4 1/2 Stars

I heard the three hit singles from Hotel California waaaay too much on the radio back in 1977. And now Classic Rock stations play the song "Hotel California" so much that I have to turn the radio off when it comes on, or else get sick of what is actually a great song ("Stairway To Heaven Syndrome" psychologists call it). I was, however, a big fan of the album from the git-go, hearing it for the first time in late-December 1976, when the album was played in its entirety by the local rock station.



Falling out of love with Classic Rock sometime in the late 70's, I didn't listen to it much again until recently. Hearing it now, I enjoy "side" 2 much better than side 1, which puts me firmly in the minority of most Eagles fans. This may be due to my overexposure to the radio hits on side 1, but also because I love the Joe Walsh and Randy Meisner songs on side 2. They provide a nice break from Don Henley's singing, which is great but tends to produce "listener fatigue" when he handles too many of the lead vocals (and lest you think I'm not a Henley fan, "The Boys Of Summer" is one of my all-time favorite songs, period).



"Pretty Maids All In A Row" is somewhat reminiscent of Joe Walsh's work on his first (and best) solo album, 1973's Barnstorm. "Pretty Maids," like most of Barnstorm, is a nice deviation from Walsh's more well-known guitar rave-ups. It was written with Barnstorm-mate Joe Vitale, and has a dreamy, richly-textured production, utilizing piano (Walsh) and synthesizer (Walsh & Glenn Frey). It also has some nice percussion work from Henley and, as usual, heavenly background harmonies.



"Try And Love Again" is one of my favorite Eagles songs, and easily the most underrated song on this album (I even love the syntactic faux pas of the title). Great vocals and guitars. It has been called the Eagles' last country-rock song, but to me it sounds more like a hybrid of early-70's Southern California Rock and mid-60's Merseybeat/Searchers-style Pop (with the bright, ringing guitars and chord structure built around the loping D major). It also provides Frey with one of the best guitar solos in the Eagles canon, which is quite a feat considering the great players, past and present, in this band. I'm not sure why this track was never released as a single - maybe because Meisner was on the way out? Too country-rock, which the Eagles were trying to move away from, partly to win over rock critics (some success) but mostly to broaden their fan base (much success)? It's too bad that Meisner didn't use this type of musical setting as a starting point for what looked to be a promising solo career, rather than releasing a series of (mostly) lame, generic rock albums. Not that he would have sold any more records, but it would have made a few of us happy. Regardless, I have missed his great vocals (lead and harmony) on subsequent Eagles recordings, and I haven't even mentioned his talents as a bass player. Oh well, Meisner fans among the Eagles' throngs appear to be few and far between. But if you need proof, compare his vocal performance on "Take It To The Limit" with Frey's more recent renderings. The difference between good and goose-pimply.



As good as the individual Eagles are as lead vocalists, they seem to be even better as background singers. In fact, when I think of the "classic" Eagles vocal sound, I think of their background harmonies, whether it's Meisner's soaring high-harmony or Henley and Frey's vocal blend, which seems to take on a separate voice all its own (for a great example of this on a non-Eagles track, listen to Dan Fogelberg's "Someone's Been Telling You Stories").



Back to Hotel California. I think "The Last Resort" is a great closer, but Henley almost ruins it by getting preachy in the final verse. I said almost. It's still a great song, even though you know it was written by a smug millionaire rock star (sorry Don, at least I didn't call you a hypocrite or a - gasp - liberal, and actually "smug" may be unfair).



It goes without saying (I know, I've already said it) that the guitar work on Hotel California (by Frey, but especially Don Felder and Walsh) really kicks this album up a notch. And that's coming from someone who loved Bernie Leadon's Clarence White-inspired playing on all those great early Eagles songs (e.g. "Take It Easy").



