POP MUSIC REVIEWS : Frey Lively Enough at Coach House

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO —  Twenty years after his old band took flight, at least one prominent ex-Eagle seems to be wondering whether it might be time to retreat to a well-feathered nest. At the Coach House on Wednesday, Glenn Frey introduced “Strange Weather” as “the title song from my fourth and last solo album.” Then he demurred, “I’ll make one more, because if I don’t care, it’ll be a hit” (unlike the recent “Strange Weather,” which has failed to chart). Finally, he added, “This marks my last year in rock ‘n’ roll.”

When cries of “no, no” rose from the audience, Frey advised his fans not to worry but to “live it up.”

If Frey’s wings have been clipped by his dwindling fortunes in the pop marketplace, he at least had sufficient good spirits to follow his own advice. Besides those brief, waffling remarks about his future, the 44-year-old singer was an affably humorous, if low-key host during a proficient show that neither soared nor plummeted, but managed to be lively enough.

If two hours of note-perfect renditions of Eagles oldies and Frey solo hits is your idea of a good time, the set made sense. Frey and his sharp, 11-man band also included five well-received songs from “Strange Weather,” an album that, while suffering from his characteristic slickness, is attuned to more than the good times and romance of past efforts.

But Frey wasn’t one to burrow deep into a mood or to go to the extremes of emotion that make for memorable rock ‘n’ roll.

With fame and fortune already secure, Frey remains enough of a pro to represent his songs well, but not a deep enough artist or a sufficiently fiery singer to make them more than pleasant, passing moments.

* Frey appears at the Ventura Theatre in Ventura tonight, at the Universal Amphitheatre on Saturday and at the Spreckels Theatre in San Diego on Nov. 28.