Don Henley “Building the Perfect Beast”
Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#247 in the Series) is Don Henley, Building the Perfect Beast.
I’ve always had a weird ‘relationship’ with Henley and The Eagles. I go thru periods when I really like him/them and then there are times when I can’t stand him/them. It’s a long story, I won’t bore you with it.
But one thing that never did waiver was the way I felt about Henley’s second solo album, Building the Perfect Beast. It was one of the best albums of 1984. I saw him on this tour as well. Alpine Valley Music Theater along with the Hooters as the support act. It was a great show.
‘The Boys of Summer’ was the biggest hit. Henley co-wrote it guitar great Mike Campbell. Other favorites were ‘Not Enough Love In the World’ and ‘You’re Not Drinking Enough.’
We recently discussed Dire Straits Brothers in Arms and how the CD was different for the LP. This is also true with Building the Perfect Beast. The great song, ‘A Month of Sundays’ was only on the CD and the Cassette. It was not on the vinyl version. It acted as a great lead in to the hit song,’ Sunset Grill.’
Building the Perfect Beast peaked at #13 on the Billboard Top 200 Album chart.
‘The Boys of Summer’ peaked at #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart.
‘All She Wants to do is Dance’ peaked at #9 and Not Enough Love in the world #34 while ‘Sunset Grill’ hit 22 on the same chart.
Don Henley was awarded a Grammy for Best Make Rock Vocal Performance for ‘The Boys of Summer. ‘
Track listing
- “The Boys of Summer” (Don Henley, Mike Campbell) – 4:45
- “You Can’t Make Love” (Henley, Danny Kortchmar) – 3:34
- “Man With a Mission” (Henley, Kortchmar, J.D. Souther) – 2:43
- “You’re Not Drinking Enough” (Kortchmar) – 4:40
- “Not Enough Love in the World” (Henley, Kortchmar, Benmont Tench) – 3:54
- “Building the Perfect Beast” (Henley, Kortchmar) – 4:59
- “All She Wants to Do Is Dance” (Kortchmar) – 4:28
- “A Month of Sundays” (Henley) – 4:31 (cassette and CD only)
- “Sunset Grill” (Henley, Kortchmar, Tench) – 6:22
- “Drivin’ With Your Eyes Closed” (Henley, Kortchmar, Stan Lynch) – 3:41
- “Land of the Living” (Henley, Kortchmar) – 3:24
Personnel
- Don Henley – percussion, drums, keyboards, vocals, chant, harmony vocals
- Michael Boddicker – synthesizer
- Lindsey Buckingham – guitar, vocals, harmony vocals
- Mike Campbell – synthesizer, guitar, percussion
- Belinda Carlisle – vocals, harmony vocals
- Bill Cuomo – synthesizer, percussion
- Martha Davis – vocals, chant, harmony vocals
- Tim Drummond – bass
- Marie Pascale Elfman – vocals, ensemble
- Albhy Galuten – synthesizer, synclavier
- Jerry Hey – horn
- Jim Keltner – drums
- Larry Klein – bass
- Danny “Kootch” Kortchmar – organ, synthesizer, bass, guitar, percussion, keyboards, synthesizer guitar, chant, omnichord
- Randy Newman – synthesizer
- Michael O’Donahue – vocals, chant
- Carla Olson – vocals, chant
- David Paich – synthesizer, piano, keyboards
- Pino Palladino – bass
- Steve Porcaro – synthesizer
- Charlie Sexton – guitar
- Patty Smyth – vocals, chant, harmony vocals
- J.D. Souther – vocals, chant
- Benmont Tench – synthesizer, piano, keyboards
- Waddy Wachtel – vocals, chant
- Ian Wallace – drums
See other albums we’ve featured from 1984
See features from other Rock and Roll Hall of Famers
(What a surprise. I could hardly find any videos from this album. Thanks Don!)
Links
Purchase Don Henley via Amazon
Listen to the complete album on the ‘Cool Album’ MySpace Page!
Could Henley have possibly had any more musicians on that record??? We’ll have to chat about the love/hate thing off line. I chuckled when reading that because I have the same feelings about him/them.
I like his solo efforts without frey think of it as addition by subtraction.Look at frey’s solo output.Boys of Summer is timeless always loved Sunset Grill.If you are ever in the Boston area checkout The Sunset Grill in Allston,Mass you won’t be disappointed.One my first cd purchases.