The Eagles - Hotel California

 

With the departure of guitarist Bernie Leadon and Joe Walsh being his replacement, it was always likely that the next Eagles album would to some degree move away from country rock to a harder edge, given Walsh's most prominent piece of work, at least in the UK, was the hard rock/blues influenced "Rocky Mountain Way".

"Hotel California" represented a change of direction in several subtle ways. It contained two songs which might be considered to be hard rock, "Life In The Fast Line" and "Victim of Love", as well as the anthemic title track with its lengthy dueling guitar outro, showing that the Eagles now wanted to rock. The move away for their traditional country rock was also illustrated by Glenn Frey having only one lead vocal, on the gentle "New Kid In Town", which in any case was dominated by electronic organ rather than acoustic guitars. More importantly, with Don Henley was now lead vocalist on five songs of which two of these could be considered to be piano ballads, in addition to "Pretty Maid In A Row" sung by Walsh, which also fitted that description.

Lyrically the songs tended to concentrate on the loss of innocence, failed romances, or the dark side of capitalization. The only uplifting song was Randy Meisner's "Try and Love Again" which ironically was the only track I didn't properly remember, drifting to PP Arnold's "The First Cut Is The Deepest" when trying to recall the line "I'll try and love again" !

That said, "Hotel California" was an outstanding release without a poor track on it, and was their break-through album to global megastars, at least from the eyes of the UK.

Much has been written about the title track "Hotel California" a soaring classic of over 7 minutes, covered by many artists, including a Spanish flamenco version by The Gypsy Kings, and well-known for the alternate guitar solos by Felder and Walsh, before harmonising for the finish. The song contains several lines that have gone down in folklore such as "You can check-out anytime, but you can never leave", "Here mind is Tiffany twisted, she's got the Mercedes bends", & "Mirrors on the ceiling, the pink champagne on ice, she said we are all just prisoners here, of our own device". Incredibly, it remains The Eagles only top 10 release in the UK, peaking at number 8.

"New Kid In Time" was perhaps an odd choice for the first single from the album, although it was probably the closest to their previous portfolio. Featuring a prominent organ melody, gentle guitars, Frey's vocal, and traditional Eagles harmonies, it wouldn't have been out of place on the 1971-75 Greatest Hits album.There are several interpretations on the lyrics, but I see them more on as being a commentary on the music industry, one minute they are the flavour of the month, and then somebody new comes along that everyone fawns over.

The rock and roll "Life In The Fast Lane" has a classic guitar riff but apart from that is the most ordinary song on the album, and when chosen for the third single from the album, it failed to chart in the UK but reached number 11 in the USA. I bought the single for 10p in a shop that sold old juke-box singles !

Closing Side One is the piano ballad "Wasted Time" sung by Henley, which increasingly features strings as the song develops. A song on broken relationships the memorable lines include "you didn't love the boy too much, you just loved him too well" before closing with "So you can get on with your search, baby, and I can get on with mine. Maybe someday we will find, that it wasn't really wasted time".

Side Two opens with "Wasted Time ( Reprise )", a short, string version of the chords of the side one closing number. It's nice, but I'm not sure why it is on the album.

"Victim of Love" is the second rock and roll song on the album, which plods along nicely with a mid-tempo, another Henley vocal, picking up with a great chorus and memorable guitar solo. "I could be wrong but I'm not".

"Pretty Maids In A Row" is Joe Walsh's main written contribution to Hotel California, and unexpectedly has a piano intro and a slow temp. Walsh delivers a tremendous vocal, and together with nice harmonies and a tender guitar break, it is a memorable melancholic ballad.

The mood changes with Randy Meisner's "Try and Love Again", which 45 years later is stunning to hear again. After a pleasant guitar intro, Meisner fabulous high pitched vocal, great harmonies and a pedal steel guitar solo make it a joyous song, slightly out of place with the rest of the LP. "Will I lose or win if I try and love again". I had forgotten just how good this song was !

