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Also a drummer, but above all an intense singer and emotional lyricist, Donald Henley from Gilmer (less than five thousand souls, in a corner of Texas) never intended to sufficiently deepen his proficiency on instruments traditionally used for composition (piano, guitar...) and so he has always needed a "shoulder," someone to provide him with a nice guitar riff or a cluster of piano chords, upon which he could then weave a beautiful vocal melody of his and an equally effective love, or rage, perhaps social protest, or instead melancholic remembrance, lyric.
In the golden era of the Eagles his perfect partner was Glenn Frey: volcanic, instinctive, superficial, fast, arrogant, Glenn provided the raw idea, the direction, the cue; it then passed to the meticulous and reflective Henley who completed, refined, improved, organized, and chose the best solution. The synergy worked, as we know, tremendously well for a while, making them multimillionaires for life.
In 1984, the year this work was released, Don and Glenn were no longer on speaking terms, and the drummer's new indispensable partner became Danny Kortchmar, guitarist and producer, up to that point a long-time collaborator first of James Taylor and then of Jackson Browne, talented but without the possibility, or luck, to acquire widespread personal fame (although his producer résumé would later include people like Bob Dylan, Billy Joel, Neil Young...).
The great lead song of the album, the crack as they say in the USA, is, however, a gift from Tom Petty's Heartbreakers guitarist, Mike Campbell. Henley and Kortchmar, in any case, add to "The Boys of Summer" much of their own, namely arrangement, performance, and singing from a state of grace: a rolling, pressing rhythm of Linn Drum (an electronic drum then in vogue), is crossed by the obsessive arpeggio of a synthesizer. Meanwhile, the sumptuous work of the lead guitar, which refines, sobs, and counterpoints, finally releasing a great concluding solo, alternates with the evocative singing which, starting from the memory of a fifties baseball team, tackles the broader theme of the transition from youth to mature and aware age.
Henley's vocal timbre is immediately recognizable because of a very particular, hoarse tension, reflecting his wary, dissatisfied, and demanding character: undoubtedly one of the great voices of America even if the character, precisely because of his difficult and far from amiable and relaxed nature, does not inspire instinctive sympathy, exposing himself instead to true and proper prejudices (especially in Italy). Personally, he is among my absolute favorite singers... as he aged, he did nothing but improve in technique and expressiveness, something predictable given the subject, a true antithesis to any possible self-indulgence... but the beauty is that, as the years went by, Don has understood more and more effectively how to direct his perpetual, intrinsic, proverbial anger toward truly important matters, namely the various social and environmental abuses that plague the world around him (and around all of us), devoting a true economic fortune, and much of his time, to humanitarian causes and political denunciation, as a genuine progressive and not merely a talker as is customary in our parts. Among other things, after many disorganized and hedonistic years in Los Angeles, he has long since given up on fierce competitiveness, envy, and related stress, returning to live in his Texan village, trying to raise his children on concrete and solid values: maximum respect.
At the time of this album, we are still in full Californian phase: the second notable track of the album is "Sunset Grill" (dedicated to a Hollywood locale) and is characterized by dramatic washes of synthesizer, fine-tuned by the great colleague Randy Newman, as well as by the characteristic, superb glissando of Pino Palladino’s fretless electric bass. In the chorus, for the occasion, an unsuspected Patty Smith.
Curious, but all the more typical, is the fate of "All She Wants To Do Is Dance": the lyrics, containing a ferocious critique of the superficiality and small-mindedness of many people lacking social conscience, ended up remaining in the background compared to the captivating disco rhythm set up around them. It turned out that those very characters who were the object of Henley's anger ended up dancing to it, for a long time and with satisfaction, to this song that animatedly accused and reprimanded them.
