Happy birthday, Hotel California!
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY HOTEL CALIFORNIA!!!
A day late, but I can't forget to recognize the date that one of the greatest albums ever recorded was released. by one of the greatest bands ever.
And I also enjoyed the video ... thanks for finding that, Delilah.
"People don't run out of dreams: People just run out of time ..."
Glenn Frey 11/06/1948 - 01/18/2016
Happy Anniversary to Hotel California !
Love this Album ! I remember when it came it - it was a massive hit and played non stop(so to speak) on the radio. Every song on the album is first class. Guess you know my favorite. But, I love them all !
to the number 3 best selling album of all time in the USA.
I can't express how special this album is! When I was a kid we would play the vinyl all the time, (my moms, which is now mine) i had the poster on my wall. It is such a part of my life. Cherish it so much!!
Happy anniversary Hotel California!
It's very rare when I find an album where I like every single song on it. I don't even mind The Last Resort being somewhat preachy. The melody is so beautiful, it overrides the subject matter.
In regards to the title track, on WatchMojo's Top 10 Eagles song countdown they said that "Hotel California is the signature song to which all other signature songs are judged."
Happy 45th Birthday to Hotel California!
The band's best album and masterpiece in my and many others opinion. What an amazing record top to bottom with no skippable tracks. A fine mix of soft and hard rock hits.
The band made the right call by switching to straight-ahead AOR rock. It showed that they could still have their country tinged moments like NKIT but that they were best suited as a rock n' roll band and where they shined. I've often said getting rid of Bernie Leadon and bringing in Joe Walsh to play alongside Don Felder was the smartest move they ever made. Nothing against Bernie personally, but I've always felt while he was a founding member, he was never the right guy for the band and I think Hotel California shows that to be true. I disagreed with Glyn Johns that the Eagles couldn't rock and should stick to their Silver Dagger-era sound. They could rock as hard as Led Zeppelin when they chose to do so. This pivotal album changed the Eagles into a rock n' roll supergroup of sorts, filled to the brim with a guitar focus to go alongside the classic harmonies. As a vocal band their guitar prowess often gets overlooked, but I've always said the Eagles were a guitar band as much as a vocal band, but that most didn't realize or appreciate that side of them. A few things had to happen. One, replacing Glyn Johns with Bill Szymczyk. Adding a third guitarist (Don Felder). And to complete that, replacing Leadon with Walsh. Once that transformation took place, it propelled the Eagles to heights they never had even thought possible. They were a well known band, but HC made them rock legends!
interesting how differently people hear things. Personally I feel that HC is a softer album than their previous albums. I feel that OTB has a lot more edge. 😄 Of course I'm only talking about albums, not live work.
I definitely feel HC is a soft and hard rock album. Soft rock in the sense of NKIT or TLR, hard rock in the sense of VOL or LITFL. And straight down the pike rock n' roll with Hotel California (title track), etc. But songs like LITFL or VOL wouldn't exist without Joe Walsh's entrance in the band and the interplay between Walsh and Felder. VOL's slide solo, etc.
OTB had its moments with Already Gone and James Dean but I like the fact that Hotel California has very little country tinged moments, mainly only NKIT. As someone who wouldn't cry if he never heard another Merle Haggard song in his life and cannot personally understand why anyone would like that stuff and only likes contemporary modern country that is more repackaged 80s rock and pop, I definitely can do without the Tequila Sunrises and The Best Of My Loves and all of that. Tear in my beer soft twang is ick to me. I'm a rocker through and through! Rock n' roll music is also more broadly appealing, especially when you factor in not only hard rock but also soft rock, pop rock, etc.
Good Day In Hell is a song this lineup could have made a great recording of. I just listened to an interview with Glenn and Felder from 1980. I was surprised to hear that Felder played the slide part with the band when they cut the basic tracks. I always thought it was an overdub.
Incidentally, Genn also implied in that interview that Felder's only contribution to Already Gone was the lead part on top of Glenn's solo. But I'm way off-topic now!