The album closes with "The Last Resort", another slow piano ballad sung by Henley. A critique of capitalism and concerns over the environment, there are many striking lyrics. "They even bought a neon sign, Jesus is coming" refers to the first neon light on Hawaii being by the Church, but there is also "some rich men came and raped the land, nobody caught them". and  "you call some place paradise, kiss it goodbye". It is a beautiful song, with perhaps the highlight being the soft, solo piano before the powerful last verses.

In summary, Hotel California remains an outstanding album that still sounds great 45 years after it's release and quite rightly place The Eagles in the Parthenon of all-time greats. It represented a level they would never be able to repeat.

Track Listing :

Side One :

1. Hotel California
2. New Kid In Town
3. Life In The Fast Line
4. Wasted Time

Side Two :

1. Wasted Time ( Reprise )
2. Victim Of Love
3. Pretty Maids In A Row
4. Try And Love Again
5. The Last Resort

Released 1976
UK Chart Position : 2

Singles :

New Kid In Town ( No 20 - 1976 )
Hotel California ( No 8 - 1976 )
Life In The Fast Lane (  - 1976 )

The Eagles - Their Greatest Hits ( 1971-75 )

 

According to Wikipedia, the Eagles' Their Greatest Hits ( 1971-75 ) album is the best selling greatest hits album of all time worldwide, and the fifth best selling all-time album, behind Michael Jackson's "Thriller", AC/DC's "Back In Black", the sound track to Whitney Houston's "The Bodyguard" and Pink Floyd's "Dark Side Of The Moon".

I have to admit that I only purchased the LP after buying their "Hotel California" release ( the 6th best selling LP of all time ! ) and didn't know too many of the songs on it at the time, Indeed, in the UK only three of their greatest hits had made the top 30, and none of them were top 10 hits. But it still went onto to be the 5th best selling global record of all time.....

I was probably guilty of following the crowd when I purchased the album. I was familiar with a few of the songs, especially the country/folk rock of "Take It Easy" and "Lyin' Eyes" but thought the backing vocals on "One Of These Nights" and "Take It To The Limit "were akin to screeching cats  ! I was unfamiliar was all the other songs though.

However, after a few plays I came to realise, like most of the planet, that here was a collection of outstanding songs, even if they were not properly promoted at the time to be hits in the UK.

The Glenn Frey/Jackson Browne composition "Take It Easy" opens side one, and is my favourite song in this collection. Having also heard Jackson Browne's version, I find the Eagles' version to be superior, it seems to simply flow much better. Apparently there is now a statue of Frey on a corner in Winslow, Arizona after the lines "Well, I'm standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona, such a fine sight to see. It's a girl, my lord, in a flat bed Ford slowing down to take a look at me"

Don Henley performs the vocals on "Witchy Woman", a song about a seductive, manipulative, sexy women, with the guitar having an blues feel to it. When I first heard it I thought it was something that a Soul/R&B band like Tavares might have recorded, although hearing it again I don't know where I got that impression from ! However, it's my least favourite track on the album and some of the high notes sound painful !

The gentle country/folk rock feel returns with "Lyin' Eyes", which Frey reportedly stated was inspired by seeing many beautiful women accompanied by fat, ugly older men in restaurants in Los Angeles barely able to hide their lying eyes. Starting off with "City girls just seem to find out early, how to open doors with just a smile" the whole songs is crammed full of carefully crafted lyrics. The album version is over 6 minutes long, although it was brutally shortened for the single. Thankfully, the full version is presented here.

"Already Gone" is a more up-tempo country rock cover sung by Frey. It's a song about a relationship breaking up. "And they said you were gonna put me on a shelf, but let me tell you I got some news for you. And you'll soon find out it's tryu, and then you'll have to eat your lunch all by yourself"

Henley returns to sing the soaring ballad "Desperado", a song about an older man scared of commitments. "Desperado, why don't you come to your senses" & "You better let somebody love you, before it's too late".

