Celebration of "Hotel California" Album!

[sodascouts]

40 YEARS. Incredible!!!

[Witchy Woman]

One of only 2 albums I find to be absolutely flawless (the other being Master Of Puppets from Metallica). Every song is fantastic.

[thelastresort]

Happy birthday Hotel California! I don't love this album, I worship it. It's their absolute zenith and one of the finest albums ever recorded. The only part where I think it ever so slightly lets up is TALA, with no disrespect to Randy, it's just a smidgen less good than the rest; but even Wasted Time Reprise holds up pretty well on its own. I can't post this without mentioning three songs in particular: New Kid in Town, Glenn's finest hour with the band and the last half of which is amongst the best music the Eagles ever created; Pretty Maids All in a Row, which emotionally destroys me as a person; and the faultless The Last Resort, a song which changed my life and remains my favourite of all time.

[WalshFan88]

Happy 40th Birthday to Hotel California...their best album by far AFAIC.

It really took them from stars to superstars and really was their best period, straightahead AOR classic rock with country tinged moments but rockin' hard.

[Delilah]

I came across this Team Rock article from last month ranking the songs while reading the one about Don F. A strange ranking, IMO-- NKIT #8? I question if they were serious.

1. Wasted Time
2. The Last Resort
3. Wasted Time (Reprise)
4. Hotel California
5. Pretty Maids All in a Row
6. Life in the Fast a Lane
7. Try and Love Again
8. New Kid in Town
9. Victim of Love

That said, I do agree with the statement about The Last Resort and why I have mixed feelings about it (my emphasis added).

2. The Last Resort

“They called it Paradise - I don’t know why,” sings Henley on this, the album closer, distilling the disillusion and despair that courses through the whole album. Which kind of begs the question: how depressed would they have been if their careers had gone badly? Intimations and images of decay abound in this allegory about environmental catastrophe (only five years after The Beach Boys’ Don’t Go Near The Water) and the death of innocence. “Some rich man came and raped the land… put up a lot of ugly boxes.” At which point you might find yourself shouting at the stereo at the sheer hypocritical effrontery of it all as these jet-setting multimillionaire debauchees have their cake - in vast quantities, by all accounts - and eat it, too. But you forgive it all because, dammit, the music’s so pretty.

http://teamrock.com/feature/2016-11-...iclePosition=1

[Delilah]

Still celebrating the 40th anniversary of Hotel California (and looking into who designed the art of Randy's 3rd solo album), I came across this 2011 article about John Kosh, who designed the iconic album cover. Here's what he said about the experience:

After a six-month stint in New York, the family moved to L.A. in 1974 and I soon fell **— with great enthusiasm *— into the West Coast music scene. Heady times. I began working with Peter Asher [Apple] again, who was now managing James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt in LA. This led me directly to Linda’s label — Asylum — and the Eagles. Irving Azoff, their manager, called me in to meet Don Henley and Glenn Frey (they were still friends at this point, so the conversation was fresh and lively). Don Felder was also there, along with the amazing falsetto, Randy Meisner. It was a jolly affair — the Eagles were huge, enjoying hit after hit, and the California rock scene was burgeoning. Their producer and engineer, Bill Szymzyk, brought in an acetate of ‘Hotel California’ — destined to be the first cut on, and the title of, their next album. It was an obvious hit.

Later in the interview:

“It is interesting to note that I got tangled in the same heated debate with Asylum Records over the using of the band’s name on the cover that I had years earlier with EMI in London. I thought it unnecessary to use the words, The Beatles on ‘Abbey Road,’ considering the album was so eagerly anticipated and they were the biggest band in the world at the time. Such was the case with ‘Hotel California.’ By 1976 the Eagles were the biggest band in the world and eventually only the title, ‘Hotel California’ appeared on the original cover of the album.

“Subsequently, as the sales of ‘Hotel California’ went through the roof, lawyers for The Beverly Hills Hotel threatened me with a ‘cease and desist’ action — until it was gently pointed out by my attorney that the hotel’s requests for bookings had tripled since the release of the album.

http://www.goldminemag.com/article/w...tel-california

Here's a brief video of him discussing the cover:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=B9ufzJ...Mkx5V0PTNsZn0Q

[travlnman2]

Does anyone besides me notice that when Timmothy plays Hotel california he plays the harmonies diffrent then Randy does on the studio? Also Randy plays the Bass harmony diffrently in the Capital Center DVD then on the record?


I wonder if the song has ever been played with Bassline as it was on the record

Fast forward to 5:40 this is the isolated bass track from the original master track.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=i-YXCN...T8J3YCgVz2fX1Z


Here is the Capital Center one. Skip to 5:41

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jGJKABBDr6w


Now Farwell 1 with Timmothy Skip to 6:51

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=S9MeTn1i72g

[Delilah]

I guess I don't have a musician's ear b/c I can't detect a difference between the studio version and the Capital Center one. The live performance is kind of buried under the other guitars at times so maybe that's why.

I agree Timothy's sounds a little different but those horns are so distracting it's hard to tell.

One song I have noticed is Take It Easy-- Randy's bass is different live than from what it is in the studio version.

[travlnman2]

I guess I don't have a musician's ear b/c I can't detect a difference between the studio version and the Capital Center one. The live performance is kind of buried under the other guitars at times so maybe that's why.

I agree Timothy's sounds a little different but those horns are so distracting it's hard to tell.

One song I have noticed is Take It Easy-- Randy's bass is different live than from what it is in the studio version.

I wonder if Walshfan notices this because I think I am the only one who notices it

I believe it is a very noticeable diffrence

[sodascouts]

Still celebrating the 40th anniversary of Hotel California (and looking into who designed the art of Randy's 3rd solo album), I came across this 2011 article about John Kosh, who designed the iconic album cover. Here's what he said about the experience:



Later in the interview:


http://www.goldminemag.com/article/w...tel-california

Here's a brief video of him discussing the cover:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=B9ufzJ...Mkx5V0PTNsZn0Q

Thanks for the quotes. Quite interesting!

Glad the Beverly Hills Hotel dropped the lawsuit. I can tell you right now that the only reason I've ever set foot in that place - and spent money there - is because it was on the cover of Hotel California.