For some reason, the Eagles are loathed by most alt-country and "progressive" country bands - probably stemming from Gram Parsons' and several prominent rock critics' dislike of them - while being embraced by many current Country Radio artists and fans. Emmylou Harris and Chris Hillman don't even like the term "country-rock" and look like you poo-pooed on their cowboy boots if it's mentioned to describe their music (they prefer Parsons' term "Cosmic American Music" - which I don't think will ever catch on). But to be honest, Gram must have been a little envious of the radio play the Eagles were getting, while he was getting virtually none. Current Country artists, such as Toby Keith, certainly have more in common with the Eagles (at least Henley and Frey) when it comes to arrogance and the personal dislikability factor.



But unless you enjoy throwing the baby out with the proverbial bathwater, you have to give the Eagles, and this album in particular, its due. And if you haven't heard the DVD-Audio version in surround sound, then you need to. Awesome. Now, excuse me while I go online and purchase a pair of tickets to their current farewell tour. Anybody have a spare $400?

America's greatest natural resource

Two words: Joe Walsh. The artistry, the sheer magnitude of Don Felder's and Joe's genius - on "Hotel California," especially - on guitar more than made up for "liberal-guilt" Henley or "dying for a hit single" Frey. Shame the Iggles flamed out after Tim Schmitt and "The Long Run."

Good Sound - CHEAP Packeging!

The Eagles Hotel California was one of the first compact discs I ever bought. Being a young college student with little money, I reserved my CD purchases to only the most worthy of albums. This criteria was both quality of sound and artistry. Hotel California had it all: top rate musicianship, excellant songwriting, and great sonic production. That's why it gets 5 stars. The remastered sound quality on this 2004 release brings it right up to modern levels. What I don't have anything good to say about is the packaging! You cannot tell the remastered version from the 20 year old original that I owned! Everything is identical. You get NO new liner notes, No new pictures, and NO bonus tracks! Warner Brothers didn't even have to reprint new cd booklets, cause their the same! How CHEAP can you get. It's just another case of the music industry ripping off the consumer. If you want to see how remasters are supposed to be done, check out Rhino Records releases (such as Foreigner) and Legacy Recordings (Heart, Janis Joplin, etc.)

Still as impressive as it was 28 years ago

The Eagles reached the 80.000.000 mark in 2002. Eighty million records sold - not just of "Hotel California", of course, but of their entire catalogue.

Still, this album is rightly considered their artistic peak as well as their commercial one. Everybody who knows music knows "Hotel California", one of the ten best-selling LPs of all time (even if you include compilations). Or at least they know the title track, that one tremendously evocative piece of "west coast rock" which threatens to overshadow everything else on the album.



If you think "Hotel California" is a bad song, you're a fool. Yeah, sorry about that, but it's the truth. This might not be your kind of music, but you have to recognize how tremendously well-wrought that song is, both musically and lyrically. It's not my favorite song, excactly, I'm mostly into blues music, but I still think it's an amazing piece of work, right up there with "Stairway To Heaven" and "Hey Jude". The partiture reads a classical chamber piece...at one point eight electric and acoustic guitars are playing at the same time!



Everybody has heard "Hotel California" so many times that they forget what an incredible musical achievement it actually is - but just listen to Don Felder's 16-bar solo immediately after the last verse. That has to be one of the greatest rock guitar solos ever committed to tape.

And while none of the other seven songs are as well known, the rest of the album is uniformly excellent as well. The other two singles were Glenn Frey's easy country-rock shuffle "New Kid In Town" and the hard rock stomper "Life In The Fast Lane", and while nothing matches "Hotel California", those songs would be the two shining highlights on any other album.



This album is less country and more mainstream rock than anything the Eagles had done previously, mainly because Bernie Leadon had been replaced with hard rock veteran Joe Walsh (who provides the main riff to "Life In The Fast Lane", and plays a number of sizzling solos), and the three-guitar onslaught of Frey, Felder and Walsh have arena-rock heft. The sound is big and vibrant, and while "HC" could have used one or two up-tempo songs to "make up" for the numerous slow tunes, you really can't say anything bad about these eight selections.

"Wasted Time" is a beautiful ballad, "The Last Resort" is a scathing political statement for which the Eagles also remembered to write good music. And Joe Walsh's mellow "Pretty Maids All In A Row" is a minor song only because it sits next to the mighty "Hotel California".

