Search - Glenn Frey :: Solo Collection

Melanie W. (novelwriter) from SURFSIDE BCH, SC
Reviewed on 7/16/2007...

I love this album. I am glad he had a greatest hits for his solo career. Glenn Frey is one of the artists that you just recognize his singing voice when you hear it.

Frey's Solo Work is often overlooked

L.A. Scene | Indian Trail, NC USA | 03/22/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I probably am in the minority, but when I look at the legendary Rock band The Eagles, I look at the sum of the parts as exceeding the whole. This is not a negative factor on the Eagles - I do think they are an all-time great band. When I look at the individual solo work, I see some very high quality work that often gets overlooked because The Eagles had achieved such great success. Two of the main components of The Eagles are Don Henley and Glenn Frey. This duo basically made up the nucleus for the band. Following the split of band in the early 1980s, Henley and Frey would embark on solo careers. For the most part, it's Henley's solo career that is in the spotlight. Henley's efforts would be more of an 80s Rock sound - and would often be interspersed with some social commentary (i.e. his song "Dirty Laundry"). In addition, Henley would often bring in many top notch studio musicians to collaborate with him - helping to enhance a powerful nucleus of music that had already written. Frey would take a very different approach - he would bring more of a combination of R&B, Soul, Blues, and even some Folk to his music. Frey didn't bring the big name studio musicians like Henley - but there was no loss of quality. Frey brings an equally impressive portfolio of solo work and this is highlighted on the greatest hits compilation entitled "Glenn Frey - Solo Collection". Perhaps the different approaches to music were why the nucleus of Henley and Frey worked so well with The Eagles.



Glenn Frey has released four main solo albums in his career. These albums are all represented. They are: "No Fun Aloud" ("The One You Love"; "The Allnighter" ("Sexy Girl", "Smuggler's Blues"); "Soul Searchin'" ("True Love", "Soul Searchin'"); and "Strange Weather ("Part of Me, Part of You", "I've Got Mine", "River of Dreams", "Rising Sun", "Brave New World"). There are two songs that Frey did for Soundtrack albums. They are "The Heat is On" (on the "Beverly Hills Cop" soundtrack) and "You Belong to the City" (on the "Miami Vice" soundtrack - this soundtrack also included "Smuggler's Blues as well). It is also worth noting that "Part of Me, Part of You" was on the "Thelma and Louise Soundtrack" Finally, Frey includes four solid new songs: "This Way to Happiness", "Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed", "Common Ground", and "Call on Me". One observation is that there is definitely a slant toward Frey's later works. There are five tracks from what was Frey's least successful commercial album "Strange Weather", however I consider that album Frey's best album - so I look at that as a positive (quality over commercial sales). There is an exclusion of many of Frey's early work - most notably missing is the classic Frey tune "Party Town" from "No Fun Aloud".



There is another greatest hits collection by Glenn Frey called "20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of Glenn Frey". The "Millennium" Collection does include This is a shorter compilation and does include "The Allnighter" and "Love in the 21st Century Tracks". "Millennium" also includes a live version of "The One You Love". Overall, I'd still recommend "Solo Collection" because it does contain the four new tracks as well as some of the focus on the "Strange Weather" material that is often overlooked.



Normally I prefer my Greatest Hits collections to have the tracks arranged in chronological order. This allows me to see how the artist has progressed and evolved over time. "Solo Collection" comes close to this, but slightly misses the mark. The new songs are listed are the first four tracks. It is with the fifth track that the songs start to chronicle chronologically starting with 1982's "The One You Love". It would have definitely been better if the new tracks were at the end. One other quirk is that the new tracks are in reverse chronological order (the first three were recorded in 1994 while the 4th track was recorded in 1993).



The new songs are worth mentioning. They continue much of the trademark blend of music that has been seen throughout Frey's career. The opening track "This Way to Happiness" is interesting - it almost summarizes Frey's sound. While this song has his trademark R&B sound complete with horns, you almost get a sense of Country and Folk with Frey's vocals. "Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed" is a very bluesy song - also featuring the trademark horns. "Common Ground" starts out with a Country/Folk sound, but then evolves into more of a Folk/Rock sound. "Call on Me" was a theme song from a short-lived Television Series that starred Glenn Frey called "South of Sunset". Despite a Bluesy sound, I consider this the weakest of the four tracks.



