Don Henley ~ Actual Miles: Henley's Greatest Hits (hits comp) (album review) ... Remembering the last worthless evening!

Style: soft rock
Label: Geffen
Year: 1995
Home: n/a

Members: Don Henley ~ vocals/drums/keyboards/guitar
Danny Kortchmar ~ keyboards/bass/guitar/b. vocals
John Corey ~ guitar/keyboards
Pino Palladino, Larry Klein, Neil Stubenhaus ~ bass
Vinnie Colaiuta ~ drums
Jai Winding ~ keyboards

Additional: Steve Madaio ~ trumpet
Mike Boddicker, Scott Plunkett ~ keyboards
Waddy Wachtel, Frank Simes ~ guitar/b.vocals
Jimmy Rip ~ guitar
Tim Drummond, Bob Glaub ~ bass
Scott Crago, Ian Wallace ~ drums
Martha Davis, Maxine Waters, Julia Waters, Mindy Stein, Carmen Twillie, George Gruel ~ b. vocals

Guests: Joe Walsh ~ lead guitar
Steve Lukather, Roger Linn ~ guitar
Mike Campbell ~ guitar/keyboards
Timothy B. Schmidt ~ bass/guitar/b. vocals
Bruce Hornsby, Benmont Tench, David Paich ~ keyboards
Stan Lynch, Jeff Porcaro ~ drums
Axl Rose, Sheryl Crow, Patty Smyth, Take 6 ~ b. vocals
Wayne Shorter ~ saxophone
Michael Fisher ~ percussion


Listening to this CD after so long makes me ask the question: whatever happened to DH? The Eagles reunited & then I remember his solo hits vanished. A read through wikipedia says he kept low due to a lawsuit against his record label & then went into the direction of an advocate for artist rights. Good for him & his causes, but sad for us fans as he made great music, both with the Eagles & on his own & he's only released one album since. There's not too many singing drummers who are in successful bands then have equally successful solo careers with both catalogs holding up against the test of time. Though, maybe his songs haven't really withstood the test of time & its my nostalgia remembering hearing them on the radio that keeps me interested. "Dirty Laundry", "The Boys Of Summer", "All She Wants To Do Is Dance" are of the adult contemporary soft rock genre that might not exist anymore, while the heavy keyboards dates the songs when metal was still more underground than mainstream. This is the world of Dire Straits, Stevie Nicks, Bruce Hornsby, who also co-wrote "The End Of The Innocence", & a template for feel good radio hits for a nice drive in the car. This is the world when a ballad didn't mean a power ballad nor shallow (for example, "Not Enough Love In The World", "The End Of The Innocence" & "The Last Worthless Evening"). DH made songs everyone could like that weren't too hard rock, yet not too light weight pop. Maybe a bit forgettable at times, but what keeps them afloat is you either have a basic soft rock song or you have a deeper message. Just like "Hotel California", DH's songs can be taken for fun or serious, depending on how much you want to look. The strong rhythmic hook versus the standard guitar riff also keeps these from falling into total obscurity or a nostalgic treasure of the past. I've always found interesting the odd duck track "I Will Not Go Quietly" with Axl Rose on backing vocals & a funky guitar part straight out of the Red Hot Chili Peppers & far more raw than we expect DH to be. The album includes three new songs of mixed results, as is often the case with greatest hits extras. "The Garden Of Allah" was the big single but the riff repeats too much, the song goes on too long, too many voice-overs & it's just far too heavy with its message to be fun. Creative but not fun. In it's attempt to give a message it verges on losing the listener. It's nice to hear a Leonard Cohen song, but "Everybody Knows" not only suffers from bad singing but gets long, though a nice little muffled guitar. Then there's "You Don't Know Me At All" that fits nicely with the past songs. This is a collection & artist well worth remembering.

Dan Fogelberg ~ Greatest Hits (hits comp) (album review) ... Far from the same old lang syne!

