Randy Goes Solo

Randy Meisner released his first solo album in June 1978, less than a year after his departure from the Eagles. The album came and went with little or no fanfare. Randy later referred to it as a “desk album,” meaning it was put away in a desk and forgotten about. Although the album was “scatter gun” by his own admission, it also had appeal. It was the last album to truly feature Randy’s crystalline high voice. But it was also one that Randy felt he had to make. It had been a long time coming.

On July 9th, 1977, Randy performed with the Eagles for the last time at Jeppesen Stadium in Houston, TX. He quit the band, which he’d helped found in 1971, due to a growing number of gnawing frustrations, among them his wish to sing more.¹ By Hotel California, the Eagles’ fifth album and the last one to feature Randy, he was given only one writing and lead vocal credit, the lovely and underrated “Try & Love Again.” On the subsequent Hotel California tour in 1977, he was down to singing only one song per show: “Take It To The Limit.” ² For Randy, the writing was on the wall. But his desire to break free from the band had actually begun in 1976, and he wasn’t going to be the only band member to go. It was going to be a mass exodus that would have left Don Henley and Glenn Frey as the only remaining members.

_{The Eagles performing in Fort Worth, TX, July 7, 1977.
One of the last photos of Randy performing with the band.}

Betrayal

According to Marc Shapiro’s 1995 Eagles biography, The Story Of the Eagles: The Long Run, during the recording of Hotel California in 1976, Randy, Joe Walsh, and Don Felder, had become so frustrated with Don Henley and Glenn Frey’s takeover of the band, that they planned to break apart from the Eagles after the album and subsequent tour were completed. According to Randy, they were going to start a trio of their own. “They said that sounded like a great idea,” Randy recalled, “and we all agreed that night to do it.”

However, that’s not the way it went down. When Randy decided to quit in June 1977, Felder and Walsh didn’t live up to their end of the bargain. When he approached his fellow bandmates about their previous agreement to leave, he didn’t get the answer he was looking for. “‘They had totally backed out of it, ” Randy said, “their attitude was that they couldn’t care less about my situation. Up to that point, I had always thought of them as my friends. Since that time I’ve always thought of them as traitors.”³

Randy eventually patched things up with Joe Walsh. But not with Felder. According to Randy’s first wife, Jennifer Meisner, he was bitter about Felder’s betrayal for years.⁴

_{Don Felder, Joe Walsh and Randy in 1976.}

Going It Alone

Sometime after leaving the Eagles, Randy heard from an old friend, Richie Walker Costanzo, who was originally from the East Coast and was a later member of the The Knickerbockers. Randy met him after moving to LA in 1966, and they became friends. It was Richie who first introduced Randy to Alan Brackett.

Brackett was a co-founder of the ’60s psychedelic band, The Peanut Butter Conspiracy. In 1978, he was working on material for a solo album in his garage studio with some musician friends he had gathered.

Alan Brackett: “We were rehearsing and then another friend of mine, Richie Walker, who was a friend with Randy introduced me to Randy…We went into my garage studio, did a few songs, just impromptu–actually did a couple of oldies that Randy sang and I did one of my country songs and he played on it and sang.” ⁵

Randy recalled that Brackett was able to “get a nice sound out of my voice.”⁶

The upshot of these impromptu sessions was that Randy asked Alan to produce his first solo album. Although Brackett had never produced an album before.

“Alan had a lot of energy and pushed me. I needed to be pushed at that time because I didn’t really know quite what I was going to do.” ⁷

Randy tried to avoid the temptation of peppering the album credits with the names of his famous friends:

“There were a lot of temptations involved. I could have gone with a big-name producer, asked a lot of my famous friends to sit in on the sessions, and insisted on doing all of my own songs. But I wanted this to be my album, and not to have to lean on others as a crutch. So we got this group together, and we’re all making our own statement.” ⁸

_{Randy and Alan Brackett (with beard) along with Brackett’s wife at the time, Anita Krpan, left, and Jayne Zinsmaster McCay (hugging Randy) at David Cassidy’s house, 1978. Anita, Jayne and David were background singers on the album.}

Randy gathered a group of musicians and friends for the album, including vocalist Donny Ullstrom, an old friend from Scottsbluff, NE. “Donny and I go all the way back to high school. He was still playing in the same band until I asked him to come out and join me–he’s too good a singer to stay in Nebraska.” ⁹

As for the rest, Randy and Alan “just asked who the best guys in town were, and those are the guys we chose.”

