For the most part, singles are not included here, because the Eagles usually repurposed album tracks for B-sides instead of issuing previously unreleased material. Exceptions include the band’s very first commercial release . . .
“Take It Easy” (single)
(May 1, 1972, Asylum Records) Lineup: Frey, Henley, Leadon, Meisner. Produced by Glyn Johns, recorded in London.
1. Take It Easy
2. Get You in the Mood
Eagles
(June 1, 1972, Asylum) Lineup: Frey, Henley, Leadon, Meisner. Produced by Johns, recorded in London except where noted.
1. Take It Easy
2. Witchy Woman
3. Chug All Night
4. Most of Us Are Sad
5. Nightingale (recorded in Los Angeles)
6. Train Leaves Here This Morning
7. Take the Devil
8. Earlybird
9. Peaceful Easy Feeling
10. Tryin’
Comments: Proving that the Eagles’ reputation as a laid-back musical collective was never fully accurate, consider the disconnect between the first and last songs on their debut LP. “Take It Easy,” that shimmering Browne-Frey collaboration, implies a carefree lifestyle, but “Tryin’,” sung by Meisner, suggests the importance of professional drive. And while the cliché about masters making difficult things look easy comes to mind when listening to the album’s best songs, strain is audible elsewhere. Frey’s “Chug All Night” is the worst song on an Eagles album from the ’70s, and too many cuts are trifles. Happily, when the band digs deeper, they find gold, as with the amiable “Peaceful Easy Feeling,” the tough “Take the Devil,” and the sexy “Witchy Woman.” This LP doesn’t hint at everything the Eagles would become, since the guitar heroics of Felder and Walsh were years in the future—and since Frey and Henley had not yet becoming songwriting partners—but the album lays an important foundation.
Desperado
(April 17, 1973, Asylum) Lineup: Frey, Henley, Leadon, Meisner + Jim Ed Norman and members of the National Philharmonic Orchestra. Produced by Johns, recorded in London.
1. Doolin-Dalton
2. Twenty-One
3. Out of Control
4. Tequila Sunrise
5. Desperado (with members of the National Philharmonic Orchestra)
6. Certain Kind of Fool
7. Doolin-Dalton (instrumental)
8. Outlaw Man (with Norman on piano)
9. Saturday Night (with Norman on piano)
10. Bitter Creek
11. Doolin-Dalton/Desperado (Reprise)
Comments: Although Hotel California has a general theme, Desperado represents the band’s only deliberate song cycle, a complete narrative with recurring characters. Dismissed at the time of its release for being hubristic and/or old-fashioned, the record has aged well. The obvious standouts are the classics, of course—the title cut and “Tequila Sunrise.” But the melancholy storytelling that begins with “Doolin-Dalton” and continues through to the elegiac reprise of that song is extraordinary, as is the sheer craftsmanship of the playing and singing throughout. For some bands, country rock was an affectation, and for others, it was an attitude. In this context, the Eagles elevated country rock into a statement of purpose, using preindustrial Americana as a means of exploring timeless themes—just as the makers of countless Western movies had done before.
On the Border
(March 22, 1974, Asylum) Lineup: Felder (two songs only), Frey, Henley, Leadon, Meisner + Al Perkins. Produced by Bill Szymczyk and recorded in Los Angeles except where noted. Trivia: Felder’s first Eagles recordings.
1. Already Gone (featuring Felder)
2. You Never Cry Like a Lover (produced by Johns in London)
3. Midnight Flyer
4. My Man
5. On the Border
6. James Dean
7. Ol’ 55 (with Perkins on steel)
8. Is It True?
9. Good Day in Hell (featuring Felder)
10. Best of My Love (produced by Johns in London)
Comments: Of the group’s ’70s albums, this one’s the most disjointed—but even though On the Border contains some iffy songs, the band hits a sweet pocket from start to finish, rapidly approaching the mastery that carried them through One of These Nights and Hotel California. The Eagles were rarely more lyrical than on their beautiful cover of Tom Waits’s “Ol’ 55,” and the nitro that new member Don Felder adds to the band’s gas tank kicks “Already Gone” and “Good Day in Hell” into overdrive.
Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert
One of These Nights
(June 10, 1975, Asylum) Lineup: Felder, Frey, Henley, Leadon, Meisner + David Bromberg, Albhy Galuten, and Jim Ed Norman. Produced by Szymczyk, recorded in Los Angeles and Miami. Trivia: Leadon’s last Eagles recordings.
1. One of These Nights
2. Too Many Hands
3. Hollywood Waltz (with Galuten on synthesizer)
4. Journey of the Sorcerer (with Bromberg on fiddle)
5. Lyin’ Eyes (with Norman on piano)
6. Take It to the Limit (with Norman on piano)
7. Visions
8. After the Thrill Is Gone
9. I Wish You Peace
Comments: An argument could be made that the Eagles’ adventurous fourth LP is as factionalized as the band’s post-reunion output, with Leadon operating like an independent contractor on his wild instrumental “Journey of the Sorcerer” and his de facto kiss-off “I Wish You Peace.” Yet Felder, Frey, Henley, and Meisner permeate those tracks, just as Leadon permeates the rest of the album. Even the rapid climb to dominance of the Frey-Henley power structure feels organic because the title cut, perhaps the most joyous music the Eagles ever recorded, represents collective effort of the best kind. Excepting “Visions,” this album is remarkably consistent and meaningful, an exploration of aspiration, loneliness, romance, sadness, and tranquility that feels like a complete emotional journey.
Their Greatest Hits: 1971–1975
(February 17, 1976, Asylum) Rock history is rotten with bands whose erratic output is best served by hits collections, from one-hit wonders to prolific acts who lack quality control. The Eagles’ massively successful Their Greatest Hits is a different sort of compilation, even though, to the band’s great consternation, it was thrown together by Asylum to feed a hungry marketplace while the band toiled on their magnum opus. Featuring five amazing songs on each side, Their Greatest Hits provides a snapshot of everything the band did well during the Eagles’ first four years as a performing and recording entity. Woven into the fluid guitars and gossamer harmonies are meticulous stories of heartbreak, lust, and regret. Perhaps the track list makes the case for this album’s stand-alone viability better than any praise ever could: “Take It Easy,” “Witchy Woman,” “Lyin’ Eyes,” “Already Gone,” “Desperado,” “One of These Nights,” “Tequila Sunrise,” “Take It to the Limit,” “Peaceful Easy Feeling,” “Best of My Love.” These ten songs span the entirety of Leadon’s tenure and precede Walsh’s arrival, so the collection distills the Eagles’ country-rock era beautifully. The subsequent two-disc compilation The Very Best of Eagles covers more ground, but Their Greatest Hits feels like a real album, as if the ten songs were cut in one long burst of inspiration.
Hotel California
(December 8, 1976, Asylum) Lineup: Felder, Frey, Henley, Meisner, Walsh. Produced by Szymczyk, recorded in Los Angeles and Miami. Trivia: Meisner’s last Eagles recordings (notwithstanding concert tracks on Eagles Live) and Walsh’s first Eagles recordings.
1. Hotel California
2. New Kid in Town
3. Life in the Fast Lane
4. Wasted Time
5. Wasted Time (Reprise)
6. Victim of Love
7. Pretty Maids All in a Row
8. Try and Love Again
9. The Last Resort
Comments: Lyrically, musically, and thematically, the band’s masterpiece. More than just the best collection of new material the Eagles ever released, the LP represents the arrival of Henley as a socially conscious auteur with “The Last Resort,” laying the groundwork for the most important accomplishments of his solo career. The album also represents the apex of the Frey-Henley collaboration. They achieved great things together before and after “Hotel California,” but never with as much power and grace. Felder and Meisner both hit peaks here, too, and Walsh makes his presence known—explosively. In some parallel universe, the group took a long vacation after the Hotel California tour instead of diving straight into the rigors of their infamous Long Run sessions, then stayed together and crafted many more albums of indelible music. Yet the story of the Eagles is in so many ways the story of the ’70s, so in that sense, their absence from the ’80s was apropos. The Eagles started out as idealists (if one can accept the pursuit of musical perfection as an ideal), succumbed to excess, documented the darkness, and then became the darkness before parting ways. When they regrouped, the ’80s safely in the rearview mirror, their primary challenge was recapturing or at least supplementing past glories without being eclipsed by them. Easier said than done. In the bittersweet way of things, the Hotel California LP became the Eagles’ most important artistic legacy and also the greatest weight around their collective shoulders. It’s the peak they could never climb again, though the monument remains for all to admire.
