A Good Day In Hell - The Official ILM Track-By-Track EAGLES Listening Thread

"he, don henley, knows the difference between distilled and fermented drinks, but the character of the "captain" in the song does not, and that was the sociopolitical point he was trying to make"

the song is secretly about the notable decline in the caliber of bar staff at the Beverly Hills Hotel in '76. "Glenn, can you believe that guy called the magnum I ordered a 'spirit'?"

strange women, effeminate men

kinda think this is an offhand remark that nails Frey's world view.

“Let’s really take some chances. Let’s try to write in a way that we’ve never written before. Let's see if we can come up with a way to rhyme 'bell' with 'hell'."

DON: We were enamored with hotels. Hotels were a big part of our lives. The Beverly Hills Hotel had become something of a focal point — literally and symbolically. I’ve always been interested in architecture and the language of architecture, and, at that time, I was particularly keen on the mission style of early California. I thought there was a certain mystery and romance about it.

FREY: Those chicks from the valley we had that night? Lots of romance and mystery there.

DON: Well, yeah.

Frey must've got so darn excited when Eyes Wide Shut was released.

Ah yes, symbolism. The language or architecture. The metaphors of the lost 60s.

The Eagles just seem like some dudes that have taken so many drugs they are convinced that every thought they have is a brilliant insight, and won't shut up about it.

This is the first time in my life i actually made an effort to hear "Hotel California".... my random thoughts

- Always thought the 3:28 fadeout/gap was a edit, punch-in, or tape splice

- Felder didn't seem to mind Henley singing like Barry Gibb on "One Of These Nights"

- As much as i don't like the Eagles and am sick of hearing this song for the 529th time, the guitar solos are unquestionably all-time

- Hotel California is by far the best-selling non-comp Eagles album, partly no doubt in part because the title track is their signature song, but I wonder if it wouldn't have sold nearly as well had the greatest hits album been issued after this album instead of before. Many of those gazillions who bought Greatest Hits also wanted this album if only for "HC" and the other singles

- Lolling at the credit roll at the end of the fan-made video: "The intent of these videos is to bring new fans to older and often obscure album tracks...."

I always mostly-hated this song. It was an automatic NOPE if it came on the radio. except that if I did end up getting stuck listening to it I always found myself getting into the drums part.

within the past 3 months or so I've completely turned a corner on HC and now the solos and that melody Felder & Walsh play together on the outro, I can't get enough of it.

overall, A+

there's a line (I can't remember which one off the top of my head) where Henley does an audible 'UNGHHH' at the end and it kinda grosses me out

it was those chicks in the valley. Lots of romance and atmosphere.

Don:We found an orgone accumulator in a dusty corner of the studio, and discovered it made a great vocal booth in addition to what it offered in our other areas of research.

Frey: We were interested in vaginal research in those days.

Don: Well, yeah.

Almost everybody in my business can write music, play guitar, play piano, create chord progressions, etc., but it’s only when you add lyrics and melody and voices to these things that they take on an identity and become something beyond that sum of the individual parts.

Felder basically wrote the song, and this is a pretty shitty way for Frey/Henley to take credit for it.

there's a line (I can't remember which one off the top of my head) where Henley does an audible 'UNGHHH' at the end and it kinda grosses me out

Henley was looking at this Facebook page when he sang that: https://www.facebook.com/benz.girls

i'm in the minority of kinda loving "i wish you peace"...sail on bernie

i've done my share of Eagles frontin' in this thread but I'm not gonna front on Hotel California. great song, goofy "deep" lyrics and all

i love the really simple single note harmony guitar held notes during the verses, a really simple and elegant little touch

I only want to remark on what a piece of shit Henley is. Check out his expanded comments:

Thanks for the tutorial and, no, you're not the first to bring this to my attention—and you're not the first to completely misinterpret the lyric and miss the metaphor. Believe me, I've consumed enough alcoholic beverages in my time to know how they are made and what the proper nomenclature is. But that line in the song has little or nothing to do with alcoholic beverages. It's a sociopolitical statement. My only regret would be having to explain it in detail to you, which would defeat the purpose of using literary devices in songwriting and lower the discussion to some silly and irrelevant argument about chemical processes.[

Eagles in the wild! Just heard Ol' 55 in Walgreens.

Dropout at 3.28 - pathetic. Put some reverb over it or something, guys.
Rhythm section at 5.38 - good.
End guitar solos could have got a bit more Freebird really.
Hearty chuckle at Henley trying to sound menacing when he delivers the Night Man's line.

Xps Interviewer: Well, yeah.

How did Bernie leave? Was expecting you all to break out sob stories, but nothing.

the descending harmony arpeggios at the end of the Hotel California guitar solo always reminded me of Iron Maiden a bit

dumped a beer over freys head and peaced, iirc

xpost

Frey was mad it was Milwaukee's Best: "Of course you use the cheapest beer!"

