Talk:Heaven and Hell: My Life in the Eagles (1974–2001)

Factual errors and petty complaints

I know that this book gained a lot of controversy because of Don's frank feelings about Don Henley and Glenn Frey, but I'm not sure if it would be appropriate to make a list of these factual errors, trivial complaints and dubious claims in the article:

• He says that "On the Border" has only 14 tracks, but in reality, there are only 10 tracks, and since he only made a minor contribution to the album as a session musician and much of it was recorded by Glenn, Don, Bernie Leadon and Randy Meisner prior to Felder's arrival, I don't see how he could know the exact number of songs recorded during the album's sessions. I don't know if it was a miscalculation or whether he just doesn't give a **** about getting easily checkable facts correct; perhaps he could be referring to the number of songs cut during the sessions, but again I don't know how he would be privy to the amount of songs recorded during the sessions since as I said earlier, he only overdubbed guitar parts onto two songs as a session guitarist - "Already Gone" and "Good Day in Hell" - but if he was saying that there were 14 tracks on the final release, then he is definitely telling a lie in the book, unintentionally or deliberately, because there never was a 14-track version of the album and most likely never will be unless it was remastered with bonus tracks.
• He says that he played 12-string acoustic guitar on "Too Many Hands" until his fingers were bleeding or blistered, but Bernie played it onstage when they performed the song live and I believe that he would've done likewise on the record, so it appears that Felder is capable of downplaying Bernie's contributions - how ironic, given that they were friends since their high school days back in Gainesville and played together in The Maundy Quintet, so I don't know if he was misremembering the session (NB: they were all on drugs or alcohol, so their memories aren't 100% flawless or perfect - nobody's is) or if he falsely claimed credit for it, but it wouldn't be the first time that he exaggerated his contributions or take the credit for something that he never did.
• In the book and subsequent interviews, he gives contradicting accounts about the origins behind the song "Hotel California", especially regarding whether it was a Martin or a Takamine 12-string acoustic guitar that he played or whether he used any effects pedals, but the only consistent anecdote is that he played his Gibson Les Paul. Another discrepancy is about the decision to change the key of the song, because it was too high for Henley's vocal range - Felder says that Henley asked for the key change, but in a Guitar Shop TV interview, Felder claims that it was him who decided that the key had to be changed.
• He wants to cultivate the idea that Henley insisted that "Hotel California" was going to be the lead single from the namesake album, because it hit Number 1 on the Billboard Top 100 singles charts and won a Grammy for Record of the Year, but in reality, "New Kid in Town" was the lead single and it hit Number 1 on the Billboard Top 100 and won a Grammy. I wish Felder would acknowledge this, but I guess that he objects to not having a hand in writing it and the fact that Frey sang the lead vocals.
• Some of the potshots and insults that he takes are the claim that Joe Vitale is a much better drummer than Don Henley with an arm or leg chopped off, but that is very spiteful and malicious of him to say such a libellous thing and I cannot understand why a lot of people dismiss Henley as merely an average drummer - okay, he's not Buddy Rich, Ringo, John Bonham, Hal Blaine, Jeff Porcaro, Keith Moon, Ginger Baker, Charlie Watts, Elvin Jones or Steve Gadd, but he's not a mediocre drummer. If you want proof, just listen to the six Eagles studio albums for Asylum Records and you'll hear that Henley is quite a versatile drummer, capable of playing rimshots, using the ride cymbal and using brushes. Another insult that Felder makes in the book and interviews is insinuating that Joe Walsh and Timothy B. Schmit were just hired hands, but in reality, they were full-fledged band members and given band membership - they just weren't shareholders, but that doesn't make them sidemen, session players or hired hands and I think those terms are insulting for them, because if they really were those, then they wouldn't be appearing in band photos, on album covers or contribute lead vocals, let alone songwriting. It's hypocritical of him to believe in equal partnership, but not vocally object to Timothy and Joe not becoming shareholders, despite being full-fledged band members.
• He laments about how the more successful the band became, the less of a friendship it became and more focused on money and business. The Eagles were not a band who were going to remain in the minor league and not make as much money as The Beatles or The Rolling Stones in order for Felder to hang onto his alleged idealism, which I theorise contained all five of them would have equal singing, songwriting, equal pay and partnership and equal leadership, the latter factor of equal leadership is absurd - as Henley rightly puts it, everybody can't be in charge.
• I've read online that in one section of the book (not the actual book, but the Eagles' online discussion for the book), Felder was envious of an unnamed band who always got along great and went on vacation together, possibly the band Chicago. If he really was envious of them, he should've left The Eagles to replace Terry Kath after he died.
• A lot of his complaints in the book are quite petty and hypocritical: The Eagles sending a Takamine acoustic guitar to the White House for President Clinton instead of an American-made guitar such as a Fender, Gibson or Martin, he didn't want to support the charities that his bandmates chose, his wife understandably wanted an interest to keep her occupied so she started her jewellery business, whinging about not always getting everything he wanted and making a ridiculous comment of saying a guitar signed by all five Eagles is worth thousands, but without his signature, it's only worth $50 - get real, Felder. A guitar signed by all four original members would be worth thousands, regardless of whether your signature is on there or not. In regards to Felder claiming that they should only play American-made instruments, again get real!!! Henley prefers Paiste cymbals and previously played Tama drums, Glenn, Henley and Joe used Takamine acoustic guitars as early as 1979-1980, Joe uses German-made Duesenberg and British-made Zemaitis guitars and Randy played a Hagstrom bass from 1974-1975, but I don't know if Timothy or Bernie ever used any foreign brands of equipment and it's nothing shameful, because these brands are established and used not just by British, Australian or European musicians, but also American musicians use British or European brands of equipment in their own right, so it's nothing shameful.
• He fails to accept any responsibility for causing problems, let alone contributing to the discord, nor does he try to examine why he was fired, but rather, he just thinks it was everyone else's fault.

This book is possibly the crux of the online bashing of Henley and Frey by Felder's misguided superfans who take his side and believe everything that he says, despite Henley warning Eagles fans not to do so, and then go onto vilify Henley and Frey. I'm surprised that they get away with it, but if Don and Glenn wanted to sue Felder for defaming them in his book, it wouldn't surprise me. According to Marc Eliot, Felder was complaining about money as early as 1976 and insisted on knowing where every penny was going to the extent where he snooped in his bandmates' hotel suites to ensure their amounts of money were the same as his, but whatever amounts of money they were making individually was none of his business and someone believed that it was a pathological pattern about whether he got his fair share of girls, drugs, money, recognition and glory not to mention some of the most petty things such as wanting the same-size limousine or hotel suites as Henley and Frey, whom he refers to as "The Gods" like a million times in the book and I am sick of seeing Henley and Frey unfairly vilified on YouTube and elsewhere. My theory of why he only hears back from the band's lawyers when trying to reach out to them like a 100 million times rather than directly communicating with them is probably because a) he sued them and b) he published that book.61.69.217.3 (talk) 07:10, 4 January 2018 (UTC)