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Hotel California
 
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Hotel California [Original recording remastered, Import]

Eagles Audio CD
4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (121 customer reviews)

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Product Details


1. Hotel California
2. New Kid In Town
3. Life In The Fast Lane
4. Wasted Time
5. Wasted Time (Reprise)
6. Victim Of Love
7. Pretty Maids All In A Row
8. Try And Love Again
9. The Last Resort

Product Description

From Amazon.co.uk

Hotel California represented a commercial peak for the Eagles, selling nine million copies in its year of release alone. Founder member Bernie Leadon quit and was replaced with tougher-sounding guitarist Joe Walsh just before the band spent eight months in the studio crafting this album. Unfortunately, as often happens with albums that take so long to make, spontaneity is almost wholly sacrificed to a virtuosity of a somewhat sterile kind, and some of these songs appear in far more energetic and interesting versions on the band's Live album. Still,Hotel California has had a massive influence--its formula of soft country and hard rock has been endlessly imitated, but few acts have recaptured the weary loveliness of the Eagles' template. --JamesSwift

Amazon.com essential recording

It's no accident that The Eagles Greatest Hits might one day pass Michael Jackson's Thriller as the best-selling album of all time-- the Eagles made great singles. By contrast, their albums could be spotty and strained by self-conscious artistry. Hotel California was arguably the band's best single album--it was certainly the Eagles' biggest original disc-- and it also underscored the band's need to make a big statement. The title tune reflected the album's theme of paradise lost in California, painting this picture with a musical arrangement that punctuated strumming guitars with dramatic drums, and perhaps the band's most famous lyric: "You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave." "New Kid in Town" was an equally fine albeit much more traditional Eagles ballad. "Life in the Fast Lane" aspired to hard rock but largely gunned its engine without taking off. The rest is okay, but nothing more than secondary Eagles songs that happened to be nestled into the album that came to define the `70s supergroup. --John Milward

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Customer Reviews

121 Reviews
5 star:
 (85)
4 star:
 (18)
3 star:
 (2)
2 star:
 (5)
1 star:
 (11)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.3 out of 5 stars (121 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most helpful customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars The album that forever changed my understanding of music., Sep 7 2006
By 
Themis-Athena (from somewhere between California and Germany) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   
This review is from: Hotel California (Audio CD)
She'd taped a cool new song off the radio, a friend told me a little less than 25 years ago; she'd play it for me when I'd come to her place after school.

The song was "Hotel California," and my perception of music changed then and there, once and for all. I didn't even really understand the lyrics -- I had barely begun to learn English, and apart from everything else I sure as hell didn't know what "colitas" meant. But understanding all the song's words wasn't necessary. From the first chords played by Felder and Walsh, this song was different from anything I had ever heard before. The layers of electric guitar riffs alternating with and ornamenting Don Henley's vocals, soaring in the chorus and culminating in a moving and evocative duet, touched a spot deep inside me that required no further explanation. Nor, really, did the other songs on this album which I instantaneously knew I had to have. I got the message conveyed in the raw edges of "Life in the Fast Lane," Joe Walsh's riffs throughout the song, the two guitar solos and Don Henley's sneering vocals, as well as I could hear the sense of loss in "Wasted Time," "The Last Resort" and "New Kid in Town."

This is not to say, of course, that the lyrics didn't matter to me once I was able to fully understand them. Rather, that understanding deepened my appreciation for the album; and yet another level of insight was added when I came to California for the first time in 1991. By that time I was an ardent fan, and although the Eagles didn't even exist as a band back then, their music has become an inseparable part of my memory of those months - particularly the album which bears the state's name and is so often called the quintessential California rock album (not only of the 1970s) that this description in itself is bordering on clich' now, true as it may once have been.

Since the release of their 1976 studio album, the Eagles have published several other versions of "Hotel California," and I love them all. (I even -- sometimes -- like the ska version Don Henley and his incredible tour band performed during their 2001 "Inside Job" tour.) But ultimately, it all comes back down for me to the duet of those two electric guitars which forever redefined the way I listen to music.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic 5.1 mix !, Jun 24 2004
By A Customer
Whats with the below review - This album wasn't about money, sure Neil Young was once quoted as saying what you wrote as you well know - think for yourself ya slimy maggot !

Neil got it wrong, Neil is not wrong about much except that album he made with Pearl Jam.

Rumours and Hotel California are two of the greatest albums of the 70's and now they're both available on Neil's favorite format DVD-A !! now we need Born to Run which is comin soon to SACD (which is basically the same thing soundwise less the visual content - photos, docos, lyrics).

Hotel California DVD-A - 5 out of 5
The sound quality is amazing, alot of skill goes into revamping these recordings and top marks to the engineers !

Don't worry purists you still have the original 2 channel stereo mix included on this disc, but sit back and crank up the title track in 5.1 and you'll think this album was recorded yesterday and you're still in the studio having a smoke with Glen.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars The album that forever changed my understanding of music., Nov 2 2008
By 
Themis-Athena (from somewhere between California and Germany) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   
This review is from: Hotel California (Audio CD)
She'd taped a cool new song off the radio, a friend told me some 30 years ago; she'd play it for me when I'd come to her place after school.

The song was "Hotel California," and my perception of music changed then and there, once and for all. I didn't even really understand the lyrics -- I had barely begun to learn English, and apart from everything else I sure as hell didn't know what "colitas" meant. But understanding all the song's words wasn't necessary. From the first chords played by Felder and Walsh, this song was different from anything I had ever heard before. The layers of electric guitar riffs alternating with and ornamenting Don Henley's vocals, soaring in the chorus and culminating in a moving and evocative duet, touched a spot deep inside me that required no further explanation. Nor, really, did the other songs on this album which I instantaneously knew I had to have. I got the message conveyed in the raw edges of "Life in the Fast Lane," Joe Walsh's riffs throughout the song, the two guitar solos and Don Henley's sneering vocals, as well as I could hear the sense of loss in "Wasted Time," "The Last Resort" and "New Kid in Town."

This is not to say, of course, that the lyrics didn't matter to me once I was able to fully understand them. Rather, that understanding deepened my appreciation for the album; and yet another level of insight was added when I came to California for the first time in 1991. By that time I was an ardent fan, and although the Eagles didn't even exist as a band back then, their music has become an inseparable part of my memory of those months - particularly the album which bears the state's name and is so often called the quintessential California rock album (not only of the 1970s) that this description in itself is bordering on cliche now, true as it may once have been.

Since the release of their 1976 studio album, the Eagles have published several other versions of "Hotel California," and I love them all. (I even -- sometimes -- like the ska version Don Henley and his incredible tour band performed during their 2001 "Inside Job" tour.) But ultimately, it all comes back down for me to the duet of those two electric guitars which forever redefined the way I listen to music.
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