Style: soft rock, pop rock, classic rock, jazz rock
Label: Epic
Year: 1982

Members: Dan Fogelberg ~ vocals/keyboards/guitar/bass/mandolin/percussion/vibraphone
Tim Weisberg ~ flute/oboe/piccolo/percussion
John Leslie Hug ~ guitar/harp
Willie Weeks, Brian Garafalo, Norbert Putnam ~ bass
Kenny Passarelli ~ bass/sousaphone
Paul Harris, Neil Larson, Mike Utley, Mike Finnigan ~ keyboards
Jim Keltner, Kenneth A. Buttrey ~ drums
Andy Newmark ~ drums/keyboards
Russ Kunkel ~ drums/conga
Jody Boyer, Heart Of Darkness, Marie Ouhrabka, Florence Warner ~ b. vocals

Additional: Jimmie Haskell ~ accordion
Al Perkins ~ pedal steel guitar
David Breinenthal ~ bassoon
John Ellis ~ organ/oboe
David Duke, Vincent DeRosa, Jerry Hey, Earl Dumler ~ horns
Tom Scott ~ saxophone/lyricon
Marty Lewis, Bobbye Hall, Gary Coleman ~ percussion
Jody Linscott ~ conga
Joe Lala ~ conga/timbales
Jesse Erlich ~ cello
Ann Mason Stockton, Gayle Levant ~ harp

Guests: Glenn Frey, Emmylou Harris, Chris Hillman, Joni Mitchell, Michael Brewer, Graham Nash, Richie Fray, Randy Meisner ~ b. vocals
Don Henley ~ drums/b. vocals
Joe Walsh ~ guitar/bass/b. vocals
Gerry Beckley ~ guitars
Michael Brecker ~ saxophone
Jimmie Fadden ~ harmonica
Don Alias ~ percussion


I found this album tucked away in a box after a decade. A musician friend is a big fan of DF, greatly inspired by him & even got in touch bearing gifts with his widow, so I thought it was time to pull out the old cassette & take a listen & recall what the bragging was about. DF belongs to a world long gone, or at least to my ears long gone. The age of thickly textured soft rock made for a drive in the car, ballads that aren't pretentious shallow guitar rock or under the banner of power ballad, love songs without obligatory guitar solos, a bit of country, a bit of folk, a bit of pop, a bit of jazz & no attempt to throw around the fusion label but just create memorable music. It's the era when the airwaves were ruled by Warren Zevon, Jackson Browne, Cat Stevens, CSN&Y, Steve Miller & the Eagles, or at least such names brought respect not confusion. The era when music appealed to the masses. Some might even say the era when art & finely honed skills were still a part of music, but I can pull up some exceptions to that. DF's career was at its peak in the 1970's, but six of the ten tracks on this little collection are from the 80's, making it eligible for this blog. That might seem like a heavy weight on what is but two albums, but 1981's The Innocent Age was a breakthrough moment for DF commercially, critically & creatively & didn't change his trademark sound very much. It would also mark the end of his peak. Those who loved his 70's soft rock sound & carefully constructed lyrics wouldn't stop listening but the radio DJ's weren't spinning anymore as the musical landscape was changing & there was no room for this type of music. Music now had to be in your face, noisy or with a dance beat. It's easy to forget that for a few years the folk scene was in hibernation & acoustic guitars were frowned upon expect for the obligatory power ballad on every album. DF was a tragedy of the music business for no fault of his own, like hundreds of others from the biggest names to the smallest. Though, he never really got his comeback so many other bands have enjoyed & I don't even know if someone under 30 even knows his name or would like the heavily textured pop of shimmering landscapes. This little album a great starting point for that comeback. He might be gone, but its not too late. There's more compilations of his music than number of studio albums he put out, but no big chart hits would appear after 1982 so this compilation is not just his first hits compilation to be released but also sets the template for all that would follow. His 2001 Very Best duplicates all but one song even. It's a safe collection, providing the basics, nothing more, good for the casual or curious listener. The only problem is its brevity that later collections quickly make up for. Further, this is not a career overview by far, as it draws on only four albums spread across two decades, truly just focusing on the greatest hits. It includes: "Part Of The Plan" from his second album Souvenirs from 1974, "Power Of Gold" from 1978's Twin Sons Of Different Mothers, "Longer" & "Heart Hotels" from 1980's Phoenix, while from 1981's The Innocent Age is "Leader Of The Band", "Run For The Roses", "Same Old Lang Syne" & "Hard To Say." There's a lot of time there in the 70's not accounted for here. It includes two unreleased tracks, "Make Love Stay" & "Missing You", that might break the rule of being greatest hits, but were both released as singles at the time & charted in the Billboard Top 30. So, if you want to hear the best of DF & not worry about much else this is a good compilation, though I'd also recommend his studio album The Innocent Age which includes my favorite song "Leader Of The Band". While mention his name to anyone over 40 & I think you'll get a fast & unexpected reaction of praise.