“Please Come Home for Christmas” (single)
(November 27, 1978, Asylum) Lineup: Felder, Frey, Henley, Schmit, Walsh. Produced by Szymczyk, recorded in Coconut Grove, Florida. Trivia: Schmit’s first Eagles recordings.
1. Please Come Home for Christmas
2. Funky New Year
Soul Pole #4
(Late 1978, privately issued) Szymczyk assembled this somewhat notorious outtakes disc—continuing a series he’d begun with other artists—then issued dozens of limited-pressing copies as holiday gifts to select record-industry friends. Soul Pole #4 includes jokes, novelty performances, song snippets, and studio chatter from various Eagles recording. Some of this stuff eventually surfaced on the Selected Works box set, though the entire Soul Pole #4 experience is widely available on the bootleg market.
The Long Run
(September 24, 1979, Asylum) Lineup: Felder, Frey, Henley, Schmit, Walsh + Jimmy Buffett, David Sanborn, Bob Seger, Joe Vitale, and “The Monstertones” (a group of Eagles buddies including their manager, Irving Azoff, and occasional songwriting collaborator Jack Tempchin). Produced by Szymczyk, recorded in Coconut Grove and Los Angeles. Note: longtime Walsh associate Vitale, who served as an Eagles sideman during the Hotel California and Long Run tours, has a significant presence on this album, playing keyboards and/or percussion on multiple numbers.
1. The Long Run
2. I Can’t Tell You Why
3. In the City
4. The Disco Strangler
5. King of Hollywood
6. Heartache Tonight (with Seger on background vocals)
7. Those Shoes
8. Teenage Jail
9. The Greeks Don’t Want No Freaks (with Buffett and “The Monstertones” on vocals)
10. The Sad Café (with Sanborn on saxophone)
Comments: So much has already been said within this survey about the painful making of the band’s final ’70s album—and the messy track list—that familiar points need not get belabored. Suffice to say the Eagles anticipated the ’80s by creating a vacuum-sealed sound on tracks including “Heartache Tonight,” “I Can’t Tell You Why,” and “The Long Run.” Henley, especially, demonstrated how far gifted musicians could take mechanized music with his synth-driven wonderments of the ’80s, so it’s unfair to toss The Long Run aside because it’s finessed to a fare-thee-well. (A better criticism is that too many substandard compositions made the final cut.) Nonetheless, one aches for the humanity found on earlier records, especially when The Long Run’s cynical themes grow tiresome.
Eagles Live
(November 7, 1980, Asylum) Lineup: Felder, Frey, Henley, Meisner (1976 tracks only), Schmit (1980 tracks only), Walsh + Souther, Vitale, and various accompanists. Produced by Szymczyk, recorded October 20-22, 1976, at the Forum (Inglewood, California); July 27-29, 1980, at Santa Monica Civic Auditorium (Santa Monica, California); and July 31, 1980, at Long Beach Arena (Long Beach, California).
1. Hotel California (Santa Monica, 1980)
2. Heartache Tonight (Santa Monica, 1980)
3. I Can’t Tell You Why (Santa Monica, 1980)
4. The Long Run (Santa Monica, 1980)
5. New Kid in Town (Forum, 1976, with Souther on vocals and guitar)
6. Life’s Been Good (Santa Monica, 1980, cover of Walsh solo song)
7. Seven Bridges Road (Santa Monica, 1980)
8. Wasted Time (Forum, 1976)
9. Take It to the Limit (Forum, 1976)
10. Doolin-Dalton (Reprise II) (Forum, 1976, instrumental)
11. Desperado (Forum, 1976)
12. Saturday Night (Santa Monica, 1980)
13. Life in the Fast Lane (Santa Monica, 1980)
14. All Night Long (Long Beach, 1980, cover of Walsh solo song, with “The Monstertones” on backing vocals)
15. Take It Easy (Santa Monica, 1980)
Comments: This one’s a bit complicated, as it’s widely assumed to be the least “live” concert album of its era. Ever the perfectionists, Frey, Henley, and co. reportedly sweetened so many tracks with overdubs that some songs are essentially studio re-recordings with audience noise added for effect. If only for snippets of between-song banter, however, the album captures the vibe of vintage Eagles concerts. Thanks to Walsh, the 1980 tracks are especially lively, and it’s a hoot to hear the group tear into a pair of noisy rave-ups from his solo catalog—in the same way that it’s fun to hear horns added to some of the arrangements. Souther’s in there, too, filling out the Eagles family portrait with high harmonies on “New Kid in Town.”
