Eagles Greatest Hits, Vol. 2
Elektra / Wea - Elektra / Wea
Eagles
Release date: 1990-10-25
Audio CD
Album Rock, Country-Rock, Pop, Pop/Rock, Pop/Rock Music, Popular Music, Rock, Rock/Pop, Soft Rock
1. Hotel California
2. Heartache Tonight
3. Seven Bridges Road
4. Victim Of Love
5. The Sad Cafe
6. Life In The Fast Lane
7. I Can't Tell You Why
8. New Kid In Town
9. The Long Run
10. After The Thrill Is Gone
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Eagles Greatest Hits, Vol. 2
Date undefinedPreviously the Eagles' success baffled me, but I think I've got it figured out now: they brought the right stuff (dull pointless pedestrian soft-rock) to the right place (California) at the right time (the '70s). Their continued popularity today is probably more out of nostalgia and/or peer pressure ("How can you NOT like them?" say the fans. "Greatest Hits 1 is the biggest-selling album ever! If you don't like the biggest selling album ever, you don't have good taste!") than anything else.
But what's the music like? Well, I've heard the band themselves hated this album. I hate it too. For one, there's the '"legendary" "Hotel California". A #1 hit like anything else they put out at a certain point. But it's embarrassing. Every element that gets praised even today is an element of it I dislike - I see the syncopated reggae rhythms as this forced, "Look at us, we can do REGGAE! We're DIVERSE!" thing; the lyrics as either pretentious ("We stabbed the beast with steely knives") or unintentionally hilarious ("You can check out anytime you want, but you can never leave" - what is this, the roach motel?), and the famed guitar duel near the end puts me out like no anesthetic ever could. And if Don Henley is ever picked as the voice of rock 'n' roll over Mick Jagger, Roger Daltry or John Fogerty, that will be the day I stop listening to rock 'n' roll. At least it isn't bad as their other attempt at reggae, "New Kid on the Block", another #1 hit (god, did these guys have a payola deal going? And while I'm conspiracy theorizing, they probably locked up all the executives of the Billboard charts in their basement and played them their music until they agreed to move their records up to #1).
But wait - there's more! The addition of Joe Walsh somehow convinced the Eagles that they were a sleazy boogie-rock band, like ZZ Top! Only they saw themselves as too smart to right about tube snakes and pearl necklaces and girls with legs who knew how to use them. No, instead they gave us their takes on either the frailty ("Heartache Tonight"; "Victim of Love") or longevity ("The Long Run") of love; cliched damming of rock-star life ("Life in the Fast Lane"). Problem is, they can't play boogie-rock; the vocals are painfully oversung, and the band sounds stiff and awkward. "Heartache Tonight" (or "Headache Tonight", take your pick) is especially painful, though all four of 'em are disgraces.
And can they write a memorable lyric that has not, in fact, been beaten into the ground? Glad you asked. No is the answer to that question. Let's count the songs that pretty much do the same thing as "The Sad Cafe"; "I Can't Tell You Why" and "After the Thrill is Gone". Let's see.... one, two, three, four... 9.5x10^28, 9.6x10^28, 9.7x10^28...
This right here is a fine example of why sometimes you can't trust the masses. The fact that George W. Bush was elected for two terms in office was another example. This might've sounded great in the '70s - I wasn't around back then, I wouldn't have a clue - but the music of the Eagles has aged like cream cheese. Oh yeah, they've got a new album out. You know what that means, right? That means I will never turn on the radio again as long as Don Henley, Glen Frey, Timothy B. Schmidt, Don Felder, Joe Walsh, Randy Meisner, and Bernie Leadon live. At least Felder, Meisner and Leadon had the good sense to jump ship. Wait, wait, their music wasn't any better with them on board. Never mind.
Eagles Greatest Hits, Vol. 2
Date undefined"Seven Bridges Road" is my favorite Eagles song, yet I never had a copy of it. I had a few copies of the early Eagles albums on vinyl and later on cassette, but this was the first Eagles CD I added to my collection. I purchased this CD mainly because I couldn't find any other way to get a copy of "Seven Bridges Road". I listen to the whole album often. Turns out, I like the later day Eagles hits even more now than when they were on the radio all the time.
Eagles Greatest Hits, Vol. 2
Date undefinedI am not a fan of the band, I have listen to this cd a couple of time and I am not very pleased with it. There is just a couple of good tracks, not enough for me to keep this cd. I will use it as a gift for somebody who will listen to it, because I won't if I keep it.
