Hotel California

fab cd. My old one had vanished form my collection. so I replaced it

Order now fulfilled. Great quality. Great cd.....I do though now days skip one of the song...Ha Ha!

This is without a doubt the biggest album of the Eagles career; and if anybody has actually and does continue too listen to the whole album it is not difficult to hear why!! Stand out tracks are there for sure; the title track - well, that really goes without saying, just listen to it and you'll understand. Then we have "Life In The Fast Lane" , "Wasted Time" & "New Kid In Town". They were the hit singles; so most everybody knows them. That is almost half the album too - we only have nine tracks in total and one of them is an instrumental reprise of little more than a minute in length!It is without further doubt the memorable & classic album it has come to be and truly deserves to be remembered and appreciated as.You have great melodies accompanied by the guys amazing harmonies. You get to hear lead by more than one of the guys too; though admittedly the main front man here is of course Don Henley; - but you also get the now late Glen Frey on "New Kid In Town", Joe Walsh does "Pretty Maids All In A Row", he does this rather good live too - check out "Hell Freezes Over" DVD. The we have "Try And Love Again" by Randy Meisner. For those who don't know Meisner was with the Eagles 1971-77. All I can really finish by saying is; if you want to hear, certainly one of the best albums ever recorded then here it is!!! So, what are you waiting for; an invitation!?!

Have owned a vinyl copy of this album since it was released. I also have a remastered CD version. Both sound good, and the quality of the music has stood the test of time very well.But I decided that a version on SACD, with both stereo and surround sound layers, was impossible to resist.And it does not disappoint.NOTE you need an SACD-capable disc player to get the benefit of buying this. If you don't have such a machine, save yourslef some money and just buy the regular CD.The original album was well recorded, which is a good start point for the DSD encoding of this disc. So what you get is the original album, in excellent quality sound. Have not listened to the standard CD stereo layer, as I know already what that is like.Instead I have listened to the stereo and surround SACD layers. Verdict? As good as I'd hoped it would be! And no addtional tracks - demo versions that they discarded because they were rubbish or any other such - just the original nine songs.A surprise extra was that inside the Japanese outer wrapping was an additional insert within the standard case insert. This contains the lyrics of all nine songs in English and Japanese. The standard insert has the lyrics of only the title track.

Just what you would expect from the Eagles, excellent

I have an admission to make. I like this album.I'm aware that this will leave me open to accusations of fitting into a white middle-aged middle class stereotype. Surely these are the only people who would happily admit such a thing. I can probably sing along to all the songs and I look forward to listening to it.The album is definitely of it's time and limited in its appeal, especially to younger listeners but I think it deserves its place as a "Classic" 70's album.The back sleeve describes the songs as editorials on the "singular state of mind called Southern California". With such pompous descriptions it's no wonder that many people think the album is overrated. The Eagles undoubtedly took themselves and this album very seriously but the music is excellent and I think this manages to overshadow any high falutin statements that the band intended to make.To go through the songs one by one-- Hotel California - Full of tortured metaphors this song sums up the theory behind the album as a whole i.e. California may look great but scratch the surface and there are some pretty unhappy people there. The music is very catchy though and it and some of the lyrics will stay in your head for a long time after hearing it.- New Kid in Town - one of the weaker songs. Possibly a description of the fleeting nature of fame. Possibly as experienced by band members, who knows- Life in the Fast Lane - an in your face description of how the beautiful people live. I don't think any of the Eagles lived a monastic existence at the time so I hope they were being ironic as they pass comment on a doomed high living couple- Wasted Time - one of my favourite songs on the album. A sad, sympathetic song about a singleton on her own again and scared that she'll never find "the one". I suppose we've all been there.- Wasted Time (Reprise) - Instrumental. Perhaps added to bring the first side of the album to a mellow close.- Victim of Love - About the cut and thrust of the 70's dating scene. Wonders what people are really looking for beneath all the glitz- Pretty Maids all in a row - Written by Walsh and Vitale. A meeting with an old friend prompts the writer to wonder how he has got to where he is in life and where the time has gone.- Try and Love Again - Again a song about lost love though we are left with the impression that Meisner will battle on and somehow find a young lady with a shoulder to cry on!- The Last Resort - At over seven minutes long this really is an editorial. On over development in California no less! I doubt Don Henley was living in a cardboard box at the time so you might say that people in glasshouses etc, etc. Yet again the music is very good so I won't criticise too much.So I certainly like this album and would recommend it, though perhaps only to people of a similar vintage to myself!

The purchase was bought as a birthday present for a friend. He is delighted.