“Oh my God, you can’t believe/It’s happening again,” he sings, suggesting that she’s been down this lonely road too often before. Henley and Frey pepper the lyrics with couplets that balance West Coast wisdom with heartfelt empathy: Henley’s performance brims with emotion, from resigned low notes to anguished highs, as he labors to get through to a girl trying to make peace with both the unfulfilled expectations of her youth and the realization that “autumn leaves” are suddenly surrounding her. Don’s singing abilities stretched so many of our boundaries. You’re not going to find that track on a Crosby, Stills & Nash record or Beach Boys record. We did a big Philly-type production with strings - definitely not country-rock. He could stand out there all alone and just wail. I sent for some sheet music so I could learn some of those songs, and I started creating my own musical ideas with that Philly influence. As Frey wrote in the liner notes to The Very Best Of The Eagles, “I loved all the records coming out of Philadelphia at that time.

Perhaps the most left-field departure of them all was “Wasted Time,” a song where co-writers Glenn Frey and Don Henley dared to display their blue-eyed soul. The album found room for the sinewy mid-tempo groove of the title track, the crunching rock of “Victim Of Love” and “Life In The Fast Lane,” and the epic sweep of “The Last Resort.” But the addition of Joe Walsh on guitar allowed the band to spread its wings, so to speak, on Hotel California. Early hits like “Take It Easy,” “Tequila Sunrise” and “The Best Of My Love” certainly fit the bill.

Up to that point in their career, it would have been fair to lump the band within the genre of country-tinged soft rock. In addition to the obvious fact that it’s just a top-notch collection of songs, one reason for its preeminence in the band’s catalog is that it showcased their versatility. Critics, fans, and the band themselves are in general agreement that 1976’s Hotel California represents the peak of The Eagles’ illustrious career.

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