Second of only four albums released in his name by the musician in thirty years ("I prefer to release one album every ten years, but with all good songs, than one every two-three years with just a couple of remarkable things and the rest to fill...") "Building The Perfect Beast" was still missing from the notable collection of reviews on this site, and this was not correct: long live Don Henley then.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 The Boys of Summer (04:47)
Nobody on the road
Nobody on the beach
I feel it in the air
The summer's out of reach
Empty lake, empty streets
The sun goes down alone
I'm drivin' by your house
Though I know you're not home
But I can see you
Your brown skin shinin' in the sun
You got your hair combed back
And your sunglasses on, baby
I can tell you
My love for you will still be strong
After the boys of summer have gone
I never will forget those nights
I wonder if it was a dream
Remember how you made me crazy
Remember how I made you scream
Now I don't understand what happened to our love
But, babe, I'm gonna get you back
I'm gonna show you what I'm made of
I can see you
Your brown skin shinin' in the sun
I see you walkin' real slow
And you're smilin' at everyone
I can tell you
My love for you will still be strong
After the boys of summer have gone
Out on the road today
I saw a Deadhead sticker on a Cadillac
A little voice inside my head said
"Don't look back, you can never look back"
I thought I knew what love was
What did I know
Those days are gone forever
I should just let 'em go, but
I can see you
Your brown skin shinin' in the sun
You got the top pulled down
And the radio on, baby
I can tell you
My love for you will still be strong
After the boys of summer have gone
I can see you
Your brown skin shinin' in the sun
You got that hair slicked back
And those Wayfarers on, baby
I can tell you
My love for you will still be strong
After the boys of summer have gone
07 All She Wants to Do Is Dance ()
They're picking up the prisoners
And putting 'em in the pen
And all she wants to do is dance, dance
Rebels been rebels since I don't know when
And all she wants to do is dance
Molotov cocktail, the local drink
And all she wants to do is dance, dance
They mix 'em up right in the kitchen sink
And all she wants to do is dance
Crazy people walking round
With blood in their eyes
And all she wants to do
Is dance, dance, dance
Wild-eyed pistol wavers
Who ain't afraid to die
And all she wants to do is
And all she wants to do is
Dance and make romance
She can't feel the heat
Coming off the street
She wants to party
She wants to get down
All she wants to do is
All she wants to do is dance
Well, the government bugged
The men's room in the local disco lounge
And all she wants to do is dance, dance
To keep the boys from selling
All the weapons they could scrounge
And all she wants to do is dance
Now but that don't keep the boys
From making a buck or two
And all she wants to do is dance, dance
They still can sell the army
All the drugs that they can do
And all she wants to do is
And all she wants to do is
Dance and make romance
Well, we barely made the airport
For the last plane out
As we taxied down the runway
I could hear the people shout
They said, don't come back here, yankee
But if I ever do, I'll bring more money
Cause all she wants to do is
Dance and make romance
Never mind the heat
Coming off the street
She wants to party
She wants to get down
All she wants to do is
All she wants to do is dance
And make romance
All she wants to do is dance
08 Sunset Grill ()
Let's go down to the Sunset Grill
We can watch the working girls go by
Watch the "basket people"
Walk around and mumble
Stare out at the auburn sky
There's an old man there from the Old World
To him, it's all the same
Callls all his customers by name
Down at the Sunset Grill
Down at the Sunset Grill
Down at the Sunset Grill
Down at the Sunset Grill
You see a lot more meanness in the city
It's the kind that eats you up inside
Hard to come away with anything
That feels like dignity
Hard to get home with any pride
These days a man makes you somethin'
And you never see his face
But there is no hiding place
Down at the Sunset Grill
Down at the Sunset Grill
Down at the Sunset Grill
Down at the Sunset Grill
Respectable little murders pay
They get more respectable every day
Don't worry girl
I'm gonna stick by you
And someday soon
We're gonna get in that car
And get outta here
Let's go down to the Sunset Grill
Watch the girls go by
Watch the "basket people"
Walk around and mumble
Gaze out at the auburn sky
Maybe we'll leave come springtime
Meanwhile, have another beer
What would we do without
All these jerks anyway?
Besides, all our friends are here
Down at the Sunset Grill
Down at the Sunset Grill
Down at the Sunset Grill
Down at the Sunset Grill
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