It’s no secret that Vince Gill is one of country music’s best all-time vocalists, but he outdoes himself on a new cut from the Eagles‘ new live album. Gill does the seemingly impossible as he takes over lead vocals on the 1975 classic “Take It to the Limit,” putting his own inimitable spin on a song with a vocal performance that’s difficult to replace.
Eagles bassist Randy Meisner co-wrote “Take It to the Limit” with Don Henley and Glenn Frey, and he sang lead vocals on the track, which the group released as the third single from their One of These Nights album in 1975. The song reached No. 8 on Billboard‘s Hot 100, and Meisner’s scorching falsetto screams during the song’s final choruses became a high point of the group’s live shows … so much so, in fact, that Meisner developed anxiety about performing the song live, which led to conflict in the band and his eventual departure.
Frey lowered the key several steps when he took over lead vocals on the song after the Eagles reunited, but Gill has raised the key once again for the new live version that appears on the group’s new Live From the Forum MMXVIII. The country superstar takes over the song as if it was written especially to suit his silky-smooth voice, delivering it with understated ease that suits the material perfectly all the way up until the song’s end.
While he does not recreate the extended outro of the original recording, he demonstrates that he is perfectly able to replicate Meisner’s original falsetto parts at the outro by doing it twice. Where Meisner sang the final “one more time” in falsetto, however, Gill delivers the song’s extended climactic note in full voice, drawing an astonished roar of approval from the audience:
Gill stunned his fans when he joined the Eagles in 2017, making his debut with the group on July 15, 2017, in a new lineup that included Glenn Frey’s son, Deacon Frey. Gill and Deacon Frey took the stage at Classic West at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles with classic-era band members Don Henley, Timothy B. Schmit and Joe Walsh for the Eagles’ first-ever concert performance without Glenn Frey, who died on Jan. 18, 2016, at the age of 67 from complications of rheumatoid arthritis, acute ulcerative colitis and pneumonia.
Gill and Frey have toured with the Eagles ever since, and they both make their recorded debuts with the group on the new live package, which dropped on Oct. 16. The 26 live tracks draw from three shows the Eagles played at the Forum in Los Angeles in September of 2018.
Gill confessed that his participation in the Eagles is bittersweet during an interview with Taste of Country in 2017.
“Just gratitude that I was the guy they decided would work,” Gill replied when asked what was his takeaway from his time with the iconic group. “Just that. Because Glenn was a great friend, and in my heart of hearts I wish I wasn’t doing it. That would mean Glenn would still be around, but life is what it is and you just go do what you can do because of what happens. Those songs deserve to live on as long as they can.”
See Photos From the Eagles’ First Gigs Without Glenn Frey: