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Hotel California (album)

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This article is about an album by the Eagles. For its title track, see Hotel California (song). For the film, see Hotel California (film). For the Ugly Kid Joe album, see Motel California.
Untitled
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic link
Robert ChristgauB[2]
Rolling Stone 37) Hotel California The Eagles RS 233(favorable)
Sputnik Music link

Hotel California is the fifth studio album released by the American rock band the Eagles, in late 1976. It is the first Eagles album without founding member Bernie Leadon and the first album with Joe Walsh. It is also the last album featuring original bass player and singer Randy Meisner. The album became the band's highest selling studio album with over 16 million copies sold in the U.S. alone. The album topped the charts and won the band two Grammy awards for “Hotel California” and “New Kid in Town”. The album was nominated for album of the year but lost to Fleetwood Mac's Rumours.

The album yielded three Top 20 singles, “New Kid in Town”, “Hotel California”, and “Life In The Fast Lane”. “New Kid in Town” and “Hotel California” both topped the Billboard Hot 100, and “Life In The Fast Lane” reached #11 on the charts. The album was ranked #37 on Rolling Stone's list of the “500 Greatest Albums Of All Time”. The album further established the group as the most successful American band of the decade, making the Eagles household names. The song “Hotel California” is considered by many to be one of the greatest rock songs of all time, it was ranked #49 on Rolling Stone's list of the “500 Greatest Songs Of All Time”. The guitar duet at the end of the song was performed by Don Felder and Joe Walsh. The album also features “Wasted Time”, “Victim Of Love”, and “The Last Resort”.

History

Hotel California was the Eagles’ fifth album of original material and became a critical success and a major commercial hit; since its release in late 1976, it has sold over 16 million copies in the U.S. alone. The album was at #1 for eight weeks in early 1977 (non-consecutively), and included two tracks which became #1 hits as singles on the Billboard Hot 100: “New Kid in Town”, on February 26, 1977, and “Hotel California” on May 7, 1977.

In 2001 the TV network VH1 named Hotel California #38 on 100 Greatest Albums of all time. Hotel California was ranked 13th in a 2005 survey held by British television's Channel 4 to determine the 100 greatest albums of all time. In 2003, the album was ranked number 37 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.[3]

Following its original release on standard LP, cassette and 8-track cartridge formats, the album was slated for Quadraphonic release in early 1977; this idea was ultimately dropped following the demise of the Quadraphonic format. However, in 2001, that is, 25 years later, the album was released in a Multichannel 5.1 DVD-Audio disc. On August 17, 2011, the album was also released on a hybrid SACD in Japan in The Warner Premium Sound series, containing both a stereo and a 5.1 mix.[4]

Members of the Eagles have described the album as a metaphor for the perceived decline of America into materialism and decadence. In an interview with Dutch magazine ZigZag shortly before the album's release, Don Henley said:

This is a concept album, there’s no way to hide it, but it’s not set in the old West, the cowboy thing, you know. It’s more urban this time (…) It’s our bicentennial year, you know, the country is 200 years old, so we figured since we are the Eagles and the Eagle is our national symbol, that we were obliged to make some kind of a little bicentennial statement using California as a microcosm of the whole United States, or the whole world, if you will, and to try to wake people up and say ‘We’ve been okay so far, for 200 years, but we’re gonna have to change if we’re gonna continue to be around.’

The album’s final track, the epic “The Last Resort”, was about the demise of society. Glenn Frey on the Hotel California episode of In the Studio with Redbeard explained about the track:

It was the first time that Don took it upon himself to write an epic story and we were already starting to worry about the environment… we’re constantly screwing up paradise and that was the point of the song and that at some point there is going to be no more new frontiers. I mean we’re putting junk, er, garbage into space now.

Album cover

The cover image is of the Beverly Hills Hotel. It was photographed by David Alexander with design and art direction by Kosh.[5] The rear album cover was shot at the Lido in Hollywood.

Track listing

Side one
  1. "Hotel California" (Don Felder, Don Henley, Glenn Frey) – 6:30
    • Lead vocal by Don Henley, percussion by Don Henley, guitar solos by Don Felder and Joe Walsh
  2. "Music" (John Miles, Henley, Frey) - 5:53
    • Lead vocal and piano by John Miles, lead guitar by Joe Walsh, conducted performed by BBC Symphony Orchestra
  3. "New Kid in Town" (J.D. Souther, Henley, Frey) – 5:03
  4. "Life in the Fast Lane" (Joe Walsh, Henley, Frey) – 4:46
    • Lead vocal by Don Henley, lead guitar by Joe Walsh, clavinet by Glenn Frey
  5. "Wasted Time" (Henley, Frey) – 4:55
    • Lead vocal by Don Henley, piano by Glenn Frey, organ by Joe Walsh, lead guitar by Don Felder
  6. "Wasted Time (Reprise)" (instrumental) (Henley, Frey, Jim Ed Norman) – 1:22
Side two
  1. "Victim of Love" (Felder, Souther, Henley, Frey) – 4:11
    • Lead vocal by Don Henley, first guitar solo by Don Felder, slide guitar by Joe Walsh
  2. "Pretty Maids All in a Row" (Gary Moore, Felder, Walsh, Joe Vitale) – 4:18
    • Lead vocal by Gary Moore, guitar solo by Don Felder, synthesizers by Glenn Frey and Joe Walsh
  3. "Try and Love Again" (Randy Meisner) – 5:10
    • Lead vocal by Randy Meisner, lead guitar by Glenn Frey, Gretsch guitar by Joe Walsh
  4. "The Last Resort" (Henley, Frey) – 7:28
    • Lead vocal by Don Henley, piano by Glenn Frey, synthesizers by Joe Walsh and Don Henley, pedal steel guitar by Don Felder
  5. "Music" (Reprise) (Miles, Henley, Frey) - 2:18
    • Lead vocal and piano by John Miles, lead guitar by Joe Walsh, conducted performed by BBC Symphony Orchestra

