Celebration of "Hotel California" Album!

[Freypower]

There may have been room for one more song if they had not included Wasted Time (Reprise). It would have been nice if Glenn had one more lead because Don is far too dominant. It is strange you say that because I have sometimes had that 'side 2 is incomplete'feeling as well.

[luna65]

True, although I love that as an intro to "Victim," it's really cool to hear the strings alone; it's a great juxtaposition between that and the low-down raucous feeling of "Victim." But I agree that another song with Glenn on lead would have been great.

[Houston Debutante]

Interesting, I've always thought the album was just right as it was but maybe it's just because I've played it so many times the song order sounds natural.

[Ive always been a dreamer]

I agree that the 'incompleteness' of the album is an interesting observation that I don't ever remember being brought up before. I personally don't feel that way. Ending the album with The Last Resort works perfectly for me.

Re: Glenn having another vocal - I concur. I've often wondered if any consideration was ever given to Glenn singing lead on Life In the Fast Lane since he was very heavily involved in writing the song. I've seen him perform it solo several times and I think he could have done it justice. I'm not saying he could do it better than Don, but I think he could have done it just as well, especially since Glenn could have used another lead vocal. I guess by this time, the band felt it was a good move to go with Don as their primary vocalist.

[Brooke]

I've never thought the album was incomplete. Never really gave that any thought at all! I just accepted that you got what you got, the end!

[Houston Debutante]

This is an interesting discussion, now with mp3 players and shuffle on ipods, track order doesn't even really matter anymore for a lot of people. I have never actually listened to Hotel Califronia on a record, I just play the CD, so I don't even think about sides.

[Brooke]

We used to play whole albums, not just a song here and there. I still find myself thinking a certain song will play next because that's the way it was on the album , but if you have the ipod on shuffle you can get anything! Shows my age, I guess!

[thelastresort]

Regarding Glenn's vocals, I seem to remember on the HOTE doc he made a point of mentioning how Don increasingly became the voice of the Eagles, and he seemed fairly OK and at ease with that fact. Do people think that was his honest feeling or deep down do you think he wishes there was more of a split from OOTN onwards? Thinking about it, that may only have been said in relation to Victim of Love...

[Ive always been a dreamer]

My personal opinion is that, at the time, Glenn truly believed having Don as the voice of the band was the best move for the Eagles. He probably wasn't overjoyed about it, but at the same time, he "took one for the team". However, in retrospect, I think they all realize now that one of the band's strengths is that all of the members can sing lead. Obviously, this is just my guess based on the fact that there was a more even distribution on LROOE.

And I guess I'm old-school too. I like listening to albums from start to finish.

[luna65]

Yeah I have a turntable so I still listen to actual albums (and some of my favorites have never been released as CDs), and I spend a lot of time thinking about sequencing/running orders and so on, because I'm a nerd, lol. But I agree that "The Last Resort" is the perfect ending, it's Don's epic treatise.