dangerous,’ Celine Dion’s ‘Falling Into You’ and the soundtrack to ‘Dirty Dancing.’ This album saw the peak of The Eagles who would subsequently implode a few years later due to in-fighting. The album has sold a staggering 32 million copies worldwide making it the 10th best-selling album of all time (roughly equal with ‘Sgt. The album took 4 weeks to reach #1 where it would peak another 8 times. ‘Pretty Maids In A Row’ is the sole song written and sung by Joe Walsh and is one of the softer moments on the record. ‘Life In The Fast Lane’ well and truly announces Walsh’s arrival with his funky, filthy opening guitar riff reminiscent of James Gang’s ‘Funk #49.’ ‘Wasted Time’ closes Side A of the record, a song with the sweet vocals of Henley, typical of his later solo work and even songs with The Eagles such as ‘Desperado.’ Side B opens with a reprise of the song before another hard rocking song, ‘Victim Of Love.’ The song was recorded live in studio, apart from the vocals, and you can hear it. It's also about the fleeting nature of fame, especially in the music business,” according to Henley. ‘New Kid In Town’ typically Frey, is a sweet song about “the fleeting, fickle nature of love and romance. I spent many hours myself trying to learn this one in my teens. The interplay between Walsh and Don Felder is iconic. ‘Hotel California’ opens its namesake album, and is unanimously one of the greatest guitar songs of all time. The peace and love of the ‘60s was well and truly over, and this record was here to confirm it. The album explores themes of the dark underbelly of the American Dream difficulites in work/life balance, relationship between business and art, corruption in politics and the shattering of illusions. His vocal harmonies are all over the record too. Co-band leader, Glenn Frey took a backseat vocally, on this album, singing lead vocals on just one of the nine tracks, although he did co-write seven of them. His presence within the band was immediately felt, giving a new lease on life to The Eagles on this, their fifth record. Walsh had enjoyed a successful career with James Gang, as well as a solo career after leaving that band. If Bernie Leadon was the member that brought the Country sound to The Eagles, Joe Walsh was the member that brought the big, dirty riffs.
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