Side Two opens with "One Of These Nights", not to dissimilar to "Witchy Woman" in style, but vastly improved. It was a number one in the USA and their first chart success in the UK. Henley is the lead vocalist, although bass player Randy Meisner sings the high harmony in the refrain, with hints of the Bee Gees. "I've been searching for the daughter of the devil himself, I've been searching for an angel in white. I've been waiting for a woman who's a little of both, and I can feel her, but she's nowhere in sight"

"Tequilla Sunrise" is about a guy who is infatuated with a girl who doesn't seem to know he even exist, and he drinks trying to pluck up the courage to speak with her. Another country/folk song sung by Frey, with The Eagles' trademark harmonies

"Take It To The Limit" is Meisner's only lead vocal on the album, which he co-wrote with Henley and Frey, and is famous for the high notes he hits during the dramatic, slow ballad. "You can spend all your time making money, you can spend all your love making time"

 "Peaceful Easy Feeling" is another pleasant country/folk song sung by Frey, and is the second song on the LP not written by the band, both of which were either written or co-written by Jack Tempchin. The title is actually a perfect description of listening to the song !

Side Two ends with the sweet, melodius sounding "Best Of My Love" but it is actually about a relationship breaking up. "I'm going back in time and it's a sweet dream. It was a quiet night and I would be all right if I could go on sleeping". It was the band's first US number 1.

Overall, this remains a classic greatest hits collection from one of the world's best selling bands.

Track Listing :

Side One :

1. Take It Easy ( 1972 - )
2. Witchy Woman ( 1972 -  )
3. Lyin' Eyes ( 1975 - No 23 )
4. Already Gone ( 1974 - )
5. Desperado ( 1973 -  )

Side Two :

1. One Of These Nights ( 1975 - No 23 )
2. Tequilla Sunrise ( 1973 - )
3. Take It To The Limit ( 1975 - No 12 )
4. Peaceful Easy Feeling ( 1972 -  )
5. Best Of My Love ( 1975 -  )

Released 1976
UK Chart Position : 2

Kirsten Adamson - In A Big Country

 

 Not exactly a Lockdown LP, but this version of a song on an album previously featured warrants further attention.

https://fatbearslockdownlps.blogspot.com/2020/05/big-country-crossing_7.html 

Kirsten Adamson is the daughter of Stuart Adamson, whose song "In A Big Country" was a 1983 hit single for Big Country and an epic track on their debut "The Crossing" album. Whereas the original  version conjured up heroic visions with swirling bagpipe guitar, pounding drums, epic guitar solos and poetic lyrics, his daughter's interpretation is amazing different, with just a slow acoustic guitar and an angelic vocal. Just superb.

It's probably the finest song I have heard this year, and deserves a much wider audience'

Here is a link to the YouTube performance of the song : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9b8NKVcb3w4

 

Duran Duran - Decade

 

Duran Duran's greatest hits album was one of the last vinyl LP that I ever purchased, being released in 1989, and beaten probably only by the Eurythmics' Greatest Hit album that come out in 1991. I had liked a lot of their singles but never sufficiently enough to buy an album, so a greatest hits album was the opportunity to have most of their best songs on one LP.

After their explosion on the the UK New Romantics scene in 1981 I was slightly disappointed to learn that their name was taken from a character from the film Barbarella rather than as a tribute to legendary Panamanian boxer Roberto Duran.

Even more disappointing was the exclusion of their second single "Careless Memories" from this collection, which I though was one of their really outstanding songs. However, it only reached a highest place of 37 in the UK charts.

The singles from their second album went global, thanks to a combination of the slick videos filmed in exotic locations such as Sri Lanka and Antigua, and the need of the fledgling MTV channel for videos to show. 

The slower paced "Save A Prayer" also demonstrated another string to their bow. "Rio" pre-dated the West Ham, Manchester United and England defender by at least 15 years but was never picked up upon by supporters during his career. Also, I don't think "Planet Earth" was ever used in the David Attenborough nature series.........

I think it is fair to say that with this LP being in chronological order nearly all my favourite songs were on side one, with a couple that I hated on side two, in addition to the final three songs for which I had no recollection of how they went. 

