Favorite Don Solo Album

[Ive always been a dreamer]

I am starting this topic in honor of Don's upcoming 60th birthday. Soda and I were just discussing this yesterday.

Rank Don's solo albums from best to worst. Of course, feel free to give us the reasons for your ratings. I'm not including greatest hit compilations. Only these four:

I Can't Stand Still
Building the Perfect Beast
The End of the Innocence
Inside Job

[Maleah]

K........give me some time to listen to all of them a few times and I'll be back

[sodascouts]

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

I've had BTPB for ages and like pretty much every song on it, with the exception of the title track. His other efforts are more uneven, but they each have very strong songs on them.

[Freypower]

That's the problem. His albums are uneven in quality. To me he hasn't made one album that is totally, consistently good. Even the album I consider his best has a couple of clangers on it.

1. The End Of The Innocence

Overall this is his most consistent album if the weakest tracks (which IMO are Shangri-La and Gimme What You Got) are ignored. However I feel that Heart Of The Matter and New York Minute were done better by the Eagles and that affects how I feel about it. But in terms of the quality of the songwriting I feel that the title track, Last Worthless Evening and Little Tin God plus I Will Not Go Quietly and If Dirt Were Dollars make this album the standout.

2. I Can't Stand Still

This still seems the most 'personal' to me. For Talking To The Moon alone it is essential. He hasn't really bettered Dirty Laundry. Nobody's Business is unique. The title track rocks. The Unclouded Day has a certain raw charm. Lilah is gorgeous and Long Way Home is nice.

3. Inside Job

I used to dislike this album very much. I'm afraid I still don't think the 'personal' songs here work except for My Thanksgiving. I think Miss Ghost is the standout followed by Damn, It Rose. The tracks I used to dismiss as 'Henley rants' - the title track, Workin' It, Nobody Else In The World But You (Stevie Wonder really adds something to this, as does a certain familiar voice in the background) are improving.

4. Building The Perfect Beast

In my opinion after you've taken away the superb Boys Of Summer and the magnificent Month of Sundays there is not a lot left. I will give honourable mentions to You're Not Drinking Enough and ASWTDID. Unfortunately the 80s production has made the album sound very dated. NB this is my opinion only. I feel I should like this album more, and I just don't (I feel the same way about the Soul Searchin' album).

[Ive always been a dreamer]

I agree that while Don has some real gems in his solo work, his albums are rather uneven in quality. However, while I usually have a difficult time with these types of questions, it’s actually pretty easy for me to rank Don’s solo work. So here I go:

1. The End Of The Innocence

To me, this album is an exception about the uneven quality of Don’s work. While Shangri-La and Gimme What You Got are no better than average, I don’t think they are awful either. The rest of the songs are so good, that it more than makes up for the average ones, IMO. I disagree with FP somewhat in that I think the exceptional songs here are the title track, LWE, NYM, and HOTM. So while I can’t say the album is strong from start to finish, I still rank it as an exceptional piece of work overall.

2. I Can't Stand Still

I agree with many of FP’s comments here except I rate Dirty Laundry and Lilah as the two really exceptional tracks here. Talking to the Moon and Long Way Home are both very good. However, after these songs, I think there is a definate drop-off in quality, although most of the songs are still enjoyable. I’m not crazy about the title track, Johnny Can’t Read, or The Unclouded Day, but they aren’t awful. Overall, this is a very good album, IMO.

3. Building The Perfect Beast

Again, I agree with most of what FP said except I think this album is better than Inside Job because it has the gems on it that Inside Job doesn’t come close to reaching. Of course, there is the masterpiece, BOS, but I think ASWTDID and Sunset Grill are the other exceptional tracks on this album. Once you get beyond these, most of remaining tracks are average. I do enjoy Not Enough Love In the World and Drivin’ With Your Eyes Closed. But the problem is that there are also a few real stinkers such as the title track, Man With a Mission, and Land of the Living.

4. Inside Job

This is an album that I really have tried to like, but it just does nothing for me. It is just way too slow for my taste. I will say that I don’t think this one is uneven, but unfortunately not in a good way. There are no exceptional tracks here. I like Taking You Home and My Thanksgiving a lot, but after that, none of the songs really do much for me. Miss Ghost, Goodbye To a River, and They’re Not Here, They’re Not Coming are pretty good because they attempt to pick up the tempo at bit. So is Nobody Else In the World But You, but even Glenn and Stevie Wonder’s presence are not nearly enough to save this album for me. I think another problem here for me is that even though there was over a 10-year gap, this album was the follow-up to the EOTI masterpiece.

Now even though I said earlier that the Actual Miles album doesn’t count here, I will mention that it includes You Don’t Know Me at All, which I just love. It is one of my favorites of Don’s solo songs. It rocks! I also like Everybody Knows and Garden of Allah a lot.

[Marco]

The End Of the innocence is my favorite,
but I also like Building the Perfect.....
I can`t tell that about the first album because, I like only Dirty Laundry

I haven`t Inside Job

[glenneaglesfan]

I’d already been thinking about a similar topic, as in the last month I have at last bought The End Of The Innocence and Building The Perfect Beast. I can’t vote on I Can’t Stand Still, as I haven’t bought it yet.

My vote of the three:
The End Of The Innocence
Building The Perfect Beast
Inside Job

TEOTI has the lovely title track, which imo is a masterpiece. It has everything – melody, good gritty lyrics, and evokes nice visuals. How Bad Do You Want It was new to me, but I like it as a rocker, as I like I Will Not Go Quietly. The Last Worthless Evening, well, the first chords on my iPod shuffle always make me listen – this is a beautiful song, and heartfelt. New York Minute is also a fine song, if you are in the right mood. I love the HFO version. Shangri-La, Gimme What You Got and If Dirt Were Dollars are listenable to, but not outstanding. Little Tin God has good lyrics, but is a bit repetitive. The Heart Of The Matter is another beautiful song, and one of my favourites from Actual Miles (where I first heard it)..

