Eagles - Hell Freezes Over (1994)

Contains four new studio tracks and eleven tracks recorded live in April 1994 for an MTV special. The four new tracks either sound like Don Henley solo tunes or Eagles tracks you've heard before even though you haven't. The live tunes are just what fans want: "play the hits, guys, and play them like they sound on the albums - don't mess with my familiar arrangements." Henley is such a smug chore I want to hate this, but I dig it - mainly due to Joe Walsh and Timothy B. Schmidt's contributions. Bottom line: if you like Eagles, you'll like this collection. But you knew that.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: #1

Press of the time:

• Stereo Review: "you've heard this before"
• Rolling Stone (★★★½): "far better than anyone but their accountants had a right to expect."
• CashBox: "the group is acknowledging more openly their country sound"
• Billboard: "the project works fine"
• Robert Christgau: dud

Tracks: I like 3 of the 4 new ones, the exception being the too-country-for-Mark's-sensibilities cut, The Girl From Yesterday. The best of the four is Love Will Keep Us Alive, which topped the Adult Contemporary chart for 3 weeks.

Highlights of the live tracks are Wasted Time, I Can't Tell You Why, In The City, and Life In The Fast Lane. While New York Minute is one of Henley's better solo tunes, if a solo tune had to be chosen for the show, I would have opted for Life's Been Good or All She Wants To Do Is Dance or, hell, even Dirty Laundry. I would have preferred more rockers to all these ballads and mid-tempo tunes, but there's nothing really objectionable here. Track 6, the live version of Hotel California, still gets regular play on the local classic radio station.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: On the evening of the last day of school before Christmas break in December 1999, I attended a faculty party at the home of my school's assistant principal. He was an eccentric, single dude rumored to be a former CIA agent, but I digress. Most of the group in attendance was in their 20's and 30's and were quickly intoxicated (like most Xmas office parties, I'd imagine). Amid the frivolity, the assistant principal/special agent in charge asked me if I'd join him for some Cuban cigars and I jumped at the chance. I'd never smoked a celebrated Cuban cigar before and by the end of that evening, that fact hadn't changed. Turns out the cigar was a Havana Sunrise, which, at the time, were produced in Little Havana, Miami. Cubans? Close, but no cigar (apologies, that all-too-easy cliché was uncalled for). I've since had a good number of Cuban cigars and, while they are very good, I honestly can't tell much difference between them and premium cigars from Honduras or the Dominican Republic, I'm no aficionado but again I digress.

So what's all this got to do with The Eagles? At some point during said party, I noticed someone had turned on the TV and stuck in an Eagles Hell Freezes Over DVD. An odd choice for a Christmas party, but better than, say Chicago 25 or some such.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Long Road Out of Eden (2007)
The Long Run (1979)
Hotel California (1976)

Eagles - Hotel California (1976)

Note: the CD I listened to was the 1999 remaster.

A group releases its best album after they've already released their greatest hits album? And it could stand as a greatest hits album itself. Quite unusual for a theme album. The thing has sold over 32 million copies and received numerous accolades to go along with 3 massive hit singles:

• Record of the Year Grammy (Hotel California)
• Best Arrangement for Voices Grammy (New Kid In Town)
• #118 in Rolling Stone magazine's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (2020)

However, critics have gone from hating it to loving it back to hating it. Which is why we hate critics. Just appreciate the nice music and the metaphorical lyrics, sheesh. Examples:

• 1977: "An overarranged wash embodying the worst of rock-cum-Hollywood sensibilities." - Rolling Stone
• 1982: "A legitimate rock masterpiece" - The Los Angeles Times
• 1998: "I hate the f*ckin' Eagles, man. - The Big Lebowski
• 2005: "Country-rock reached a refinement never equaled again." - 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die
• 2012: "An awful lot of the album is snarky whining from co-leaders Don Henley and Glenn Frey, two guys who didn't really seem like they had that much they could legitimately complain about" - CultureCatch
• 2016: "I really like this thing" - The CD Project

Other press from 1976:

• Robert Christgau (B): "Speaking strictly as a nonfan, I'd grant that this is their most substantial if not their most enjoyable LP"
• Stereo Review: "a satisfying, well-turned album"
• CashBox: "bristling with power-house tunes"
• Billboard: "the acme of acoustic-electric soft rock"

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: #1 (8 non-consecutive weeks, January - May, 1977). It probably would have held the top spot longer if it hadn't been battling the likes of Stevie Wonder's Songs in the Key of Life and Fleetwood Mac's Rumours.
Peak on the CashBox album chart: #1 (11 non-consecutive weeks)

