Rank Don's Studio Albums

I've wanted to create a thread on this for a while! I decided to wait until we passed the first anniversary of Cass County's release, as I think opinions on very new releases are more likely to fluctuate, but I've finally got round to it.

Hopefully the title is clear enough as to the purpose of the thread. I really want to keep this to his five regular studio albums, excluding the compilations. I think this will make it more interesting as I have a feeling there's no consensus as to which is his best release. I love to hear people share their views on which ones they like best, although this isn't necessary.

I'll start by briefly posting my order of preference - I'll write more detailed write ups at some point, but for now I think I'll just give my list:

1. The End Of The Innocence
2. Cass County
3. I Can't Stand Still
4. Building The Perfect Beast

In summary, TEOTI is definitely my favourite. It has two of my top three Don songs (the title track and The Heart of the Matter) and several others that I rate very highly. There's only one, maybe two tracks that I don't rate all that highly. Cass County takes second - I like most of it, there's a decent number of strong tracks and a couple that I feel rank amongst his best (The Cost of Living, Train In The Distance), although I think there is some weaker material, mostly the extra tracks on the deluxe edition I'm afraid to say. The toughest decision for me was whether to give third to ICSS or BTPB. I think the latter probably has stronger highlights, and more of them, but the former is less consistent. I think The Boys Of Summer and A Month Of Sundays are as good as the best from ICSS (Dirty Laundry), but nothing on that album has aged quite as badly as BTPB's title track! I've not really heard Inside Job, (I've honestly only heard a couple of tracks from it - the ones on the Very Best Of compilation) so I've not included that.

Good idea, JCL. I'll have to think about this though I have a strong preference for number one! :)

I think it's good to make a new thread now that we have Cass County (here's the old thread sans Cass County if anyone's curious).

My list is:

1. Building the Perfect Beast
2. I Can't Stand Still
3. The End of the Innocence
4. Inside Job
5. Cass County

I think I may be an anomaly when it comes to my favorite! However, I feel that Building the Perfect Beast is his most consistently good album. There's no song I dislike on it. The title track is the weakest but it has brilliant lyrics and the more I listen to it, the more I like it. It has the iconic "Boys of Summer" and other songs that rank among his best such as "Not Enough Love in the World" as well as hits like "Sunset Grill" and "All She Wants to Do Is Dance." I also adore lesser-known songs like "You Can't Make Love" and "You're Not Drinking Enough." "Driving with Your Eyes Closed" and "Land of the Living" have memorable hooks. Perhaps "Man with a Mission" is his shallowest song, but it's catchy and enjoyable. It's an amazing album and definitely my favorite!

My second choice, I Can't Stand Still, only has one song I dislike - ironically, it's the one they released as a single: "Johnny Can't Read." The rest are varying degrees of terrific, my favorite being the incredibly moving "Talking to the Moon."

The highly lauded End of the Innocence has some of his best work, but it also has some of his worst.The magnificent "Heart of the Matter" is on the same album as the annoying "Shangri-La", for instance. Inside Job is similarly inconsistent, with a lovely song like "Taking You Home" alongside the wretched "Damn It Rose."

Cass County is a bit different; it stays in the middle. Its highs don't go as high and its lows don't go as low. It gets ranked at the bottom because even my favorite track, "That Old Flame," wouldn't make it into my top 10 Henley solo songs. All of his other albums had at least two brilliant tracks, usually more. None of the songs on Cass County get beyond "very good." Still, the worst of Don Henley is far superior to the best of most!

1)The End Of The Innocence
2)Inside Job
3)Building The Perfect Beast
4)I Can't Stand Still
5)Cass County

There's really not a whole lot to say, but Inside Job has my favorite Henley solo track "My Thanksgiving" plus a whole lot of others that I feel very close to which is why I'd place it in second place. Cass County to me is the weakest of the bunch by a lot. It's not that I'm not a fan of country music, but many of these songs tend to sound similar to me and are low key and slow. My favorites for the most part are the uptempo ones.

Okay - Here's my list:

1. The End of the Innocence
2. I Can't Stand Still
3. Building the Perfect Beast
4. Inside Job
5. Cass County

I won't repeat what I wrote in the other thread that Soda linked to because I really haven't changed my opinion about any of the songs or albums.

However, since that thread was pre-Cass County, I will repeat what I recently wrote about it ...

I have to say although I think Cass County is a good album, country music has never been one of my favorite genres. Don's voice is still awesome and I love how he collaborated with other artists on many of the songs. Still, it's not among my personal favorites of his solo efforts. As I've said before, I feel very similar about this album as I do with Glenn's After Hours - both good albums, but just not my favorite types of music.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sodascouts

Cass County is a bit different; it stays in the middle. Its highs don't go as high and its lows don't go as low. It gets ranked at the bottom because even my favorite track, "That Old Flame," wouldn't make it into my top 10 Henley solo songs. All of his other albums had at least two brilliant tracks, usually more. None of the songs on Cass County get beyond "very good." Still, the worst of Don Henley is far superior to the best of most!

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I also agree with Soda 100% on this post as well.

1. The End Of The Innocence
2. I Can't Stand Still
3. Inside Job
4. Building The Perfect Beast
5. Cass County

I still have not taken to Cass County at all.

I feel the opposite to Soda about the IJ songs she mentioned. I dislike Takiing You Home, while Damn It, Rose is my favourite track on that album, pretty much.

1. I Can't Stand Still - it contains four out of my top ten favourite Don songs ever; Long Way Home, Talking to the Moon, Lilah and Dirty Laundry. I play it the most consistently in my car.
2. Cass County - I'm a big fan of country music anyway and was thrilled with CC especially A Younger Man, Train in the Distance and No, Thank You.
3.Inside Job - I always thought this was my least favourite but since it contains Taking You Home, the iconic Miss Ghost, Damn it Rose, Goodbye to a River and Annabel, I have to put it higher on my list.
4. The End of the Innocence - the title track and of course Heart of the Matter
5. Building the Perfect Beast- Boys of Summer is the stand out track for me. I've never hid my dislike for ASWTDID and Sunset Grill.

1 - The End Of The Innocence - This has some of my favourite Don songs - EOTI, LWE, NYM, HOTM and since hearing it live this year, Shangri-La has been added to the list
2- I Can't Stand Still - Love, love, love Long Way Home and Talking To The Moon
3 - Building The Perfect Beast - Obviously BOS and SG but also love You're Not Drinking Enough
4 - Cass County - Country music is not my favourite, but I do like CC and I listen to most of it apart from Too Much Pride and Praying For Rain
5 - Inside Job - My least favourite album, not sure if its the look that Don was sporting during this time that puts me off it, those sunglasses were horrible !! It does have Taking You Home and Everything Is Different Now but he does seem to have gone a bit soppy and romantic on it :p