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Trollheart · 06-29-2011, 06:34 PM

Long road out of Eden --- The Eagles --- 2007 (Eagles Recording Company)

This being the first full studio album since 1979's “The long run”, which saw the Eagles break up --- ostensibly for good --- it was something of an event when announced. Discounting 1994's PR-driven “Hell freezes over”, which had after all only four new tracks on it, this was the first time anyone had heard from the legendary country rock band in 28 years, so it had better be good!

It is. Six years in the making, this was not a record that was rushed out to capitalise on the success of the aforementioned “Hell freezes over” and its associated tours. This was a proper album, a real renaissance and rebirth for the Eagles, coming smack up to date for the 21st century, and it has a lot to say. It's a double album, and unlike many similar efforts by other bands, that doesn't mean it's one disc of original material and the other made up of live recordings, unreleased tracks and remixes. In other words, this ain't “Hell freezes over again”. Oh no. This is the real deal.

It would be fallacy to say it's a perfect album; there are tracks on it I don't like, or more accurately, like less than others, but the good very much outweigh the bad, or at least the less good. The first disc kicks off with an unexpected treat, and in very low-key fashion. “No more walks in the woods” is truly an eco-ballad, using words from a poem by John Hollander to create an almost acapella song arranged for four voices, with a few guitar chords here and there. It really is a beautiful little piece, though very short (two minutes exactly), and certainly one of the standout tracks on the album. It's followed by a track that would be released as a single from the album, J.D. Souther's “How long”, which recalls the likes of “Take it easy” and “Already gone”, while “Busy being fabulous” is a swipe at career women who put their enjoyment above the needs of their family: ”You were just too busy being fabulous/ Too busy to think about us/ I don't know what you were thinking of/ Somehow you forgot about love.”

There are a total of seven ballads on the album, and “What do I do with my heart” is the first of these. It's typical Eagles, and could sit just as comfortably on any Don Henley or indeed Glenn Frey solo album. It's a nice ballad, but nothing special. It's not really till “Waiting in the weeds” comes along that we get anything really spectacular. It's again a ballad, but much longer than usual, almost eight minutes long, with a lovely piano outro and some great lyrics: ”I imagine sunlight in your hair/ You're at the county fair/ You're holding hands and laughing/ And now the ferris wheel is stopped/ You're swingin' at the top/ Suspended there with him / And he's the darling of the chic/ Flavour of the week is melting/ Down your pretty summer dress/ Baby, what a mess you're making!” Taken at face value it's a pretty creepy song, the tale of a guy who can't accept that his girl has moved on, and is, in effect, stalking her. Despite that, it's a great great song, and one of my favourites on the album. Some great guitar and piano work combine to make a truly lovely melody, with some excellent vocal harmonies at the end.

Following this is “No more cloudy days”, a Glenn Frey-penned tune and very much his sort of song: reminds me of “Part of me, part of you”. A sort of mid-paced ballad, with some really nice sax at the end, it complements the previous track very well. The guys try updating “Life in the fast lane” for the 2000's, but “Fast company” doesn't really work for me. I much prefer the two closers, “Do something”, which is a real call to action within a kind of ballad structure: ”There's no time for saving grace/ Don't just stand there/ Taking up space/” Perhaps some people might balk at such advice from a group of guys who have enough money to completely change the world, if they wanted, but the sentiment is nice I think, in a time when everyone seems to be doing their best to cover themselves and rip people off. Closer “You are not alone” is a gentle little guitar ballad, again with nice sentiments.

And so disc one comes to a close. Have we heard all the good songs? Have they kept the dross for disc two? Not a chance. Opening with the title track, disc two introduces us to Arabic chants, eastern rhythms set against the backdrop of a desert wind, and as it gets going, a powerful, politically-charged song protesting the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The opening lines set the mission statement: ”Moon shinin' down through the palms/ Shadows movin' on the sand/ Somebody whispering the 23rd psalm/ Dusty rifle in his tremblin' hands/ Somebody tryin' just to stay alive/ Got promises to keep/ Over the ocean in America/ Far away they're fast asleep.” The song reflects Henley's politics, which can be heard on his last album, “Inside job”, and it pulls no punches. It's a long song, over ten minutes, easily the longest on the album. There are plenty of digs at the Bush administration: ”We're ridin' to Utopia/ Road map says we'll be arrivin' soon.../ Captains of the old order clinging to the reins/ Assuring us these aches inside are only growin' pains.” The song presents the two wars from the perspective of a young soldier who has found himself thousands of miles from home, and not sure why? ”Back home I was so certain/ The path was always clear/ But now I have to wonder/ What am I doin' here?” The song features a truly epic guitar solo before it drops into what I guess would be the second movement.

Here, Henley sings of the “power corrupts” theme: ”We're on the road to Damascus/ The road to Mandalay/ Met the ghost of Caesar on the Appian Way/ He says it's hard to stop this bingein' / Once you get a taste/ But the road to empire/ Is a bloody stupid waste.” The song fades out on a dramatic outro, possibly symbolising the never-ending war on terror. This epic is followed by a truly beautiful instrumental called “I dreamed there was no war”, and then the paranoia-laden rocker “Somebody”, which really takes the tempo up a few gears.

