Don Felder - ...and on guitar (1981)

Donald William Felder was born in Gainesville, Florida, on September 21, 1947, and was first attracted to music after watching Elvis Presley live on The Ed Sullivan Show. He acquired his first guitar when he was about ten years old, which he has stated he exchanged with a friend at the five-and-dime for a handful of cherry bombs. A self-taught musician, he was heavily influenced by rock and roll, and at the age of fifteen he started his first band, the Continentals. Around that time he met Bernie Leadon, who later became one of the founding members of the Eagles, and Leadon replaced Stephen Stills in the Continentals, which eventually changed its name to The Maundy Quintet. Felder gave guitar lessons at a local music shop for about 18 months, where one of his students was a young Tom Petty, and he also learned how to play slide guitar from Duane Allman. The Maundy Quintet recorded and released a single on the Tampa-based Paris Tower label in 1967, which received airplay in north-central Florida, and after the band broke up Felder moved to Manhattan with a band called Flow, which released a self-titled improvisational rock fusion album in 1970. After Flow split, he moved to Boston where he got a job in a recording studio, and in 1973 he relocated to Los Angeles where he was hired as guitar player for a tour by David Blue, replacing David Lindley who was touring with Crosby & Nash. 

In early January 1974 Felder was called by the Eagles to add slide guitar to their song 'Good Day In Hell' and some guitar solos to 'Already Gone', and shortly afterwards he was invited to join the band. After founding member Bernie Leadon departed in 1975 Joe Walsh joined, and his and Felder's dual guitar leads would eventually become one of rock music's most memorable onstage partnerships. The first album that the Eagles released after the lineup change was 'Hotel California', which became a major international bestseller and cemented their reputation as one of America's best bands. Once Felder's skill as a guitarist was recognised by the music industry he started to be asked to provide guitar on albums by a variety of artists, including Bob Seger, Andy Gibb, J. D. Souther, Warren Zevon, Stevie Nicks, and also on Joe Walsh's solo recordings. These guest appearances showed what a versatile musician he was, as he could add a country twang to Fools Gold's 'Rain, Oh, Rain', a fiery rock guitar to David Blue's 'Com'n Back For More', or a refined solo to Terence Boylan's 'Going Home'. In 1983, Felder released his first solo album entitled 'Airborne', and the album's single 'Never Surrender' was a minor hit, having also appeared on the soundtrack to the teen comedy 'Fast Times At Ridgemont High', and although he'll always be primarily remembered for his work with The Eagles, this album shows what an under-rated guitarist he was. 

Track listing

01 Tattooed Man From Chelsea (from 'The Great Pretender' by Michael Dinner 1974)
02 Com'n Back For More (from 'Com'n Back For More' by David Blue 1975)
03 My Old Lady And Your Old Man (from 'A Rumor In His Own Time' by Jeffrey Comanor 1976)
04 Rain, Oh, Rain (from 'Fools Gold' by Fools Gold 1976)
05 I Can't Dance (from 'Glenda Griffith' by Glenda Griffith 1977)
06 I Go For You (from 'Shadow Dancing' by Andy Gibb 1978)
07 Ain't Got No Money (from 'Stranger In Town' by Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band 1978)
08 At The Station (from "But Seriously, Folks..." by Joe Walsh 1978)
09 If You Don't Want My Love (from 'You're Only Lonely' by J.D. Souther 1979)
10 Going Home (from 'Suzy' by Terence Boylan 1980)
11 A Certain Girl (from 'Bad Luck Streak In Dancing School' by Warren Zevon 1980)
12 I Don't Want To Talk About It (from 'Alive Alone' by Mickey Thomas 1981)
13 Man Gonna Love You (from 'Plantation Harbor' by Joe Vitale 1981)
14 The Highwayman (from 'Bella Donna' by Stevie Nicks 1981)

For MAC users

Press command+shift+period (to show hidden files) and a grayed out folder '...and on guitar" will appear and the mp3s will be inside. Either drag those to another folder OR rename the folder without any periods at the beginning. Press command+shift+period to once again hide the hidden files.

As the series is now back for a short run, I've gone back to some of the previous posts and improved the covers where the colours were a bit off. You can download them from here.

 

and I'd never been happy with the one for Gary Boyle, as there are so few pictures of him online that I had to use a screenshot from a Youtube video, and it wasn't that great quality. I think this one from the same video is a bit sharper, and captures him better.