Randy: “The nucleus of the band was (drummer) Kelly Shanahan,¹⁰ (bassist) Kerry Morris, and guitarists Steve Edwards and Jerry Swallow. Though I’m known as a bass player, I only play on one cut on the album (“Save The Last Dance For Me.”) Kerry and Kelly had been playing together so long and established such a rapport that I didn’t want to disturb it….The other musicians on the album, like pianst John Hobbs, (saxophonist) Ernie Watts and (percussionist) Victor Feldman , are well-known studio players.”¹¹

The album was recorded at Devonshire Studios in North Hollywood. Brackett recalled during the sessions that Randy referred to him as “Spector,” a reference to Phil Spector.¹²

He had also never been responsible for an album’s worth of songs, nor had he ever sung so many leads. It was a daunting task. “I really wasn’t sure what was going to be involved. I learned.”¹³ He later admitted that the songs were put together somewhat haphazardly: “I didn’t have any songs written and so I just put a bunch of songs together just to be able to do an album.”¹⁴

_{Randy with Rip Pelley, promo rep for Elektra/Asylum, 1978}

Among the songs chosen for his debut were a few oldies, including “Save The Last Dance,” which was a favorite he had performed with his high school band, The Drivin’ Dynamics. The album opener, “Bad Man,” written by J.D. Souther and Glenn Frey, was a song that the Eagles had performed live in their early days and one they had considered adding to an album, but never did. “Please Be With Me” was hit by Cowboy in 1971. It was also covered by Eric Clapton on 461 Ocean Boulevard in 1974. The debut was rounded out by tracks written by producer Brackett, plus three songs by Seattle songwriter, Bill Lamb, including the Eagle-ish, “Every Other Day.”

An odd choice for the album, in my opinion, was a reworking of “Take It To The Limit,” the Eagles hit from their 1975 album One Of These Nights, which was co-written and sung by Randy. He had not planned to include the song originally, but changed his mind during the recording sessions:

“I didn’t want to do ‘Take It To The Limit,’ I figured that I recorded the song once, and performed it too often to really be comfortable with it anymore. But during recording sessions, John Hobbs started playing the song between takes. He’s played a lot of gospel piano, and gave the song a new feeling. I started singing along, and we finally decided to include it.” ¹⁵

Prior to the album’s release, “Bad Man” was featured on the soundtrack for the film, FM, alongside his former band, the Eagles, and former bandmate, Joe Walsh.

Randy Meisner was released on Asylum Records in June 1978.¹⁶ The album cover featured Randy with a green 1950 Mercury, from his own collection of antique cars.¹⁷ The photography was done by James Shea, with artwork by Kosh.¹⁸

_{Full-page ad from the UK trade publication, Music Week (June 24, 1978)}

Jeff Olson of KNEB in Scottsbluff, Nebraska spins Randy’s solo debut:

_{Review from Variety, July 5th, 1978}

Single

The only single from the album, “I Really Want You Here Tonight,” written by producer Alan Brackett, was released in July. Among the backup singers on the track were J.D. Souther & David Cassidy.

Record Mirror noted Randy’s “smoochy voice” on the track.

Photos

Randy was introduced to Grammy-winning photographer Gene Brownell by his producer Alan Brackett, who was good friends with the him. Brownell took a series of photos that were used for publicity for the album.