Of all the ballads on the album, I could have done without “I love to watch a woman dance”, which is pure country schtick, but followed by a true Henley number, another political song, “Business as usual”, which definitely recalls the title track of “Inside job”, before the album comes to a close with two nice little tracks, “Centre of the universe”, a vocal harmony triumph, and “It's your world now”, which sounds like a father handing over the reins to his son, driven on a mariachi/Mexican melody, reniniscent of some of the Eagles' early work. You can just imagine the guys relaxing in some cantina south of the Rio Grande, tequilas in hand, toasting their success and passing on their experience to the next generation. If this is to be their swan song, they couldn't have chosen a better track to bring down the curtain on an illustrious career, and we thank them for the music.

There were always going to be the sceptics, those who would scoff and say this was nothing more than a load of old guys getting together to make some money off their fans (after all, the Eagles have had no less than four greatest hits compilations --- but then, that's the record labels, not the band), but a listen to “Long road out of Eden” proves that these lads cared about this project, put a lot of work, energy, thought and heart into it. It's a record that should, if there's any justice in the world, stand the test of time like their greatest classic, “Hotel California”, and prove that the Eagles are far from dead. At the very least, it's great value for money: nineteen tracks, and every one an original.

After they had released the record, Don Henley told CNN this was probably the last Eagles album they would ever make. On the strength of what they've come up with here, I really hope that's not the case. It has been a long road out of Eden --- twenty-eight years long --- but to my mind, the Eagles have finally reached the Promised Land.

TRACKLISTING

1. No more walks in the wood
2. How long
3. Busy being fabulous
4. What do I do with my heart
5. Guilty of the crime
6. I don't want to hear anymore
7. Waiting in the weeds
8. No more cloudy days
9. Fast company
10. Do something
11. You are not alone
12. Long road out of Eden
13. I dreamed there was no war
14. Somebody
15. Frail grasp on the big picture
16. Last good time in town
17. I love to watch a woman dance
18. Business as usual
19. Centre of the universe
20. It's your world now

Suggested further listening: “Hotel California”, “Desperado”, “One of these nights”, “The long run” and Don Henley's “The end of the innocence” and “Inside job”.

(Note: footage from this album proved exceedingly hard to come by. It was either crappy cover versions (WHY do people think we care about them playing songs on their guitars??) or restricted or even blocked content at the request of the copyright holder, so apologies for a) the dearth of clips and b) the quality of some. Believe me, this is the best there is out there!)

