Hell Freezes Over is a live album by the Eagles, released in 1994. It contains four new studio tracks and eleven tracks recorded live for an MTV special. The album went to #1 on the Billboard album chart upon its release where it stayed for two weeks. It is the band's second live album behind their live album in 1980. The Eagles had reformed after a fourteen-year-long break up. Their resumption tour would be given that title after the statement Don Henley once gave when asked when the band would get back together. The album proved to be as successful as the tour, selling over six million copies and releasing two Top 40 singles in "Get Over It" and "Love Will Keep Us Alive". The band's lineup consisted of the Long Run era: Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Joe Walsh, Don Felder, and Timothy B. Schmit. The tour would last from 1994-96 and became one of the most successful tours in music history. The album also features an acoustic version of "Hotel California". Hell Freezes Over was also released in video form on VHS, LaserDisc and DVD.
Background
The album name is in reference to a quote by Don Henley after the band's breakup in 1980; he commented that the band would play together again "when Hell freezes over." One of the most notable tracks is a new arrangement of "Hotel California" that features an extended acoustic guitar and percussion opening. At the beginning of the concert, Glenn Frey joked to the audience: "For the record, we never broke up; we just took a 14-year vacation."
The new song "Get Over It" became a modest hit, and another new song, "Love Will Keep Us Alive", reached #1 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart.
The DVD is one of the first music releases to feature a DTS format soundtrack in addition to a PCM stereo soundtrack. The DVD also featured the song "Seven Bridges Road" in DTS audio only. The DVD has since been re-released with an additional Dolby Digital soundtrack. The album has also been released as DTS CD in 1997.
"Seven Bridges Road" (Steve Young) - DTS - A remastered version of the recording featured on Eagles Live, with a clearer separation of the four vocal parts to exploit the full potential of a 5.1 speaker set-up: Timothy B. Schmit is on the front-left, Glenn Frey on the front-right, Don Henley on the rear-left and Joe Walsh on the rear-right. Frey, as the singer of the song's main melody, is also featured on the front-center channel.