Brownell is remembered for his bizarre photos and album covers, hence this rare photo of Randy posing with a mannequin. (Image courtesy of Alan Brackett)

Press Kit

Asylum released a press kit that included two of the Brownell photos, plus a rare interview with Randy. See the full press kit below:

“A Desk Album”

In the late summer of 1978, Randy embarked on a two-week, five-venue tour of the West Coast. He made his debut as a solo performer at the Golden Bear in Huntington Beach, CA on August 25th, 1977.

It was around this time that Randy had a falling out with his manager Irving Azoff, who also managed the Eagles. He had been encouraged to confront Azoff by Alan Brackett about his lack of enthusiasm in promoting the album. Tempers flared and insults flew and Randy was dumped by Azoff’s Front Line Management. A short time later, he was dropped by his label, Elektra/Asylum. “Irving was too busy for me,” Randy recalled later, “and Elektra didn’t have any faith in me. That really hurt.” ¹⁹

Looking back on the situation a few years later, Randy pointed the finger at Brackett:

“Asylum didn’t help me after awhile because my producer got a little bit forceful with ’em sayin’, ‘Why can’t we do this? And why can’t we do that?'” ²⁰

Randy also felt he had been sabotaged by his former bandmates:

“I was wondering why we weren’t getting any airplay and I was getting a little frustrated so I went to see Irving. He went crazy and started shouting at me all the down the stairs. He said, ‘Get the hell out of here! You’re done!” Later I found out that Don and Glenn had called Irving and said that if he was going to manage me, they were going to find other management.” ²¹

_{Randy and Glenn Frey at a Grammy party for “Hotel California,” which had won Record of the Year, 1978}

Randy’s debut soon became what he called, “a desk album.”

“That’s where you press an album and make so many copies and they put it in a desk drawer and shove it in….When (Irving) dropped me, I tried to manage my own thing. I was doing everything. And I spent a lot of money supporting the band I was with. We did the West Coast and I was planning a trip to the East Coast, but it was too much money…Nobody would support me. And all I had to show for my work was a desk album.”²²

_{Randy rehearsing at a studio on Sunset Boulevard, 1978.}

“I Thought I Might Retire!”

The failure of the album sent Randy back to his home in Mitchell, Nebraska, at least for a while.

“At that point, I wasn’t sure if I was going to do another solo album. I just wanted to get away and be with my family. I thought I might retire! I collect antique cars and thought I’d tinker with them…and just have a good time for awhile.” ^{23 24}

_{Randy and his friend Roger Frank at Frank Implement Company in Scottsbluff, NE, 1978.
Photo by Randy Knox.}

Randall Square

Randy: “At the time we were just going to open a toy store and just kick back and be in Nebraska.” ²⁵

In 1979, Randy financed a mini-mall in Scottsbluff called Randall Square. ²⁶ The three-level barn-like structure was designed by local developer J.D. Arnold, with input from the Meisners. It featured several shops and restaurants, including a toy store on the top floor owned by Randy and Jennifer called Jenny Ann, Ltd, which was operated by Jennifer and her partner, Ann Campbell. Randy’s cousin, Dorothy Van Wyngarden, owned a women’s shop, The Designer, located on the second floor. The top floor also featured a popular restaurant called The Loft. The mall opened in August 1980 with about 12 shops (only Jenny Ann was owned by the Meisners.) Randy sold Randall Square following his divorce in 1981. The building still stands today and is used for office space.

Randy didn’t leave California completely behind. In 1979, he and Jennifer sold the Los Angeles home they’d purchased from Rick Nelson in the mid-’70s, and bought a condo on Driver Road in Palm Springs.²⁷ He chose the upscale desert town because of its open spaces that reminded him of Nebraska. “There’s no smog out in the open…and you can go up in the mountains and ride your Harley.”²⁸ He also enjoyed the serenity. “It’s quiet. It has a lot of sun and good restaurants. There is no fast lane there except for the cars that follow you too close.” ²⁹

Sometime around 1980, he fell outside of a Mexican restaurant he frequented in Palm Springs. The fall permanently damaged a nerve on the left side of his face near his mouth. As Jennifer recalled, the fall changed his appearance: “He never quite looked the same to me…the way he talked and the way he smiled.” ³⁰

_{The Meisners’ Palm Springs condo. Photo by Jennifer Meisner.}

Reflection

After the failure of his first album, Randy spent nearly two-and-a-half years away from the music business. He reappeared in 1980, with a new producer, Val Garay, and a new album, One More Song. He appeared on the TV program, Midnight Special, in December 1980, and returned to the stage in February 1981 for a tour.

