The Eagles put out some good albums before Hotel
California, and Hotel California was nearly a great record.
They followed Hotel California with the lethargic "The
Long Run" and this contractual fulfillment.

Four reasons to hate this album:

1) Dull as dust. No surprises, no significant changes to the
arrangements relative to the studio albums, no compelling
reason to listen to this.

2) The least live "live" album in history. A comparison of this
album with bootleg versions of the same shows demonstrates
just how overdub/rerecord crazy the Eagles went with this.
No warts, just airbrushed mediocrity.

3) Dull, unsurprising, uninteresting song selections, save
a modest Steve Young cover (good song, bland performance)

4) A rip off: This set runs less than 78 minutes and could
easily fit on one CD. Why is it on 2 CDs even after the
1999 remastering? Why, for the same reason that they are
still selling the chintzy short vinyl era greatest hits
album for full price: Money grab.

Skip this one.

dap

"Eagles Live" is my favorite live album. The songs have excellent edits between different years of performances. I have heard of the studio enhancing rumors too, and they are obvious in a few places. Great sound quality all around, and excellent performing! My only regret is the playlist. The Joe Walsh songs came out great but seem out of place for this collection. And why did they include the "Doolin-Dalton Reprise II?"(obviously a Bill Szymczyk studio creation) So many other classic tunes should have been substituted in place of LBG, ANL, and Doolin Dalton... Perhaps there were no pristine multitrack recordings fit enough to work into the collection. The total playing time is about 77 minutes-- so much more could have been inserted here. Hopefully someday the album will be remastered with extra tracks.

Love them or hate them, the Eagles have had a huge impact on rock music. To paraphrase Ringo Starr, there are biggies and there are monsters. These guys were monsters in terms of sales, airplay and impact.

Frequently accused of being misogynistic (yep, some of their stuff could be seen that way)Henley & Frey are still two of the most talented songwriting duos in music. Henley has one of the most distinctive and rich voices in rock music while Frey is an underrated singer who can easily hold his own with Henley.

So how are the performances? This album (it should be noted that this had a lot of overdubbing in the studio as the band members are perfectionists)is pretty good as far as live albums go. In many respects this is no different than listening to their studio albums although some of the energy of the raw performances leak through. While they weren't noted for their spontanity in concert (their performances were always rooted in recreating the sound of the albums, the band does bring a harder edge to these performances. Joe Walsh acts as band clown on his contributions and still manages to get in some mean guitar licks (with Felder & Frey). Back up drummer Joe Vitale does a great job of helping to fill out Henley's performance.

The sound on this remastered edition is exceptional. Producer Bill Szymczyk and remaster engineer Ted Jenson (although the previous edition sounded terrific as well)do an incredible job. It would have been nice to have bonus tracks (perhaps a couple of unreleased performances) and better notes in the CD booklet (it would have been interesting to hear the band's thoughts on this album twenty years later).

Despite these minor drawbacks, Szymczyk is to be commended for getting the ball rolling with WEA to get these classic albums remastered. Regardless of the shortcomings (and there aren't many) of this reissue, the songs are the most important part. They still retain their vigor and power despite radio overexposure after all these years.

I am writing again about Eagles Live in reference to the 1999 Ted Jensen remastered release. My original Eagles Live discs are played out by scratches, so last week I got the only available release-- the one remastered in 1999. I was pleased with the results of remixing, such as the whole first cd not fading out at all in between songs! Nonetheless, I found two bad places in the mix that are mastering defects. I asked people on alt.music.eagles to listen at certain points as well and they all heard the flaws. There is a blip at the end of "New Kid In Town," right around 4:54. Another bad glitch occurs right as Glenn starts talking before "Seven Bridges Road" on the second disc. How could these have been overlooked??? I was also disappointed to see that the album is split into two cds again. The entire album could have fit on one cd, lowering the cost of the album. The cd booklet and album covers are identical to the original 1989 release with the exception of including the month and date of remastering. These flaws are so nasty they need to do a recall or something! Don't let it hinder you from buying this album-- the performances are fantastic. And for a little piece of trivia, the tapes used for Eagles Live were shipped back and forth between Miami and L.A. studios because Glenn wanted to work on his parts away from the rest of the guys in FL with Bill Szymzyck. According to Bill Szymzyck, all of Henley's vocals are from the actual shows--no studio overdubs because of drum mic leakage. Most of the overdubbing involved 3 part harmonies and guitar parts. Hopefully the mastering flaws will be fixed so you can enjoy this album in its entirety...

I recently purchased this recording without any preconceived ideas....I just saw it and bought it. I thought it was quite good; the standout are "Hotel California", "I Can't Tell You Why", "Seven Bridges", "Desperado", and of course "Life In The Fast Lane". The whole set is quite good - for a live set. I'm not sure what all the complaints regarding the remastering are all about. A live album is going to have flaws that's why they are "touched up" for listener appeal; there's no such thing as a flawless concert.

This set is, for me, a good introduction to the Eagles music. I found the two songs by presidential candidate Joe Walsh a pleasent surprise. Over all, this would make a good addition to anyones cd library.