BTPB. The Boys Of Summer has to rate as one of the best tracks ever. I’ve wallowed about it before, so won’t repeat. Just say it’s stood the test of time, and still has the ability to raise hairs on my neck when the bridge starts. I already knew Not Enough Love In The World, All She Wants To Do Is Dance and Sunset Grill, so these are familiar old friends. Of the others, Man With A Mission is fun, and surprisingly similar to Get Over It. A Month Of Sundays is moving and lyrical. The other tracks are ok, and I think with time they will grow on me.

IJ. The first Don solo album that I bought. This was after seeing the video of the F1 version of TBOS, and also the slightly disturbing video of Everything Is Different Now, on a programme called Launchcast. I love Goodbye To a River on this, and still enjoy Everything Is Different Now, and They’re Not here, They’re Not Coming is fun, but I haven’t downloaded any of the other tracks.
Gosh, I nearly forgot My Thanksgiving - this is a superb song and I love it.

[Selena]

Agree with FP that there is not one album that has maybe only 1 or 2 clangers on it, sadly there are at least 3 on each. However I do like them all and well, here goes...

1. The End of the Innocence
The title track, Heart of the Matter & New York Minute seal the top spot for this album.

2. Building the Perfect Beast
Boys of Summer which I still remember just loving every time I heard it on the radio back then...aaah the memories! I'm also a very big fan of Sunset Grill, plus A Month of Sundays reminds me so much of Springsteen its not funny .

3. I Can't Stand Still
Talking to the Moon & Long Way Home are gems. Dirty Laundry rocks live every time.

4. Inside Job
Goodbye to a River & Taking You Home are the best of an ok bunch.

[Maleah]

Ok....I think I've listened to them enough to offer my opinion now
I agree that they all have "clangers," but most albums do. I think I've only ever had 2 cd's that I liked every single song. And that's LIKE...not love! Anyway, here we go............

1. The End of the Innocence - as much as I dislike the long hair (lol), I think this was Don in his prime. I adore BOS & DL, but Heart of the Matter is a song that, no matter how many times I hear it, it just grabs me and makes me sit up and pay attention to the lyrics. There's also the title track, which is just gorgeous. When Don's voice goes from singing low to soaring in The Last Worthless Evening it gives me goosebumps! that's one thing I've always loved about his singing. He sings with such passion. You can almost feel like he's reliving the memories at that very moment that the song brings back to memory. I also really like the bluesy tone to New York Minute. How Bad Do You Want It and I Will Not Go Quietly fall into the I like them a lot, but I don't love them category. However, I don't care for Little Tin God or Shangri-La at all. The rest fall in between, imo.
Best songs: HOTM, LWE, EOTI, NYM
Worst songs: Little Tin God, Shangri-La

2. Building The Perfect Beast - Boys of Summer....need I say more? lol Absolutely flawless! All She Wants To Do Is Dance is so much fun. Everytime I hear it, especially in the car, it makes me wish I COULD dance! I know a lot of people think it's dated, but I don't care.....I love it anywyay. I also really like Not Enough Love In The World. I love Don's vocals on it and, while some of the lyrics are cliche, some are really great! Last but not least for my fav.'s....Sunset Grill. Now if the eagles were to get rid of a song, it would be my choice.....but I'd want to hear it at a Don solo gig!
Best songs: BOS, ASWTDID, NELITW, SG (with honorable mention to You're Not Drinking Enough!)
Worst songs: The only one I really dislike is the title track. The rest fall into the take them or leave them slot

3. I Can't Stand Still - It contains the song that made me fall in love with both Don AND the Eagles! Dirty Laundry! I love everything about that song...from the lyrics to the vocals to the bass line to the guitar solos to the keyboards.......everything! To be honest, I really haven't heard the entire album.......but because it contains DL and Talking to the Moon.....it's ahead of IJ.
Best songs: DL, Talking to the Moon, Lilah
Worst songs: don't know enough of them to say

4. Inside Job - it's actually kinda sad that I had to place it 4th because, unlike most people, I really like the album! I LOVE Taking You Home! from the first time I heard it, I loved the melody, the vocals, and I don't think the lyrics are as horrible as some say. My Thanksgiving is another favorite. I don't always listen to it, but it's another one of Don's songs that I really listen closely to what it's saying every time I hear it. I think For My Wedding is a pretty song as well. I think the album speaks of where Don was in his life at that moment and there's nothing wrong with that. Who cares if most of the songs are kinda mushy Honestly though, haven't heard the entire album of this either. So I'll just have to say -
Best songs: My Thanksgiving, Taking You Home
Worst songs: I don't think EIDN is THAT bad....but the video just about pushes it there


Wow........that was kinda long! Sorry guys!

[farewell]

gotta say that I only have Inside Job and Actual Miles.

But think its time to by any of the others. Often nose around in music shops in town, but beside these two, I can not buy the others here, unless I order them to ship from Amerika. I will soon I think. Maybe for my birthday in october.
Can say that I don't like Garden of Allah, thats for sure for me.
But about Inside Job, I do like the album. Agree its a bit jazzy, my hubby doesn't like it either.
The only song I don't like is the title song, (heard that before?) but I do like almost al the other songs. The piano solo in Goodbye to a river is so beautiful. For my wedding is sweet, (also is annabel although not special high quality) but so is my thanks giving. These are a nice change with the rock songs.

Yeah, like most of them. But You say all it's the less best one?
Gotta hear the others then