06-29-2011, 06:34 PM	#52 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,970	Long road out of Eden --- The Eagles --- 2007 (Eagles Recording Company) This being the first full studio album since 1979's “The long run”, which saw the Eagles break up --- ostensibly for good --- it was something of an event when announced. Discounting 1994's PR-driven “Hell freezes over”, which had after all only four new tracks on it, this was the first time anyone had heard from the legendary country rock band in 28 years, so it had better be good! It is. Six years in the making, this was not a record that was rushed out to capitalise on the success of the aforementioned “Hell freezes over” and its associated tours. This was a proper album, a real renaissance and rebirth for the Eagles, coming smack up to date for the 21st century, and it has a lot to say. It's a double album, and unlike many similar efforts by other bands, that doesn't mean it's one disc of original material and the other made up of live recordings, unreleased tracks and remixes. In other words, this ain't “Hell freezes over again”. Oh no. This is the real deal. It would be fallacy to say it's a perfect album; there are tracks on it I don't like, or more accurately, like less than others, but the good very much outweigh the bad, or at least the less good. The first disc kicks off with an unexpected treat, and in very low-key fashion. “No more walks in the woods” is truly an eco-ballad, using words from a poem by John Hollander to create an almost acapella song arranged for four voices, with a few guitar chords here and there. It really is a beautiful little piece, though very short (two minutes exactly), and certainly one of the standout tracks on the album. It's followed by a track that would be released as a single from the album, J.D. Souther's “How long”, which recalls the likes of “Take it easy” and “Already gone”, while “Busy being fabulous” is a swipe at career women who put their enjoyment above the needs of their family: ”You were just too busy being fabulous/ Too busy to think about us/ I don't know what you were thinking of/ Somehow you forgot about love.” There are a total of seven ballads on the album, and “What do I do with my heart” is the first of these. It's typical Eagles, and could sit just as comfortably on any Don Henley or indeed Glenn Frey solo album. It's a nice ballad, but nothing special. It's not really till “Waiting in the weeds” comes along that we get anything really spectacular. It's again a ballad, but much longer than usual, almost eight minutes long, with a lovely piano outro and some great lyrics: ”I imagine sunlight in your hair/ You're at the county fair/ You're holding hands and laughing/ And now the ferris wheel is stopped/ You're swingin' at the top/ Suspended there with him / And he's the darling of the chic/ Flavour of the week is melting/ Down your pretty summer dress/ Baby, what a mess you're making!” Taken at face value it's a pretty creepy song, the tale of a guy who can't accept that his girl has moved on, and is, in effect, stalking her. Despite that, it's a great great song, and one of my favourites on the album. Some great guitar and piano work combine to make a truly lovely melody, with some excellent vocal harmonies at the end. Following this is “No more cloudy days”, a Glenn Frey-penned tune and very much his sort of song: reminds me of “Part of me, part of you”. A sort of mid-paced ballad, with some really nice sax at the end, it complements the previous track very well. The guys try updating “Life in the fast lane” for the 2000's, but “Fast company” doesn't really work for me. I much prefer the two closers, “Do something”, which is a real call to action within a kind of ballad structure: ”There's no time for saving grace/ Don't just stand there/ Taking up space/” Perhaps some people might balk at such advice from a group of guys who have enough money to completely change the world, if they wanted, but the sentiment is nice I think, in a time when everyone seems to be doing their best to cover themselves and rip people off. Closer “You are not alone” is a gentle little guitar ballad, again with nice sentiments. And so disc one comes to a close. Have we heard all the good songs? Have they kept the dross for disc two? Not a chance. Opening with the title track, disc two introduces us to Arabic chants, eastern rhythms set against the backdrop of a desert wind, and as it gets going, a powerful, politically-charged song protesting the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The opening lines set the mission statement: ”Moon shinin' down through the palms/ Shadows movin' on the sand/ Somebody whispering the 23rd psalm/ Dusty rifle in his tremblin' hands/ Somebody tryin' just to stay alive/ Got promises to keep/ Over the ocean in America/ Far away they're fast asleep.” The song reflects Henley's politics, which can be heard on his last album, “Inside job”, and it pulls no punches. It's a long song, over ten minutes, easily the longest on the album. There are plenty of digs at the Bush administration: ”We're ridin' to Utopia/ Road map says we'll be arrivin' soon.../ Captains of the old order clinging to the reins/ Assuring us these aches inside are only growin' pains.” The song presents the two wars from the perspective of a young soldier who has found himself thousands of miles from home, and not sure why? ”Back home I was so certain/ The path was always clear/ But now I have to wonder/ What am I doin' here?” The song features a truly epic guitar solo before it drops into what I guess would be the second movement. Here, Henley sings of the “power corrupts” theme: ”We're on the road to Damascus/ The road to Mandalay/ Met the ghost of Caesar on the Appian Way/ He says it's hard to stop this bingein' / Once you get a taste/ But the road to empire/ Is a bloody stupid waste.” The song fades out on a dramatic outro, possibly symbolising the never-ending war on terror. This epic is followed by a truly beautiful instrumental called “I dreamed there was no war”, and then the paranoia-laden rocker “Somebody”, which really takes the tempo up a few gears. Of all the ballads on the album, I could have done without “I love to watch a woman dance”, which is pure country schtick, but followed by a true Henley number, another political song, “Business as usual”, which definitely recalls the title track of “Inside job”, before the album comes to a close with two nice little tracks, “Centre of the universe”, a vocal harmony triumph, and “It's your world now”, which sounds like a father handing over the reins to his son, driven on a mariachi/Mexican melody, reniniscent of some of the Eagles' early work. You can just imagine the guys relaxing in some cantina south of the Rio Grande, tequilas in hand, toasting their success and passing on their experience to the next generation. If this is to be their swan song, they couldn't have chosen a better track to bring down the curtain on an illustrious career, and we thank them for the music. There were always going to be the sceptics, those who would scoff and say this was nothing more than a load of old guys getting together to make some money off their fans (after all, the Eagles have had no less than four greatest hits compilations --- but then, that's the record labels, not the band), but a listen to “Long road out of Eden” proves that these lads cared about this project, put a lot of work, energy, thought and heart into it. It's a record that should, if there's any justice in the world, stand the test of time like their greatest classic, “Hotel California”, and prove that the Eagles are far from dead. At the very least, it's great value for money: nineteen tracks, and every one an original. After they had released the record, Don Henley told CNN this was probably the last Eagles album they would ever make. On the strength of what they've come up with here, I really hope that's not the case. It has been a long road out of Eden --- twenty-eight years long --- but to my mind, the Eagles have finally reached the Promised Land. TRACKLISTING 1. No more walks in the wood 2. How long 3. Busy being fabulous 4. What do I do with my heart 5. Guilty of the crime 6. I don't want to hear anymore 7. Waiting in the weeds 8. No more cloudy days 9. Fast company 10. Do something 11. You are not alone 12. Long road out of Eden 13. I dreamed there was no war 14. Somebody 15. Frail grasp on the big picture 16. Last good time in town 17. I love to watch a woman dance 18. Business as usual 19. Centre of the universe 20. It's your world now Suggested further listening: “Hotel California”, “Desperado”, “One of these nights”, “The long run” and Don Henley's “The end of the innocence” and “Inside job”. (Note: footage from this album proved exceedingly hard to come by. It was either crappy cover versions (WHY do people think we care about them playing songs on their guitars??) or restricted or even blocked content at the request of the copyright holder, so apologies for a) the dearth of clips and b) the quality of some. Believe me, this is the best there is out there!) __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018 Last edited by Trollheart; 10-12-2013 at 01:13 PM.