''Soul Searchin is the third solo studio album by Glenn Frey, the guitarist and co-lead vocalist for the

Eagles Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just ...

. The album was released on August 15,

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

MCA MCA may refer to: Astronomy * Mars-crossing asteroid, an asteroid whose orbit crosses that of Mars Aviation * Minimum crossing altitude, a minimum obstacle crossing altitude for fixes on published airways * Medium Combat Aircraft, a 5th gene ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

, four years after Frey's successful album, '' The Allnighter'' and eight years after the demise of the Eagles. The album features eight original songs co-written by Frey with Jack Tempchin and the song "Two Hearts" contributed by Frey's friend, Hawk Wolinski. The album also features contributions from fellow Eagles member

Timothy B. Schmit Timothy Bruce Schmit (born October 30, 1947) is an American musician, singer, and songwriter. He has performed as the bassist and vocalist for Poco and the Eagles (band), Eagles, having replaced bassist and vocalist Randy Meisner in both cases ...

Max Carl Max Carl Gronenthal (born January 29, 1950) is an American rock singer, keyboardist, guitarist and songwriter. He is the co-lead singer of the classic rock band Grand Funk Railroad. In addition, he spent several years as the keyboardist and le ...

, Robbie Buchanan,

Michael Landau Michael Christopher Landau (born June 1, 1958) is an American musician, audio engineer, and record producer. He is a session musician and guitarist who has played on many albums since the early 1980s with Boz Scaggs, Minoru Niihara, Joni Mitch ...

, and Bruce Gaitsch. The album was received negatively by the majority of music critics, while other reviewers noted good points to the album. It was also not as successful as Frey's previous albums (although one of his favorites), peaking at #36 on the ''Billboard'' 200, which marked the beginning of a downturn in Frey's fortunes on the album charts. The album's first and leading single, " True Love", unlike the album, was a commercial success, peaking at #2 on the

Adult Contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...

chart, and so was the second single, the title track which peaked at #5 also on the same chart.

Background

Frey began work on the album in the midst of a string of hits in the 1980s, as well as animosity between him and other members of the

. The album's title refers to his efforts to find his own

identity Identity may refer to: * Identity document * Identity (philosophy) * Identity (social science) * Identity (mathematics) Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Identity'' (1987 film), an Iranian film * ''Identity'' (2003 film), ...

Musical direction

When Frey was asked about his musical direction, he said "In a sense I'm working my way back home, Though I left

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

and went to

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

to cut my teeth on country-rock, I've remained obsessed with the music of my

adolescence Adolescence () is a transitional stage of physical and psychological development that generally occurs during the period from puberty to adulthood (typically corresponding to the age of majority). Adolescence is usually associated with the t ...

, the great soul hits of the 60's and early 70's. It's a style that most black musicians have abandoned for dance music and rap. There are a whole lot of people who miss the sound of

Sam & Dave Sam & Dave were an American soul and R&B duo who performed together from 1961 until 1981. The tenor (higher) voice was Sam Moore (born 1935) and the baritone/tenor (lower) voice was Dave Prater (1937–1988). Nicknamed "Double Dynamite", "The ...

, and

Wilson Picket Wilson Pickett (March 18, 1941 – January 19, 2006) was an American singer and songwriter. A major figure in the development of soul music, Pickett recorded over 50 songs which made the US R&B charts, many of which crossed over to the ''Bill ...

t. It's left a gap that is being filled by people like

Steve Winwood Stephen Lawrence Winwood (born 12 May 1948) is an English musician, singer, and songwriter whose genres include blue-eyed soul, rhythm and blues, blues rock, and pop rock. Though primarily a keyboard player and vocalist prominent for his disti ...

Critical reception

Reviewing for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

, critic William Ruhlmann wrote of the album "the songs here were so interchangeable with those on his first two albums he apologized for it in his note about "True Love," which became the album's sole Top 40 hit. The music was pleasant, but inconsequential, and suggested that Frey, living off his

royalties, had come to think of his solo career as a hobby." In a review for T''he Rolling Stone Album Guide'' (1992), Mark Coleman gave the album one and a half out of five stars and wrote that "Frey sounded like he wasn't even trying anymore; his pump-your-body TV gym commercials at the time displayed more sweat and effort".

Track listing

All songs by Glenn Frey and Jack Tempchin, except where noted.

Personnel

* Glenn Frey – lead vocals, backing vocals (1-4, 6-9), keyboards (1-5, 7, 8), guitar (1-7, 9), bass (1-7), percussion (1, 2, 4), arrangements (1), drums (2, 3, 7), horn arrangements (3, 7), string arrangements (5, 8), French horn arrangements (5) Additional musicians * David "Hawk" Wolinski – keyboards (1, 5, 7, 9), arrangements (1) * Ron Skies – keyboards (2, 4, 5, 7, 10) * Barry Beckett – keyboards (3, 8) * Robbie Buchanan – keyboards (3, 9) * Steve Thoma – keyboards (4, 7, 8, 10) * Steve Nathan – keyboards (8) *

– guitar (2, 6, 10) * Duncan Cameron – guitar (8), backing vocals (8) * Bruce Gaitsch – guitar (9) *

Paul Jackson Jr. Paul Milton Jackson Jr. (born December 30, 1959) is an American fusion/urban jazz composer, arranger, producer and guitarist. He was born and raised in Los Angeles. Jackson knew by the age of fifteen that he wanted to become a professional musi ...