I Wish You Piels

My Michelob

xxpost m@tt I'm pretty sure that's why I dig that outro so hard, definitely shades of Maiden! there are few things in life I love more than a face-melting twin-guitar assault :)

very much off topic now but in that case VG i just wanna make sure you know Thin White Rope, esp their moonhead LP. The finest mid-80s desert twin guitar heaviness.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tzNQ9Avr4k

xpost ooooweee thx Jon, I'll check it out!

the descending harmony arpeggios at the end of the Hotel California guitar solo always reminded me of Iron Maiden a bit

― lorde willin' (upper mississippi sh@kedown - woah, can totally hear this

Here's all seven of them playing HC at the Hall of Fame: http://youtu.be/2dyw6LZpSOA

Same little 3:28 dropout as the studio version!

If I were in a band performing a classic-but-overfamiliar song live, I'd want to change up the arrangement just a bit, not decontruct the song and turn it into something else, but just enough to make a song everyone in the audience has heard hundreds of times seem fresh and interesting, retaining the essence of the original recording but not recreating it note for note so they don't know exactly what's coming next. Just as on Eagles Live '80, this sounds almost like they played the record through the P.A. system.

They need to go Full-Dub and have somebody do a toast in the middle. Nominations?

http://o.onionstatic.com/images/articles/article/2601/Donald-Fagen-R_jpg_630x463_pad-black_upscale_q85.jpg

that story from Walsh about Henley & the Hotel California solos made me think of this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lzpk5dMhVE4

aggggghhh fuck sorry I shouldn't have done that, embed ragh

fp me skott, I deserve it

FWIW, a couple hours ago I drove past the Beverly Hills Hotel.

Walsh at 4:53 is one of my fave moments in rock and roll. His "guitar face" at this moment is the best! Felder's sound completely singular. All those guitars in the R&R HOF clip make me think of BJM.

Thread really delivering today!

This song was already old news to me 20 years ago - I'm 30 now - and yet I never fucking get tired of it, Henley's cod-Mexican accent and portentous lyrics and those lemon-sucking harmonies and all. It's like "Stairway" - just a killer minor-key progression, arrangement, production, everything. So thank you Don Felder and Bill Szymczyk, but kudos as well to the perfect balance of teeth-clenching tension and El Lay cool in Henley's vocal. I mean, dude can sing. Also I'm a sucker for the narcissistic Southern California myth-mongering, which is maybe why the Red Hot Chili Peppers aren't yet completely beyond the pale for me.

what the hell.....

http://youtu.be/Q0F83bK0TZU

"New Kid In Town"

http://www.eaglesonlinecentral.com/images/eaglesHCHenleyHoboPants.jpg

http://youtu.be/L7c-P5hAPfg

new screen-name for someone:

HenleyHoboPants.jpg

again, this is kinda unfuckwithable on FM radio. this album/aja/rumours. the holy trinity of FM sound.

This is one of those I-love-it-in-a-Proustian-way songs. Love the vocal and instrumental arrangement, love the slinky guitar solo, love the key change, love Felder and Walsh's work throughout, even the lyrics are pretty good by Frey standards. If the universe judged that I might only be allowed to listen to one Eagles song ever again, this would probably be it.

allegedly the "New Kid" in question was Springsteen, who Frey/Henley saw as muscling into their territory after "Born to Run" hit.

Seems like an odd choice of lead-off single at first, given the collection of rockers they had, but it makes sense: it's meant to appeal to all the people who bought the 72-75 greatest hits record---it's the closest the album gets to a "Tequila Sunrise." There's a Tex-Mex feel to the verses, esp in the keyboard hook.

always liked this one, but it goes on a bit too long, as Eagles songs do---the bridge isn't great, as it's too melodically similar to the rest of it and has the worst set of lyrics. that said, the outro is lovely, w/ the harmonies and the rolling drum fills (punctuated by Henley's trademark way-too-high-mixed cymbal crashes).

hard to fault this

Glenn Frey has the same birthday as Doug Sahm, maybe that's where he gets the Tex-Mex feel.

The harmonies are good!

Ha, the hi-hat isn't panned hard right! They fixed it! But man, 70s production was so flumpfy and dead. In the Springsteen doc about Darkness, he complains about the lack of resonance in the studio, but at the time, that's all there was; that was state-of-the-art in the late 70s. No one wanted any reverby echoey shit, so all the major studios had carpeting on the walls.

This isn't an awful song, though. Might be my favorite (which is to say, least creepy/sleazy) Frey vocal.

by far the best song of theirs to date.

beautiful song imo

it's the cozy blanket of Eagles songs :)

wonder how much of it was owed to J.D. Souther

this is the only Frey vocal on the album--acc to Frey it was a decision he went along with (Henley as the "lead singer" of the Eagles 2.0) but you can see how the henley/Frey partnership begins to fall apart here

I love dead reverbless 70s recordings