Eagles Album: “Live”

I am writing again about Eagles Live in reference to the 1999 Ted Jensen remastered release. My original Eagles Live discs are played out by scratches, so last week I got the only available release-- the one remastered in 1999. I was pleased with the results of remixing, such as the whole first cd not fading out at all in between songs! Nonetheless, I found two bad places in the mix that are mastering defects. I asked people on alt.music.eagles to listen at certain points as well and they all heard the flaws. There is a blip at the end of "New Kid In Town," right around 4:54. Another bad glitch occurs right as Glenn starts talking before "Seven Bridges Road" on the second disc. How could these have been overlooked??? I was also disappointed to see that the album is split into two cds again. The entire album could have fit on one cd, lowering the cost of the album. The cd booklet and album covers are identical to the original 1989 release with the exception of including the month and date of remastering. These flaws are so nasty they need to do a recall or something! Don't let it hinder you from buying this album-- the performances are fantastic. And for a little piece of trivia, the tapes used for Eagles Live were shipped back and forth between Miami and L.A. studios because Glenn wanted to work on his parts away from the rest of the guys in FL with Bill Szymzyck. According to Bill Szymzyck, all of Henley's vocals are from the actual shows--no studio overdubs because of drum mic leakage. Most of the overdubbing involved 3 part harmonies and guitar parts. Hopefully the mastering flaws will be fixed so you can enjoy this album in its entirety...

The Eagles put out some good albums before Hotel

California, and Hotel California was nearly a great record.

They followed Hotel California with the lethargic "The

Long Run" and this contractual fulfillment.

Four reasons to hate this album:

1) Dull as dust. No surprises, no significant changes to the

2) The least live "live" album in history. A comparison of this

3) Dull, unsurprising, uninteresting song selections, save

4) A rip off: This set runs less than 78 minutes and could

Skip this one.

dap

This is one of the best records I have ever heard, and one of the very few, in my opinion, that truly deserves a top rating. This album is filled to the point of overflowing with some of the greatest songs the Eagles have made, among them such hits as "Hotel California", "New Kid in Town" and a tremendously powerful live version of "Take It To The Limit", which far surpasses the original album recording. You will not find one weak track on this album (and that's a rare thing), but you will find a lot of great guitar work and a wonderful mixture of quiet ballads and driving rock songs. The sound is also great for a live album (okay, it was doctored in a studio afterwards, and so what?) This is every bit as good as any "regular" greatest hits package, and better than some.

The Eagles' seventh album Eagles Live was released in November of 1980.

By 1980, The Eagles were going through a schizophrenic time. The band had another chart-topping album out of The Long Run but inner tensions between drummer Don Henley and guitarist Glenn Frey reached fever pitch. The strains of keeping up with success were taking a toll on messieurs Henley, Frey, Don Felder, Joe Walsh and Timothy B Schmit.

Before splitting up, the band decided to release a live album recorded from its 1979/80 Long Run Tour with some tracks recorded from the pre-release tour in support of Hotel California from November, 1976.

The 1980 portions consists of spirited versions of "Hotel California" which is arguably better than its studio counterpart with Don Felder's excellent Gibson double neck guitar and Joe Walsh's Fender Telecaster work, a rocking "Heartache Tonight", a soulful "I Can't Tell You Why", a soul-tinged "The Long Run" featuring some excellent alto sax work from Phil Kenzie (whom played on Al Stewart's Year of the Cat and Time Passages albums), a laid-back unplugged "Saturday Night', a stellar "Life in the Fast Lane" and the closing extended rocking "Take it Easy" which is better than its studio counterpart with some excellent guitar work from Walsh at the end.

The 1980 portion also included the band's take on two of Walsh's solo tracks "Life's Been Good" (arguably better than the original) and the then new track "All Night Long" which buried the sterile sounding version on the Urban Cowboy Soundtrack. Lastly, it featured the acoustic "Seven Bridges Road" which was a country number the band would play in rehearsal (see the 1977 Hotel California concert film for proof) and would be the band's last hit for 14 years.

The songs recorded from 1976 featured "New Kid In Town" and "Wasted Time" which were at the time the performances were recorded unreleased, an unEarthly version of "Take It To The Limit" with original bass player Randy Meisner hitting an A flat to F Sharp near the end and given a STANDING OVATION for it. Lastly, "Doolin-Dalton Reprise II" was an orchestral interlude to "Desperado" which was a good version.

Eagles Live upon release hit #7 on the album charts and quickly hit Platinum status. Millions have been sold since then (I helped the cause when I was 8 when my folks got me this on cassette as a Christmas present and then on CD and now the remastered CD).

Recommended!

Live is just an average effort by the band. The songs are all top-notch and there are some nice surprises like "Doolin' Dalton", "Saturday Night" and a version of Joe Walsh's solo hit "Life's Been Good", but unfortunately the live versions are basically a paint-by-the-numbers versions of their superior studio efforts. The band are notoriously anal and perfectionists about their music, so that leaves little room for improvisation. They also did some studio touch up work on the songs to enhance their quality which takes away from the reasons why you want to hear a band live. You want to hear them in their rawest, most personal form. Live doesn't live up to expectations.