– guitar (9) *

David Hood David Hood (born September 21, 1943) is an American bassist from Muscle Shoals, Alabama. He also plays the trombone. He is a member of the Alabama Music Hall of Fame. Early life and education Hood was born in Sheffield, Alabama and attende ...

– bass (8) *

Neil Stubenhaus Neil Stubenhaus is an American bass guitarist. Career He started his musical training playing drums and switched to bass guitar at the age of 12. He studied at the Berklee College of Music where he graduated in 1975. After graduation, he was rec ...

– bass (9) * Dave Chamberlain – bass (10) * Russ Kunkel – drums (1, 5) *

John Robinson John Robinson may refer to: Academics *John Thomas Romney Robinson (1792–1882), Irish astronomer and physicist * John J. Robinson (1918–1996), historian and author of ''Born in Blood'' *John Talbot Robinson (1923–2001), paleontologist *John ...

– drums (2, 4, 6, 9) * Roger Hawkins – drums (8) *

Prairie Prince Charles Lempriere "Prairie" Prince (born May 7, 1950) is an American drummer and graphic artist. He came to prominence in the 1970s as a member of the San Francisco–based rock group The Tubes, was a member of Jefferson Starship from 1992 to ...

– drums (10) * Steve Forman – percussion (1, 4, 5, 7) * Ralph MacDonald – percussion (3, 6, 8, 9, 10) * Bill Bergman – saxophone solo (1) * Al Garth – saxophone (2) *

Chris Mostert Christiaan Mostert is a Dutch saxophonist who has played with the Eagles during their "Farewell 1 Tour" in 2005. He is part of the Mighty Horns. Besides his work with the Eagles, Mostert has also played on solo tours of Don Henley, Joe Walsh and G ...

– saxophone (3, 10) * The Heart Attack Horns – horns (1, 3, 4, 7) * Greg Smith – horn arrangements (1, 3, 4, 7) * Nick DeCaro – string arrangements (5, 8, 10), French horn arrangements (5) * Roy Galloway – backing vocals (2, 6, 8) *

– backing vocals (2, 6) * Julia Waters – backing vocals (3, 4, 8) * Maxine Waters – backing vocals (3, 4, 8) *

– backing vocals (7) * Oren Waters – backing vocals (8) *

Institutional Radio Choir The Institutional Radio Choir was a gospel choir that recorded between 1962-2003. The choir began in 1954 at the Institutional COGIC in Brooklyn, NY, under Bishop Carl E Williams Sr. After recording an album entitled: "Well Done," the choir backe ...

– backing vocals (8) * Carl Williams – BGV direction (8)

Production

* Producers – Glenn Frey and Elliot Scheiner * Co-Producers – Hawk Wolinski (Tracks 1, 5 & 9);

James Newton Howard James Newton Howard (born June 9, 1951) is an American film composer, music producer and keyboardist. He has scored over 100 films and is the recipient of a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, and nine nominations for Academy Awards. His film scores ...

(Track 9). * Production Coordinator – Ivy Skoff * Engineers – Ray Blair, Dan Garcia, Alec Head, Glen Holguin,

Jack Joseph Puig Jack Joseph Puig is an American audio engineer, A&R executive, and record producer. He has worked with Tonic, Hole, Jellyfish, The Black Crowes, John Mayer, Weezer, Fiona Apple, Roger Hodgson, Taxiride, Green Day, Counting Crows, No Doubt, Klaxo ...

and Elliot Scheiner. * Assistant Engineers – Ted Blaisdell, Jordan D'Alessio, Frank Dooken, Ken Felton, Mike Harlow, Robin Laine, Vickie Lancaster, Julie Last, Charlie Paakkari, Jim Singer and Paul Winger. * Mixed by Elliot Scheiner at The Sandbox Studios (Fairfield County, CT). * Digital Editing by Rhonda Schoen * Mastered by

Ted Jensen Ted Jensen (born September 19, 1954) is an American mastering engineer, known for having mastered many recordings, including the Eagles' ''Hotel California'', Green Day's '' American Idiot'' and Norah Jones' ''Come Away with Me''. Biography Ted ...

at Sterling Sound (New York, NY). * Art Direction – Jeff Adamoff * Digital Transfer – ImageDesign * Design – DZN, The Design Group * Photography – Dennis Keeley * Management – The Fitzgerald Hartley Co.

Chart performance

Album

Singles

References

Classic Rock Classic rock is a US radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid 1990s, primar ...

Sheet

Music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...

Hits. D Coates - 2004 -

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical c ...

*October 10, 1988 Vol. 30 No. 15 Picks and Pans Review: Soul Searchi

*http://www.billboard.com/artist/glenn-frey/62230#/album/glenn-frey/soul-searchin/7349/review

External links

{{Authority control Glenn Frey albums 1988 albums Albums produced by Barry Beckett MCA Records albums Albums recorded at United Western Recorders Albums recorded at Capitol Studios Blue-eyed soul albums