The first single "Planet Earth" starts with rising synths, not out of place from a 1970's outer space TV series, before Kraftwerk style electronic style rhythms enter to maintain a good beat. It still sounds as good as ever, and there can't be many better debut singles.

"Girls On Film" is actually about exploitation of models in the fashion industry, but you would struggle to notice from the spiky guitar riff and the sing-a-long chorus.  It's still a great song.

"Hungry Like The Wolf" continues a strong series of initial hits with "da do do da do do" backing vocal, a toe-tapping verse and more choppy guitar

"Rio" has a great intro and I had totally forgotten the smooth saxophone break.

The slower paced ballad "Save A Prayer" has a memorable synth melody and a great vocal from Simon Le Bon, "Don't save a prayer for me now, save it for the morning after". For me, it's their greatest song, but it only got to number 9 in the UK !

The pleading opening "Please, Please Tell Me Now" chant on "Is There Something I Should Know"  makes me think of the Beatles song "Please, Please Me", even though they sound nothing like each other. The song plods along quiet pleasantly but I don't like the "Please, Please Tell Me Now" bits.

The final track on side one, "Union Of The Snake" has a funk guitar reminiscent in parts of Orange Juice's Rip It Up ( both released in 1983 ), a good chorus, and more forgotten sax. For me, this song indicated Duran starting to move away from electro-pop into disco/funk, but I still like it.

Things start to go downhill at the start of Side Two. I quite like the funky verses of "The Reflex" but I absolutely hate the chorus, where the singing of lines like "Whhhhyyyy don't you use it" is just horrible, and just about unlistenable.  Furthermore, the parts of the song where Le Bon sings "The Reflex is a lonely child" etc now sound as being virtually the same melody as "The union of the snake is on the climb"........

I always thought "Wild Boys" was dreadful and nothing has changed in the meantime. I will grudgingly admit I can now listen to the instrumental parts but again the vocal is strained beyond Le Bon's range, and it is simply just dreadful. What do I know though ? It reached number two, and "The Reflex" was a number one !

"A View To A Kill", the theme song for the James Bond film of the same name was a slight return to form. There's a suitably dramatic intro, a smooth verse and a catchy chorus, "Until we dance into the fire, that fatal kiss is all we need", before a pleasing outro and ending.

"Notorious" further strengthens Duran Duran no longer being an electro-pop band, but it is funky and catchy, especially the  "No, no, notorious !" backing vocals.

Although I drew a blank looking at "Skin Trade" on the track listing, I remembered it as soon as it started playing. Much slower than the usual Duran songs, it features one of Le Bon's better vocals, almost falsetto in parts. There is also some brass, and overall it is quite good, and deserved better than number 22 !

"I Don't Want Your Love" though is an ordinary, sub-disco/soul/jazz number, with little to recommend it. and "All She Wants" is unfortunately not the Ace of Base song........

Overall, I had mixed feeling upon hearing this LP again. A handful of songs have aged well, "Notorious" and "SkinTrade" were much better than I recalled, but for a greatest hits album there are a number of songs that sound dated, and some that still astound me that they were so popular !

 

Track Listing :

Side One :

1. Planet Earth ( 1981 - No 12 )
2. Girls On Film ( 1981 - No 5 )
3. Hungry Like The Wolf ( 1982 - No 5 )
4. Rio ( 1982 - No 2 )
5. Save A Prayer ( 1982 - No 9 )
6. Is There Something I Should Know ( 1983 - No 1 )
7. Union Of The Snake ( 1983 - No 3 )

Side Two :

1. The Reflex ( 1984 - No 1 )
2. Wild Boys ( 1984 - No 2 )
3. A View To A Kill ( 1985 - No 2 )
4. Notorious ( 1986 - No 7 )
5. Skin Trade ( 1987 - No 22 )
6. I Don't Want Your Love ( 1988 - No 14 )
7.All She Wants Is ( 1988 - No 9 )

 

Released 1989
UK Chart Position : 5