As for his choice to leave the Eagles at the height of their popularity, Randy said: “I had to stick my neck out and give it a shot…I’m very proud of what I did with them. Very proud. It’s a great group…But I was right to leave when I did. There’s no looking back.” ³¹

Notes

1. New York Daily News, March 10, 1981 ↩︎
2. The second and third legs of the 1977 Hotel California tour was the first time in Randy’s six years with the Eagles that he didn’t sing at least two songs during a concert. When the tour opened in March 1977, Randy’s song, “Try & Love Again” was part of the set. But by April, and their European tour, the song had been removed. It was never reinstated, nor replaced with another song for Randy to sing, for the rest of the tour, which ended on July 9th. ↩︎
3. The Story Of The Eagles: The Long Run by Marc Shapiro, 1995 ↩︎
4. Personal correspondence with Jennifer Meisner. ↩︎
5. Interview with Alan Brackett by Neil Black, Purple Haze podcast, 2015 ↩︎
6. BAM, November 7th, 1980 ↩︎
7. Houston Chronicle, March 1st, 1981 ↩︎
8. Interview from 1978 Asylum Records press kit. ↩︎
9. Press kit interview ↩︎
10. No relation to drummer Pat Shanahan from The Poor and Rick Nelson’s Stone Canyon Band. ↩︎
11. Press kit interview ↩︎
12. Interview with Alan Brackett by Neil Black, 2015 ↩︎
13. BAM, November 7th, 1980 ↩︎
14. Shapiro, p. 132 ↩︎
15. Press kit interview ↩︎
16. Although Randy was no longer a member of the Eagles, he was still under contract to their label Asylum Records. Like most recording contracts, Asylum had a “leaving member” provision, which stated that if a member left the band, they were still under contract for their solo projects. Case in point was Bernie Leadon, who departed the Eagles in 1975. His first album, Natural Progressions, a collaborative effort with Michael Georgiades, was released on Asylum in 1977. It was produced by Glyn Johns. ↩︎
17. Randy put the car up for sale in 1983 ↩︎
18. James Shea also photographed Poco for their reunion album Legacy in 1989. Kosh did the artwork for Randy’s next two solo albums, One More Song (1980) and Randy Meisner (1982). Previously, he was co-credited, along with Don Henley, with the art direction for the Eagles’ Hotel California album. ↩︎
19. Los Angeles Times, April 5th, 1981 ↩︎
20. Houston Chronicle, March 1st, 1981 ↩︎
21. Shapiro, p. 133 ↩︎
22. Houston Chronicle, March 1st, 1981 ↩︎
23. BAM, November 7th, 1980. ↩︎
24. Jennifer Meisner recalled that Randy had bought the Harley in Scottsbluff and eventually stored it in a spare bedroom in the Palm Springs condo. ↩︎
25. Omaha World-Herald, October 14, 1984 ↩︎
26. This was not the first business Randy & Jennifer owned in Scottsbluff. From 1969-1971, they operated a boutique called The Clothes Horse. ↩︎
27. The L.A. house, which was located on Zorada Drive in Nichols Canyon, was sold to singer Andrew Gold. ↩︎
28. Omaha World-Herald, February 28, 1981 ↩︎
29. San Francisco Chronicle, March 22, 1981 ↩︎
30. Personal correspondence with Jennifer Meisner. ↩︎
31. San Francisco Chronicle, March 22, 1981 ↩︎