Randy Meisner's last Eagles song, "Try And Love Again" is a lovely mid-tempo rocker with a melodic country feel and some great ringing lead guitar by Glenn Frey, and the tough stop-and-go rocker "Victim Of Love" is equally excellent.

This wonderful album finds the Eagles at their peak. It belongs in any serious collection of popular music.

Sublime

The Eagles reached the 80.000.000 mark in 2002. Eighty million records sold - not just of "Hotel California", of course, but of their entire catalogue.

Still, this album is rightly considered their artistic peak as well as their commercial one. Everybody who knows music knows "Hotel California", one of the ten best-selling LPs of all time (even if you include compilations). Or at least they know the title track, that one tremendously evocative piece of "west coast rock" which threatens to overshadow everything else on the album.



If you think "Hotel California" is a bad song, you're a fool. Yeah, sorry about that, but it's the truth. This might not be your kind of music, but you have to recognize how tremendously well-wrought that song is, both musically and lyrically. It's not my favorite song, excactly, I'm mostly into blues music, but I still think it's an amazing piece of work, right up there with "Stairway To Heaven" and "Hey Jude". The partiture reads a classical chamber piece...at one point eight electric and acoustic guitars are playing at the same time!



Everybody has heard "Hotel California" so many times that they forget what an incredible musical achievement it actually is - but just listen to Don Felder's 16-bar solo immediately after the last verse. That has to be one of the greatest rock guitar solos ever committed to tape.

And while none of the other seven songs are as well known, the rest of the album is uniformly excellent as well. The other two singles were Glenn Frey's easy country-rock shuffle "New Kid In Town" and the hard rock stomper "Life In The Fast Lane", and while nothing matches "Hotel California", those songs would be the two shining highlights on any other album.



This album is less country and more mainstream rock than anything the Eagles had done previously, mainly because Bernie Leadon had been replaced with hard rock veteran Joe Walsh (who provides the main riff to "Life In The Fast Lane", and plays a number of sizzling solos), and the three-guitar onslaught of Frey, Felder and Walsh have arena-rock heft. The sound is big and vibrant, and while "HC" could have used one or two up-tempo songs to "make up" for the numerous slow tunes, you really can't say anything bad about these eight selections.

"Wasted Time" is a beautiful ballad, "The Last Resort" is a scathing political statement for which the Eagles also remembered to write good music. And Joe Walsh's mellow "Pretty Maids All In A Row" is a minor song only because it sits next to the mighty "Hotel California".

Randy Meisner's last Eagles song, "Try And Love Again" is a lovely mid-tempo rocker with a melodic country feel and some great ringing lead guitar by Glenn Frey, and the tough stop-and-go rocker "Victim Of Love" is equally excellent.

This wonderful album finds the Eagles at their peak. It belongs in any serious collection of popular music.

We satisfy our endless needs and justify our bloody deeds...

...in the name of destiny, and in the name of GOD.



- Hotel California, the Eagles wonderful stinging criticism of California life, and American life, made a huge impact on me and enlightened my view of critical music. Countless musicians from Pat Metheny to Roger Waters have stated the main thrust of their music is to MOVE people. To stir something. This album succeeds in that regard for sure. I had the unique experience of traveling to Disney Land (Anaheim) with our hired bus driver cranking up and singing word for word "The Last Resort". It was strange mix of , while I drive you to the quintessential American landmark, I'll tell why I don't like it through this song. "The Last Resort" enabled him to communicate how he felt without muddying the message. As some reviewers have explained, it's not a happy album. I don't think it was meant to be. If you don't like melodic tunes then you probably won't like it. The musical blend of 70's Acoustic and Electric guitars and in particular the playing of Joe Walsh is superb. I would consider this album timeless but ahh the modern youth really seem to want something else. It's timeless for my ears however. Every song is good and communicates it's message well. I also appreciate the strings which aids in moving the listener. All in all, I would rank this album in my top ten for sure. Give it a listen again, it will transport you back.