Glenn Frey- Strange Weather

Starnge Weather

Unfortunately Eagles leader Glenn Frey's solo career has been consistently underrated compared with Don Henley's as Henley continued to write the 'searing social commentary' songs that made the Eagles so successful, while Frey deliberately 'lightened up' and played mainly soul & R&B influenced music. On 'Strange Weather' this all changes. There are songs about everything here from Ronald Reagan, to the environment, the LA riots to just having a good time 'before the ship goes down'. The mood is much darker than on Frey's normally lighthearted work. Even in the straight love songs such as 'River Of Dreams' and 'A Walk In The Dark' you get the sense that he is brooding on his own mortality, and this is also true in the magnificent, Eagles-like 'Part Of Me, Part Of You'. However he does throw in more humorous songs like 'Delicious' and 'Big Life'. The difference between Frey and Henley is that Frey does not take himself nearly as seriously, and he is also a far superior arranger and writer of melodies than Henley. The other major attraction is his exhilaratingly pure tenor voice which still sounds as good as it did in 1972. He probably sings with more depth and emotion on this album than he ever has. All Eagles fans should listen to this and decide whether the overproduced ranting on Henley's albums is really as good as its reputation suggests.