Eagles Greatest Hits, Vol. 2
(November 13, 1982, Asylum) Culling material primarily from Hotel California and The Long Run, this collection feels superfluous to the albums it synopsizes. In its original vinyl form, however, the disc has a strangely bitter final statement, because the ironically tracked closer “After the Thrill Is Gone” is followed by a brief snippet of in-studio cacophony. Someone had nasty fun alluding to the friction that tore the Eagles apart, but the sonic middle finger is, to some degree, as petty a gesture as the Eagles Live album-art photo featuring a hand grenade in a bird nest.
The Walden Woods Benefit
(Concert in Worcester, Massachusetts, April 24, 1990) Another significant moment available only via bootlegs. The story goes that Eagles manager Irving Azoff had nearly persuaded Frey and Henley to generate a handful of new songs for a greatest-hits package. Around the same time, Henley staged a large benefit concert for preservation of Walden Woods. After sets by Jimmy Buffett, Bonnie Raitt, and Bob Seger, plus a few solo numbers from Henley, Frey and Schmit joined Henley to perform eight Eagles songs. The slow process of putting the band back together had begun.
Glenn Frey & Joe Walsh: Party of Two
(Concert tour, spring/summer 1993) Various bootlegs capture music from this co-headliner roadshow. In addition to playing Eagles numbers and solo hits, the duo routinely covered the Beatles’ “I Saw Her Standing There.”
The Very Best of the Eagles
(July 11, 1994, Elektra Records) Not to be confused with a similarly titled collection issued worldwide in 2003, this Europe/Australia/New Zealand release was the first career-spanning CD-era Eagles compilation, featuring 17 chronological hits from “Take It Easy” to “The Long Run.” (A nonchronological version bearing the same title was reissued in 2001.) Presumably legal wrangling prevented Elektra (which absorbed the Asylum catalog) from releasing this package into the North American market at a time when it might have cut into sales of Hell Freezes Over.
“Get Over It” (single)
(October 18, 1994, Geffen Records) For producing credits, see Hell Freezes Over. Lineup: Felder, Frey, Henley (vocals only), Schmit, Walsh + Scott Crago on drums. Trivia: significant as the Eagles’ first new studio music since 1979—and as their last Top 40 pop hit, rising to No. 31 on Billboard’s Hot 100. The studio version appears on the Hell Freezes Over CD, and the live version appears on the accompanying home-video release. With “Get Over It” (and the Hell Freezes Over project from which the single was derived), Scott Crago begins his quarter-century-plus tenure as the group’s backup drummer for live performances and studio recordings.
1. Get Over It (studio)
2. Get Over It (live)
Hell Freezes Over
1. Get Over It (studio)
2. Love Will Keep Us Alive (studio)
3. The Girl From Yesterday (studio)
4. Learn to Be Still (studio)
5. Tequila Sunrise
6. Hotel California (acoustic version)
7. Wasted Time
8. Pretty Maids All in a Row
9. I Can’t Tell You Why
10. New York Minute (cover of Henley solo song)
11. The Last Resort
12. Take It Easy
13. In the City
14. Life in the Fast Lane
15. Desperado
Comments: The opening salvo of four original tracks is uneven, but “Get Over It” is delightfully bitchy and “Learn to Be Still” is beautiful. As for the live material, the imaginative acoustic reinvention of “Hotel California” provides a terrific showcase for the band’s fierce chops (especially Felder’s), and various faithful readings of rollicking and tender songs alike land powerfully. Is it all a bit Henley-centric, seeing as how he sings eight of the 15 tracks? Sure, but even though Frey was fundamentally the band’s center, there’s no question who became a bigger solo star during the years the band was out of commission. Similarly, none can dispute that Henley was at the height of his vocal prowess on Hell Freezes Over—his nimble reading of “The Last Resort” is spectacular.