Henry Lee Summer ~ Way Past Midnight (album review) ... Way past commercially slick for its own good!

Style: country rock, hard rock
Label: Epic Records
Year: 1991
Home: Indiana

Members: Henry Lee Summer ~ vocals/rhy guitar/keyboards/bass
Tim Pierce, Tony Bowles ~ guitar
Kenny Aronoff ~ drums
John Pierce ~ bass
John Cascella ~ sax/keyboards
Doug Sizemore ~ keyboards

Additional: Danny Miranda, Gene Boccia, Toby Myers ~ bass
Rich Tancredi ~ keyboards
Michael Organ ~ drums
Kenny Greenberg, Danny Torrell, Michael Landau ~ guitar
Kim Fleming, Vicki Hampton, Micky Thomas, John Batdorf, Myrna Matthews, Maxine Waters, Julia Water-Tillman, Joe Turano, Chris Rodriguez, Shaun Murphy, Terry Wood, Jean McClain ~ b. vocals

Guests: Joe Walsh, Al Pitrelli ~ guitar
Robbie Buchanan ~ keyboards
Joe Franco ~ drums
Michael Bolton, Stan Bush ~ b. vocals

There's a growing trend amongst musicians who either charge out the door with a modest hit or are seeking one ... & happen to be unlucky enough to know an L.A. producer ... they become incredibly more commercial & over-produced which kills their individuality along with their career in the eyes of many fans. This is particularly the case of acoustic focused rockers, such as Cheryl Crow, Jewel & Keb Mo' who all started as rough coffee house-esque folk rockers like nobody had seen only to be glossed up & lacking future hits. The third album with Epic Records found Mellencamp-esque heartland rocker Henry Lee Summer, famous for his mullet & his 1987 hit "Wish I Had A Girl" following the commercial route to find a bigger audience & in the process becoming less heartland, less HLS & more bland FM friendly rock. Way Past Midnight was essentially the beginning of the end for HLS who'd fall into heavy drug addiction & a complete collapse of his career for many years. Once described as having a "sandpaper voice" & the "homeless man's John Mellencamp" HLS always had a particular at ease passion in his music that made up for his lack of originality. He was always best with homespun ballads with the commercial gloss usually being his weakest moments ... given the poor response to Way Past Midnight the logic behind this observation becomes quickly obvious. It's one thing to sound like John Mellencamp but it's another to sound like Michael Bolton but without the soft croon. But, that's the transition that's occurred here ... considering the album opens up with a song HLS co-wrote with Michael Bolton. The clichéd outcome isn't so bad but it's a false high followed by a series of songs demonstrating that Bolton-esque keyboards don't always gel with sandpaper. Many of the songs (i.e. "I Don't Want To Live This Lie", "So Desperately", "Little By Little") end up becoming unrecognizable as part of the HLS catalog. They might be lyrically perfect for HLS but are transformed into sappy overproduced commercial songs. But, for those who can stick through half the album the 'side B' reverts back to the traditional HLS sound with "Anytime For You," "Medicine Man" & "Turn It Up", though none have the memorable flare of "I Wish I Had A Girl". Elvin Bishop's "Fooled Around & Fell In Love" & the Rolling Stones Exile-esque "I've Got The Fire" are the two best tracks on the album, though few will have the patience to listen that far. On the album are guest guitarists Joe Walsh of the Eagles & Al Pitrelli of Alice Coooper/Megadeth, drummer Joe Franco of Twisted Sister, bassist Danny Miranda of Paul Rodgers & a reunited Queen, plus members of John Mellencamp's band & Los Lobos.