                                                                                

Joe Walsh - ...and on guitar (1974)

Joseph Fidler Walsh was born on November 20, 1947, in Wichita, Kansas, and lived in Columbus, Ohio, for a number of years during his youth. When Walsh was twelve years old, his family moved to New York City, then later to Montclair, New Jersey, where he attended Montclair High School, playing oboe in the school band. He got his first guitar at the age of 10, and on learning The Ventures' 'Walk Don't Run', he decided that he wanted to pursue a career as a guitarist. Inspired by the success of the Beatles, he replaced Bruce Hoffman as the bass player in the New Jersey group The Nomads, and after high school he attended Kent State University, where he spent time in various bands playing around the Cleveland area. One of these bands, The Measles, recorded two songs which appeared on The Ohio Express's 'Beg Borrow And Steal' album, as well as an instrumental for the b-side of one of their singles. Walsh majored in English while at Kent State, and was present during the Kent State massacre in 1970, which was something that profoundly affected him, leading him to drop out of university to pursue his musical career. Around Christmas 1967, James Gang guitarist Glenn Schwartz decided to leave the band to move to California, where he ended up forming Pacific Gas & Electric, and just days later Walsh knocked on Jim Fox's door and asked to be given a tryout as Schwartz's replacement. Walsh was accepted and the band continued as a five piece for a short time until Phil Giallombardo left. In May 1968, the group played a concert in Detroit at the Grande Ballroom opening for Cream, but at the last minute Silverman informed the others that he would not join them at the show, so the other three took to the stage as a trio, and they liked their sound so much that they decided to remain as a three-piece. In 1968 the band signed with manager Mark Barger, who put them in touch with ABC Records staff producer Bill Szymczyk, and he signed them to ABC's new Bluesway Records subsidiary in January 1969. The James Gang had several minor hits and became an early album-oriented rock staple for the next two years, releasing one live and four studio albums before Walsh left in 1971. He was invited to move to England and join Humble Pie by Steve Marriott, since Peter Frampton had left the band, but declined his offer, instead moving to Colorado and forming Barnstorm with drummer and multi-instrumentalist Joe Vitale and bassist Kenny Passarelli. Walsh and Barnstorm released their debut album, the eponymous 'Barnstorm' in October 1972, which garnered critical praise which unfortunately did not translate into commercial success. The follow-up 'The Smoker You Drink, the Player You Get' followed in June 1973, and although officially a Barnstorn album it was marketed under Walsh's name, and was their commercial breakthrough, peaking at No. 6 on the US Billboard chart, and including the classic 'Rocky Mountain Way'. Throughout his busy career Walsh has always been ready to add his prodigious guitar skills to a variety of albums, with soul maestro Jimmy Witherspoon, blues legend B.B. King and folkies Stephen Stills, Dan Fogelberg, and America. He also rocks out with REO Speedwagon and Rick Derringer, as well as re-uniting with his old Barnstorm band-mate Joe Vitale on his 1974 solo album, and playing on Michael Stanley's 'Rosewood Bitters', which he later covered on his own 1985 album 'The Confessor'. This collection takes us up to the point that Walsh joined The Eagles in 1975, as Bernie Leadon's replacement, but despite the extra workload this entailed, he was still able to help out on albums by Keith Moon, Al Kooper, Andy Gibb, and Randy Newman throughout the rest of the 70's.

Track listing

01 Stay With Me Baby (from 'Handbags And Gladrags' by Jimmy Witherspoon 1970)
02 Rosewood Bitters (from 'Michael Stanley' by Michael Stanley 1972)
03 Midnight (from 'L.A. Midnight' by B.B. King 1972)
04 Sweet Maria (from 'She Is A Song' by Rick Roberts 1973)
05 Down The Road (from 'Down the Road' by Stephen Stills / Manassas 1973)
06 Uncomplicated (from 'All American Boy'by Rick Derringer 1973)
07 Green Monkey (from 'Hat Trick' by America 1973)
08 Open Up (from 'Ridin' The Storm Out' by REO Speedwagon 1973)
09 Shoot 'Em Up (from 'Roller Coaster Weekend' by Joe Vitale 1974)
10 Better Change (from 'Souvenirs' by Dan Fogelberg 1974)
11 The Gambler (from 'The Whole Thing Started With Rock & Roll Now It's Out of Control' by

                                                                                                                   Ray Manzarek 1974)
12 You Are So Beautiful (from 'The Kids & Me' by Billy Preston 1974)