“Love Will Keep Us Alive” (single)
(1995, Geffen) For producing credits, see Hell Freezes Over. Lineup: Felder, Frey, Henley, Schmit, Walsh. Trivia: features audio releases of tracks that were previously available only on the video versions of Hell Freezes Over.
1. Love Will Keep Us Alive (studio)
2. New York Minute (live cover of Henley solo song)
3. Help Me Through the Night (live cover of Walsh solo song)
Selected Works: 1972–1999
(November 14, 2000, Elektra/WEA) Lineup (concert disc): Felder, Frey, Henley, Schmit, Walsh + Crago and various accompanists. Four-disc box set contains songs from all six 1970s studio albums as well as Hell Freezes Over; previously unreleased song “Born to Boogie”; studio-outtake pastiches “Long Run Leftovers” and “Random Victims, Part 3”; and a live disc recorded at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, on December 31, 1999. Trivia: concert disc records Felder’s last performance with the band.
Track listing for disc four: The Millennium Concert (A Night to Remember)
1. Hotel California
2. Victim of Love
3. Peaceful Easy Feeling
4. Please Come Home for Christmas
5. Ol’ 55
6. Take It to the Limit (lead vocal: Frey)
7. Those Shoes
8. Funky New Year
9. Dirty Laundry (cover of Henley solo song)
10. Funk #49 (cover of James Gang–era Walsh song)
11. All She Wants to Do Is Dance (cover of Henley solo song)
12. Best of My Love
Comments: The titles of the first three discs promise fun times: The Early Days, The Ballads, The Fast Lane. Upon closer inspection, one encounters many strange choices. Most of disc one comprises songs from the first three albums, but the second song is from the band’s fourth album. Huh? On the second disc, Frey—who sequenced the set—flips the instrumental “Wasted Time (Reprise)” so it appears before the song it reprises. Again, huh? And by what measure, other than airplay and sales, does “Love Will Keep Us Alive” merit inclusion on a disc otherwise exclusively comprising ’70s material? Things really go downhill on the third disc, with dross on the order of “Born to Boogie” killing the buzz created by a run of some of the band’s most exciting material. As for shoving “The Last Resort” between the studio-outtake collages, which are, at best, novelty tracks? That’s just perverse—as was including the lame “Born to Boogie” while excluding more desirable rarities, such as the 1972 B-side “Get You in the Mood.” Finally, describing the live disc as an unremarkable addition to the canon would be generous.
“Hole in the World” (single)
(July 15, 2003, Eagles Recording Company II) Lineup: Frey, Henley, Schmit, Walsh + Crago (percussion), Will Hollis (piano), and Steuart Smith (guitar). Produced by the Eagles and Szymczyk, recorded in Hollywood and Santa Monica. Trivia: this single marks the Eagles recording debut of longtime sideman Smith, who ostensibly replaced Felder.
The Very Best of Eagles
(October 21, 2003, Warner Strategic Marketing) More comprehensive than any other Eagles compilation (notwithstanding box sets), this two-CD set features 33 tracks plus brisk liner notes that Cameron Crowe extrapolated from interviews with Frey and Henley. Inclusions distinguishing this one from other compilations include “Please Come Home for Christmas”, “Seven Bridges Road,” and “Hole in the World,” plus several deep cuts (“Doolin-Dalton,” “Midnight Flyer,” “Those Shoes,” etc.).
Eagles
(March 15, 2005, Warner Music) Seven-disc box set contains, in their entirety, all six studio albums from the 1970s, plus Eagles Live and a CD reproduction of the Christmas single. Unlike the band’s previous box set, this one was compiled as if the Eagles never reunited, treating their ’70s output as a complete body of work.
Farewell 1 Tour—Live from Melbourne
(Video-only release, June 14, 2005, Rhino Records) Lineup: Frey, Henley, Schmit, Walsh + Crago, Smith, and various accompanists. Trivia: first-pressing DVDs were issued with a limited-edition CD featuring the new songs “Do Something,” “Fast Company,” and “No More Cloudy Days,” all of which subsequently appeared on Long Road Out of Eden.
