If you had to switch one song from an album...

[YoungEaglesFan]

so If you had to take one song off of every Eagles album and place it onto a different album, which songs would you switch? The goal is to have the song fit musically or thematically with the album it’s being put into. Or you could just focus on improving the album by adding new elements or having more input from a particular member. The only rule is, you have to make sure each album has the same number of songs it had originally. I’m not doing HFO or Eagles live but feel free to do them) Also ignore lineup issues or sound quality differences (for example LROOE songs sound much different than their older material)

heres mine

Eagles: Add How long, remove chug all night
desperado: add best of my love, remove twenty one
On the border add twenty one, remove best of my love
One Of These nights: add Chug all night, remove after the thrill is gone
Hotel California add the sad cafe ,remove The last resort
The Long Run: add after the thrill is gone, remove the sad cafe
Long Road Out Of Eden: add The last resort, remove how long

not really satisfied with this but it’s my first try. Interested to see what you guys come up with

[scottside]

YEF, I noticed that you used all the same songs so, in other words, can we not include songs that were never on an album or do we have to use all the songs only already on albums?

[YoungEaglesFan]

YEF, I noticed that you used all the same songs so, in other words, can we not include songs that were never on an album or do we have to use all the songs only already on albums?

Doesnt really matter. I don’t want to over complicate it, so however you want to do it is fine.

[scottside]

Eagles: Replace "Chug All Night" with "How Long."

Desperado: I can't think of any song that could replace what's here conceptually. While I would be fine with switching out "Twenty One," I can't think of anything to put in its place.

On The Border: Replace "Is It True?" with "Wait and See."

One Of These Nights: Replace "I Wish You Peace" with "Georgia Peach."

Hotel California: This is really a perfect album the way it is. Even if there was something else lying around from a comparable time period, there's nothing here I would want to remove.

The Long Run: Replace "Disco Strangler" and "Teenage Jail" with "Party Dress" and "Too Much Drama," both unreleased songs by the Eagles although the latter was recorded by Mickey Thomas from the Starship.

Long Road Out Of Eden: Replace "Frail Grasp Of the Big Picture" with "Dimming Of The Day," a Richard Thompson song they recorded for the album in the early 2000s.

[WalshFan88]

I can't really think of anything I would change.

The first two records didn't do much for me at all.

But I think other than that I wouldn't change much.

[sodascouts]

Good question. I'm going to have to think about it!

[thelastresort]

I am one of these who gets very defensive when it comes to albums, for me the original incarnation, for better or for worse, should be sacred; I hate it when albums gets re-released with added bonus tracks or live versions, or resequencing etc.

To address a couple in the OP, I don't get why you would swap Twenty One with Best of My Love. The former is by a mile the worse song on Desperado, but forms an important anchor in the (weak, granted) concept behind the album, being that the only brother to survive the fateful raid detailed in Doolin-Dalton was 21 year old Emmett. Best of My Love on the other hand is a very nice, but completely unremarkable mid-70s acoustic love song, which for some reason for me blends in well with the mixed bag of song and styles on On the Border.

The Last Resort and Sad Cafe also have a difference which I believes justifies their inclusions on their original records. The Last Resort is a scathing criticism of the American Dream and all the carelessness, hedonism and greed that entailed; which fits perfectly as a closure on the record the band have said is about the American lifestyle, and the change from innocence to experience. Sad Cafe on the other hand is a wistful critique of themselves and all the other country / folk artists who came from the late 60s / early 70s California scene, and how in the end it all proved to be a career based on a false premise that anything ever changes. The critical element for me is that for 14 years, this is what people thought was America's biggest band's last ever song; a reflection that through all the youthful exuberance of Take It Easy, the country and R'n'B years to their stardom with Hotel California and The Long Run, it was all just a fad that had amounted to nothing but wasted years.

I'll give you the rest mind ;)

[Ive always been a dreamer]

I'll have to give this some thought, but I'm inclined to say leave the albums as they are. The only album where songs seem somewhat out of place to me is One of Those Nights. Bernie's country-heavy songs seems out of sync with the more rock and roll direction the band was taking. But, I still like them.

[thelastresort]

I'll have to give this some thought, but I'm inclined to say leave the albums as they are. The only album where songs seem somewhat out of place to me is One of Those Nights. Bernie's country-heavy songs seems out of sync with the more rock and roll direction the band was taking. But, I still like them.

I have always felt the same about One of These Nights - the three singles are superb, the best as a trio of any Eagles album IMO, but, unlike what I said above about OTB, the quality after that is all over the place. ATTIG and Visions are decent, Hollywood Waltz is lovely but doesn't belong in that era of the Eagles, I Wish You Peace is adorable but is not an Eagles song, and JOTS is just utterly bizarre. OTB is a brilliantly measured mixture of hard rock (James Dean, Already Gone), country / bluegrass (Midnight Flyer, My Man), good old fashioned harmonies (Ol' 55 and YNCLAL) and some experimental stuff in the form of the title track. It ticks all the boxes and has something for everyone without committing itself to any of them. OOTN by comparison just feels like they shoved the remaining tracks from those sessions onto a third disk!

[YoungEaglesFan]

Just to clear up on my premise, I personally wouldn’t change any songs on the albums. I’m asking that if you were forced to, what would you change. Just thought that would clear it up

[groupie2686]

The Last Resort and Sad Cafe also have a difference which I believes justifies their inclusions on their original records. The Last Resort is a scathing criticism of the American Dream and all the carelessness, hedonism and greed that entailed; which fits perfectly as a closure on the record the band have said is about the American lifestyle, and the change from innocence to experience. Sad Cafe on the other hand is a wistful critique of themselves and all the other country / folk artists who came from the late 60s / early 70s California scene, and how in the end it all proved to be a career based on a false premise that anything ever changes. The critical element for me is that for 14 years, this is what people thought was America's biggest band's last ever song; a reflection that through all the youthful exuberance of Take It Easy, the country and R'n'B years to their stardom with Hotel California and The Long Run, it was all just a fad that had amounted to nothing but wasted years.



I never thought about that, about The Sad Café, but you're right, it must have seemed like a fitting swan song for what appeared to be the end of the band at the time. Almost as if they saw the end coming themselves, while at the same time writing about longevity with The Long Run.

To get back to YEF's original topic, I too wouldn't change anything. While I may not like every song on an album, the tracks were put there for a reason and who am I to want to change anything. I even think that in the age of iTunes and songs played on shuffle, it takes away from the time an artist spends putting songs in a particular order on an album. (Even though I mainly listen to music on shuffle).