The popular songs from the mid 80s are on here - "The Heat is On", "Smuggler's Blues", and "You Belong to the City". These songs are often unfairly criticized. While "The Heat is On" was penned by Keith Forsey ("The Breakfast Club") and Harold Faltermeyer (composer of "Axel F"), this song seems tailor-made to Frey's style. "Smuggler's Blues" is one of the most original songs ever - sung from the point of someone involved in the Drug Smuggling trade.



The material from "Strange Weather" is also worth mentioning. You will continue to hear Frey's trademark sound, but this contains some of the best songwriting he did. This represents some of the strongest material by Glenn Frey. I was pleased that the short instrumental intro "Rising Sun" is included as a segue to "Brave New World".



The liner notes list each of the songs and provide musician and production credits. There is a short one-panel write-up by Frey himself. If there was more material from "No Fun Aloud", this would have been the perfect compilation. Still this is the best of his compilations out there. Highly recommended."

Crockett, Tubbs, and Glenn Frey???

Metal Matt | Mars | 11/11/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"In early-mid 1980's former Eagles drummer Don Henley, song writer and, singer was enjoying the success of this 1982 and 1984 releases. At the same time former Eagle Glenn Frey had some of his post-Eagle solo success. Glenn had a couple of hot sellers himself. In my opinion it wasn't until Glenn co-stared with Don Johnson and Phillip Michael Thomas in one of the final episodes of the first season (1984-1985) of Miami Vice called "Smuggler's Blues". Glenn was not only the co-star of this episode he also used his hit song "Smuggler's Blues" in it making this one of the most popular Miami Vice episodes, likewise with the song. After that I thought Glenn should have tried to get into TV and movies on top of writing and recording great music. The TV show was so happy with the popularity of "Smuggler's Blues" that Glenn was asked to write a song that would capture a scene in history in both television and pop music. The scene is Sonny Crockett walking the dark, steamy streets of a hot summer night while in New York city on a mission to link the NYC drug lords to the big players in Miami. The song "You Belong To The City" which is one of the best songs ever written and recorded not to mention written and recorded for a soundtrack. Though Frey does not co-star in the two hour second season (1985-1986) opener of Miami Vice title "The Prodigal Son" which is sold as a VHS right here on Amazon he hits a nerve with this song. It fits this scene and captures the moment to perfection. "You Belong To The City" gives me goose bumps, it's my favorite song. It's the type of song you listen too on a summer night with the top or windows down feeling the cool breeze blowing threw your hair drivin' home from your girlfriends house or from a day on the water in your Scarab cigarette boat (no pun intended, yeah it was). The song is a masterpiece that will always have a place in pop and television history. I bout this CD just for that song to be honest, especially since it's so rare that you hear it on radio stations. But I really love and respect Glenn's talent to write and record. His voice is smooth and crisp. The man writes material that hits you in the heart. It's almost like he knows you personally and he's writing a soundtrack to your life or something. There are many other great songs on this CD like "Sexy Girl", "The Heat Is On" from the movie "Beverly Hill Cop", "The One You Love" which is a soft rock classic, and the over song I love is "I've Got Mine" which sounds much like a continuation of "You Belong To The City" and could almost continue the "You Belong To The City" story line from Miami Vice with Crockett years later or something. Think of your own story lines to the songs. That's what is so wonderful about Glenn Frey's music, you could be the main character, the star, be creative with it. Bottom line... these songs are magical and inspirational. If you like Gelnn Frey you'll like Phil Collins (also Genesis), Richard Marx, Billy Ocean, Lionel Richie, Don Henley, Brian Adams, Peter Gabriel, and there are many others that's just to name a few. Oh and I'm not 40 or even 30. I'm 20 hard to believe, eh? Buy this CD!!!"