1. Opening Sequence (instrumental, written by Frey and Richard F. W. Davis)
2. The Long Run
3. New Kid in Town
4. Wasted Time
5. Wasted Time (Reprise)
6. Peaceful Easy Feeling
7. I Can’t Tell You Why
8. One of These Nights
9. One Day at a Time (new Walsh song)
10. Lyin’ Eyes
11. The Boys of Summer (cover of Henley solo song)
12. In the City
13. Already Gone
14. Silent Spring (prerecorded excerpt of Frey solo song)
15. Tequila Sunrise
16. Love Will Keep Us Alive
17. No More Cloudy Days (new Eagles song)
18. Hole in the World
19. Take It to the Limit (lead vocal: Frey)
20. You Belong to the City (cover of Frey solo song)
21. Walk Away (cover of James Gang–era Walsh song)
22. Sunset Grill (cover of Henley solo song)
23. Life’s Been Good (cover of Walsh solo song)
24. Dirty Laundry (cover of Henley solo song)
25. Funk #49 (cover of James Gang–era Walsh song)
26. Heartache Tonight
27. Life in the Fast Lane
28. Hotel California
29. Rocky Mountain Way (cover of Barnstorm-era Walsh song)
30. All She Wants to Do Is Dance (cover of Henley solo song)
31. Take It Easy
32. Desperado
Long Road Out of Eden
(October 30, 2007, Eagles Recording Company II/Lost Highway/Polydor) Lineup: Frey, Henley, Schmit, Walsh + Crago, Smith, and various accompanists. Produced by the Eagles, Crago, Smith, Szymczyk, and Richard F. W. Davis, recorded in Burbank, Calabasas, Hollywood, Los Angeles, and Malibu, California, plus Dallas and Denton, Texas.
1. No More Walks in the Wood
2. How Long
3. Busy Being Fabulous
4. What Do I Do With My Heart
5. Guilty of the Crime
6. I Don’t Want to Hear Any More
7. Waiting in the Weeds
8. No More Cloudy Days
9. Fast Company
10. Do Something
11. You Are Not Alone
12. Long Road Out of Eden
13. I Dreamed There Was No War
14. Somebody
15. Frail Grasp on the Big Picture
16. Last Good Time in Town
17. I Love to Watch a Woman Dance
18. Business as Usual
19. Center of the Universe
20. It’s Your World Now
Comments: In Felder’s memoir, he claims that Frey set strict conditions on participating in new recording activity following the band’s Millennium Concert. According to Felder, Frey stipulated that (1) any album include five “Frey songs”; (2) Frey was halfheartedly open to writing with Henley; and (3) the only Eagle whom Frey wished to genuinely help was Walsh. Looking at the disappointing sprawl of Long Road Out of Eden, it’s tempting to not only believe Felder’s claims but also presume Henley had similar conditions. Parts of the record feature Frey and Henley operating as subsidiaries of Eagles, Inc., generating polished solo tracks and then decorating the material with instrumental and vocal contributions from fellow band members. Henley clearly favored Schmit as a collaborator, working closely with him on two songs, while Walsh—Felder’s remarks about Frey’s planned assistance notwithstanding—flounders on two disposable tracks. If The Long Run suffers for a lack of inspiration, a sense of feeding the marketplace, and an overreliance on Frey and Henley to the detriment of integrating Walsh, then Long Road Out of Eden doubles down on those problems. Nothing less than an immaculate collection of catchy singles or some surpassingly brilliant concept album could have met expectations created by the 28-year gap between studio recordings. At best, alas, Long Road Out of Eden is one middling Eagles album coupled with a second disc’s worth of substandard material. On the bright side, the band signed off well because Frey’s “It’s Your World Now” is a perfect musical goodbye.
The Studio Albums 1972–1979
(April 2, 2013, Asylum) Yet another box set containing all tracks from Eagles, Desperado, On the Border, One of These Nights, Hotel California, and The Long Run. This superfluous package is the first of many latter-day rehashes of old material, possibly stemming from a rumored stipulation of the legal settlement that Felder reached with his ex-bandmates in 2007—as a means of ensuring future Eagles revenue for Felder despite his involuntary severance from touring activities, the band reportedly agreed to reissue Felder-related material on a regular basis. Hopefully the deal has a sunset clause.
History of the Eagles
This two-part, three-hour documentary movie premiered on January 19, 2013, at the Sundance Film Festival before receiving a commercial home-video release on April 30, 2013. The home-video version includes a bonus disc featuring excerpts from a Washington, DC, date on the Hotel California tour, circa March 1977.
