Eagles-Hotel California (1976)
Catalog Number: 6E-103
Year of Release: 1976
Country and Year of Edition: US 1976 Specialty Pressing
Sell Price: $7.69
Sell Date: 3/23/24
Condition: VG/G+
Discogs Last Sold 3/26/24 VG+/VG+ $15.40
Low: $4.00 G+/VG
Median: $12.50
Average: $19.91
High: $135.00 M/M with poster
Current low price: $4.30
Current Number on Sale at Discogs: 59
Have/Want: 7058/760
Where Sold: Charleston, SC
Time It Took To Sell: 9 years
Where and When Bought: Worcester, MA early 80's 50 cent album with inner sleeve at yard sale on Howe St., then got cover in a box of records for $5 without the record
Gwiz-gau Letter Grade: B-
Sad To See It Go: No
The "serious" group that was the Eagles sold 26 million copies of Hotel California in the United States alone. Amazingly enough the compilation of hits prior to this was an even bigger seller to the tune of all time proportions. Considering the hits are top loaded with the first 3 tracks on side 1, it's a bit surprising to me that I didn't know this record fully, despite having found it at a yard sale in good shape with the original inner sleeve serving as the cover. I was psyched to get the other "piece of the puzzle" in a $5 box of used records. Lo and behold, a copy of Hotel California without the record!
"Life In The Fast Lane" I had in the 70's on the FM soundtrack. That one was one of 3 Dylan cited in an interview as songs he liked. The 2 position "New Kid In Town" and his favorite of all, "Pretty Maids All In A Row." Pretty Maids has some lyrics about how heroes come and go, as do people and places. It should be noted that Bob liked that theme from Henley, covering "The End of Innocence." I guess Bob could relate. It must also be noted that when Bob finally got around to write a book about songwriting, he chose "Witchy Woman" instead of any of these.
For the rest of us, Don Henley's musings aren't necessarily relatable, but the closer "The Last Resort" can hit home with almost any city dweller. Henley bemoans the "urban boxes" in the sky that grew bigger than ever. "Jesus! People bought 'em!" The sentiment nearly half a century later holds.
I so badly wanted to dismiss side 2 and give this a C+ the way I've felt about Hotel California since I got it shortly after The Long Run when I was around 10. However, there is something to the tracks on the second side. I find it odd for an album that sold 26 million, I don't feel a total immersion familiarity like other multi-platinum titans of the era like Rumours or even Frampton Comes Alive. I am burnt on the hits even "Life In The Fast Lane." "Pretty Maids..." continues in a vein similar to the Joe Walsh produced "There's A Place In The World For A Gambler" by a young Dan Fogelberg and the closer has it's grouchy social critic charms, so I grudgingly kicked it up to the B range.
I'd like to check out please.
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