Review by Geoff Jenke
Hotel California is 40 years old. You don’t review an album that has sold more than a reported 42 million copies worldwide, more revisit it. The mid 70’s belonged to two bands, The Eagles and Fleetwood Mac and two albums, Hotel California and Rumours. The Eagles hold sway over The Mac with only a reported 40 million copies of Rumours sold.
When Bernie Leadon left the band, the other members replaced him with ex James Gang guitarist, Joe Walsh who bought an edgier rock sound to the band. The album could almost be labelled a concept album, with the lead song being the theme of the set. Don Henley said of the album, it is about “loss of innocence, the cost of naiveté, the perils of fame, of excess; exploration of the dark underbelly of the American dream”.
Hotel California (the song) is a classic rock song. Guitarist Don Felder bought the opening acoustic/electric riff to the band as an instrumental but Henley and Frey added their magic and turned it into what it became, a monster hit.
But does the album hold up after 40 years? There is no doubt it is still a bona fide classic album, deserved of all it’s praise and selling power. Joe Walsh supplies a great funk riff to Life in the Fast Lane and then turns around and give the band a ballad in Pretty Maids in aRow. Unfortunately, the ballad is not one of the albums highlights. Whilst pushing for an edgier sound, the band don’t completely give up on their country roots. New Kid in Town leads the way with some great country guitar.
But the real treasure is Don Henley’s masterpiece The Last Resort which tells how man inevitably destroys the place he finds beautiful. As the lyrics tell us “There is no more frontier, we have got to make it here, you call something paradise, kiss it goodbye” A bit of trivia – Black Sabbath were recording in the next studio and the Eagles had to re-record this song a number of times as Sabbath were playing so loudly.
The 40th Anniversary set comes with a live second disc recorded at the LA Forum in 1976. The album is a mixture of classic Eagle songs like Take It Easy, Witchy Woman, One of theseNights alongside cuts from Hotel California. However, the highlight for me was Joe Walsh song Funk #49. The live album demonstrates how well the band replicates the studio songs on stage.
The accompanying booklet is basically just a few photo’s which lets the whole set down. No information on the recording the album at all. Also, a bonus disc of outtakes and alternative versions of songs on the albums would have been nice.
If you don’t have this album in your record collection, now is the time to get it.
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