(September 25, 2018, Elektra Catalog Group) The band’s fourth (!) career-spanning box set is a monster, comprising 14 discs. Included are all of the studio albums, plus Eagles Live, Hell Freezes Over (as a music CD and as a DVD), The Millennium Concert (on CD), Farewell 1 (on Blu-Ray), and a music CD titled Singles and B-Sides. The latter disc provides the only new-to-digital items on the entire set—the first official CD release of the 1972 B-side “Get You in the Mood” and, for those interested in such things, radio edits of several singles from the ’70s.
Live from the Forum MMXVIII
(October 16, 2020, Rhino) Lineup: Deacon Frey, Vince Gill, Henley, Walsh, Schmit + Crago, Smith, and various accompanists. Trivia: Although the official track listing cites brief verbal intros as separate cuts, the listing that follows cites songs only. Unless otherwise noted, the usual suspects perform the usual tunes. Introduced on his multiplatinum 1992 album I Still Believe in You, “Don’t Let Our Love Start Slippin’ Away” is one of Gill’s many No. 1 country songs.
1. Seven Bridges Road
2. Take It Easy (lead vocal: D. Frey)
3. One of These Nights
4. Take It to the Limit (lead vocal: Gill)
5. Tequila Sunrise (lead vocal: Gill)
6. In the City
7. I Can’t Tell You Why
8. New Kid in Town (lead vocal: Gill)
9. How Long (lead vocals: D. Frey and Henley)
10. Peaceful Easy Feeling (lead vocal: D. Frey)
11. Ol’ 55 (lead vocal: Gill)
12. Lyin’ Eyes (lead vocal: Gill)
13. Love Will Keep Us Alive
14. Don’t Let Our Love Start Slippin’ Away (cover of Gill solo song, lead vocal: Gill)
15. Those Shoes
16. Already Gone (lead vocal: D. Frey)
17. Walk Away (cover of James Gang–era Walsh song)
18. Life’s Been Good (cover of Walsh solo song)
19. The Boys of Summer (cover of Henley solo song)
20. Heartache Tonight (lead vocal: Gill)
21. Funk #49 (cover of James Gang–era Walsh song)
22. Life in the Fast Lane
23. Hotel California
24. Rocky Mountain Way (cover of Barnstorm-era Walsh song)
25. Desperado
26. The Long Run
Comments: This thoroughly unnecessary set transcribes for historical purposes the sound of the Eagles following Frey’s death, with numbers that Frey originally sang divvied up between country star Vince Gill and Frey’s capable son Deacon. Indicative of why this set underwhelms is Gill’s run through “Take It to the Limit.” During his ’90s prime, Gill was known for stratospheric high notes, so back in the day he would have taken “Take It to the Limit” someplace special. Here, he punts with a muscular midrange flourish where the killer moment should happen. And that’s the overall vibe of Live from the Forum MMXVIII—everything is respectable, but the closest the record gets to excitement is during Walsh’s “Walk Away,” simply because the band has spent years adding lively extended vamps to that song. Deepening to the general impression of the Eagles becoming their own cover band is the calcified set list, the fact that Deacon can’t match his dad’s swagger (who could?), and the unavoidable reality that Henley only occasionally matches the level of his vintage performances. What’s more, Schmit sounds bored (understandably so), and Walsh’s singing is rough even though his playing is as explosive as ever. In person, these shortcomings wouldn’t matter, because it’s always a thrill to share the same physical space as music legends. On record, the flaws stand out in sharp relief.
Live at the Forum ’76
(August 29, 2021, Elektra Catalog Group) Lineup: Felder, Frey, Henley, Meisner, Walsh. Trivia: vinyl-only release of concert material recorded in October 1976 during the Hotel California tour. One assumes Henley was behind the churlish choice to exclude Felder’s image from the gatefold packaging even though his performances are all over the tracks.
To the Limit: The Essential Collection
(April 12, 2024, Rhino) Another collection of previously released material? Given the pattern of recent years, did you expect anything else? Fifty-one studio tracks, from all seven albums including Long Road Out of Eden, appear on the first two discs, while the third samples various live albums. It's difficult to imagine the target audience for this package because the sprawl is likely too much for a casual listener and not enough for a superfan.
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