Tracks: My favorite track from the get-go has been Life In The Fast Lane, followed closely by The New Kid In Town. We know those from the radio, but don't sleep on the "filler" tracks like The Last Resort, Wasted Time, and Victim Of Love. How could The Dude not like these guys? No boobs? As for the title track, I'll admit that it's a masterpiece, but it's one that I've heard enough for one lifetime. So, to be honest, I usually start on track 2 and then don't skip any others.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: I once worked with a nice enough fellow around the year 2002. He was the lonely type who was socially awkward and, as a result, he liked to show up in my office unannounced and expect me to put down everything and talk to him for an hour. In earlier times, he'd be called a simpleton. Anyway, he believed everything he'd ever heard or read, so when he heard me playing some Eagles, I got the complete run-down on the true meaning of this album's cover. If unfamiliar, click here. He also thought Saddam Hussein was behind the 9/11 attacks, so there ya go. If he were around now, I'd ask his take on Trump's odd fascination with the Kardashians.

The stereo panning on Life In The Fast Lane completely fascinated me as a ten year old. I still think it sounds pretty cool.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Long Road Out of Eden (2007)
The Long Run (1979)

The Eagles - The Long Run (1979)

NUMBER ONE ALBUMS WEEK (MAY 5-11, 2014)

This doesn't hold up well as an album, but the singles sure are good.

Press of the time:

• Robert Christgau (C+): "I actually enjoy maybe half of these songs until I come into contact with the conceited, sentimental woman-haters who are doing the singing."
• Billboard: "a perfectly balanced set of midtempo ballads and raw, urgent rockers."
• CashBox: "yet another scathingly brilliant rock album"
• Rolling Stone: "chilling and altogether brilliant"
• Stereo Review: "the most pointless vinyl extrusion of 1979"
• High Fidelity: "does get less boring with repeated listenings"

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard Top 200: #1 (9 consecutive weeks, Nov 3 - Dec 29, 1979)
• CashBox: #1 (14 consecutive weeks)
• Rolling Stone: #1

Tracks: Each of the album's three singles has it's merits:

• Heartache Tonight (peaked on the pop chart at #1) - you can really hear the influence of co-writer Bob Seger, but its the simple thumping bass drum part that hooks me.
• The Long Run (#8) - most like the trademark SoCal country-rock sound of classic Eagles.
• I Can't Tell You Why (#8) - pure soft rock goodness with gorgeous falsetto vocals from Timothy B. Schmit

Of the rest, only the Joe Walsh tune, In The City, stands out (in a slightly different version it appeared on The Warriors movie soundtrack), but it doesn't even sound like an Eagles tune. A restrained David Sanborn tries to resuscitate the bland soft rocker The Sad Cafe, but can't quite do it. Skip the other filler, particularly the painful Teenage Jail and the novelty tune, The Greeks Don't Want No Freaks.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: At about the 4:05 mark of the song Heartache Tonight, you hear the spoken words, "Break my heart." One day in 8th grade, that part of the song was an earworm that I went around saying aloud as I roamed the halls between classes. Needless to say, I got a lot of strange looks that day. I'm lucky I didn't end up getting thrown head first into a lunch room trash can.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Long Road Out of Eden (2007)

The Eagles - Long Road Out of Eden (2007)

"OLD DOGS, NEW TRICKS" WEEK (MAY 1-7, 2011)

This is the only Eagles CD currently I own and, to be honest, I'm not sure how it ended up in my collection. It's almost like someone broke into my house, drank all my rum, and left this CD lying around. I'm fairly positive this is the first time I've listened to it in its entirety. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the band on the radio during their heyday in the '70s, I just never bought any of their stuff. I enjoyed the band the most when they leaned on the rock side of their signature country-rock (Life In The Fast Lane, etc.), but this double disc set is pretty much straight-ahead country music, which I don't normally listen to. So I'm not qualified to trash it, but I can't rave about it either. Go read other reviews about it. I'm going to listen this once and be done. As Sputnik Music says in their review, "So it's simple. Like The Eagles? You'll like this. Don't like The Eagles? The Eagles don't care." Even though I'm not a fan of this particular CD, I won't take it as far as The Dude:

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: #1 (1 week, Nov 17, 2007)

Tracks: These songs aren't really my thing, but I didn't mind listening to What Do I Do With My Heart, No More Cloudy Days, Fast Company, Frail Grasp On the Big Picture, Last Good time in Town, and, ironically, I Don't Want To Hear Any More. However, none of this music will get ripped to my iTunes.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None, not surprisingly.