Album pressing

The vinyl record pressings had custom picture labels of a blue Hotel California logo with a yellow background. They also had text engraved in the carry-out groove on each side:

  1. “Is It 6 O'Clock Yet?"
  2. “V.O.L. Is Five-Piece Live” to indicate that the song “Victim of Love” was recorded live, with no overdubbing. Joe Walsh and Glenn Frey confirm this on the inner booklet of “The Very Best of The Eagles”.

Personnel

Production
  • Bill Szymczyk – producer
  • Allan Blazek, Bruce Hensal, Ed Mashal, Bill Szymczyk – engineers
  • Bill Szymczyk – mixing
  • Jim Ed Norman – string arrangements, conductor
  • Sid Sharp – concert master
  • Don Henley, John Kosh – art direction
  • John Kosh – design
  • David Alexander – photography
  • Kosh – artwork
  • Norman Seeff – poster design
  • Kevin Gray – CD preparation
  • Ted Jensen – mastering and remastering

Singles

  • “New Kid in Town”/ “Victim Of Love” - Asylum 45373; released December 7, 1976
  • “Hotel California”/ “Pretty Maids All In A Row” - Asylum 45386; released February 22, 1977
  • “Life in the Fast Lane”/“The Last Resort” - Asylum 45403; released May 3, 1977

Charts

Album

Year Chart Position
1977 Country Albums 10
1977 Billboard 200 1
1977 Australian Kent Music Report Albums Chart 1

Singles

Year Single Chart Position
1977 "New Kid in Town" Adult Contemporary 2
1977 "New Kid In Town" Country Singles 43
1977 "New Kid In Town" Pop Singles 1
1977 "Hotel California" Pop Singles 1
1977 "Life In The Fast Lane" Pop Singles 11

Certifications

Country Quantity Certification
Canada 1,000,000 Diamond[6]
France 1,213,300 Diamond[7]
Germany 500,000 Platinum[8]
United Kingdom 1,800,000 6× Platinum[9]
United States 16,000,000 16× Platinum[10]

Grammys

Awards
Year Winner Category
1978 "Hotel California" Record of the Year
1977 "New Kid in Town" Best Arrangement For Voices
Nominations
Year Nominee Category
1978 "Hotel California" Song of the Year
1978 Hotel California Album of the Year
1977 Bill Szymczyk Producer of the Year
Preceded by Billboard 200 number-one album
January 15–21, 1977
February 5–11, 1977
March 26 - April 1, 1977
April 16 - May 20, 1977 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Australian Kent Music Report number-one album
January 17 - April 10, 1977 		Succeeded by

See also

References

  1. ^ Scaruffi 2003, pg. 118, ", from the melancholy western vignettes of Desperado (1972) to the robust hard-rock of Hotel California (1976)."
  2. ^ Christgau, Robert. "Hotel California". Robert Christgau.
  3. ^ "News". Rolling Stone. 2011-12-23. Retrieved 2011-12-27.
  4. ^ Warner Premium Sound series website (in Japanese). Retrieved 2011-09-17.
  5. ^ Ochs, Micheael. 1000 Record Covers. Taschen. ISBN 3-8228-4085-8. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |origmonth=, |chapterurl=, |origdate=, |month=, and |coauthors= (help)
  6. ^ "CRIA: music certification". Cria.ca. 2008-05-01. Retrieved 2012-04-12.
  7. ^ "InfoDisc: Les Certifications: Officielles (albums)" (in French). InfoDisc. Syndicat National de l'Edition Phonographique. Retrieved November 6, 2011.
  8. ^ "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank ('Hotel California')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie.
  9. ^ "BPI Certified Awards Search". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved November 6, 2011.
  10. ^ "RIAA - Searchable Database: Hotel California". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved November 6, 2011.
Bibliography
  • Scaruffi, Piero (2003). A History of Rock Music:1951-2000. ¡Universe, Inc. ISBN 0-595-29565-7.
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