Don Henley's The End of the Innocence capped off the '80s on a perfect note. With Bruce Hornsby's classy piano sounding like the last, gentle strains of an uneasy age, lead track "The End of the Innocence" features one of the best lyrics ever written on disillusionment...and hope in the face of disillusionment. Henley sounds like he was put on earth to make this majestic song come alive, his singing the best he's ever done, a high croon filled with longing and sadness.

And the rest of the album holds up: "The Heart of the Matter" is a quiet, extraordinary exploration of lost love, moving beyond words; "I Will Not Go Quietly" rips into hard-rock mode; "The Last Worthless Evening" is a brewing ballad with suppressed feelings of desire; and "New York Minute"'s ringing guitars make for a perfect accompaniment to Henley's mournful but hypnotic voice.

This album belongs on every list as one of the best of the 1980s.

Following the breakup of the Eagles, Don Henley would embark on what would slowly become a very successful solo career. In the 1980s, Henley would release three albums. His first effort was 1982's "I Can't Stand Still". This effort would produce a classic tune called "Dirty Laundry" in which Henley poked fun at the "pretty faces" doing the TV news. Two+ years later - in 1984, a more successful follow-up "Building the Perfect Beast" would produce three more singles "All She Wants To Do is Dance", "Sunset Grill", and "The Boys of Summer". "The Boys of Summer" was a mega-hit for Henley that was boosted by an award winning music video. Following "Building the Perfect Beast", Henley would take nearly 5 years to make his next effort. The 5 year effort made by Henley would not disappoint - his 1989 effort entitled "The End of the Innocence" would become his most successful solo effort to date. Each of Don Henley's solo albums would be more successful from both a commercial sales and criticial acclaim standpoint. "The End of the Innocence" marked the peak of Don Henley's solo career and broke him out of the mold of the Eagles and put him on his own two feet.

There are three factors that make "The End of the Innocence" a great album. First, from a songwriting standpoint - Henley and Company do some of his best work. Second, from a production standpoint. Danny Kortchmar was brought in as the a co-producer with Henley for 7 of the 10 songs. Kortchmar had collaborated with Henley on his two previous albums as a songwriter. Kortchmar continues to collaborate with Henley on several tunes, but now moves into the role as the main co-producer. Kortchmar's previous work with Henley makes him a natural fit as he is able to get the most out of Don Henley's talents. Finally, as with his previous studio albums - Henley brings in an all-star lineup of musicians - past, present, and future. This lineup of musicians help augment Henley's talents even more and make this such as great release. The lineup of musicians includes: Bruce Hornsby, Mike Campbell (from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers), Patty Smyth (Scandal), Axl Rose (Guns N Roses), Jeff Porcaro and David Paich (Toto). The lineup includes three woman who would become big stars in the 90s: Melissa Etheridge, Edie Brickell, and Sheryl Crow.

Bruce Hornsby is co-writer, producer (this is the one of non-Kortchmar produced song), and pianist of "The End of the Innocence". Hornsby's trademark piano playing combined with Henley's vocals make this a classic. The lyrics make a lot of use of metaphors. Although a much different sound than 1984's "The Boys of Summer", the song still has much of the retro-qualities of "Boys of Summer".

"How Bad Do You Want It" is a very underrated tune. It probably is one of the best songs of the album and is co-written by Henley, Kortchmar, and Stan Lynch. There is some great horn work and terrific drum work. Patty Smyth plays a key role with the background vocals that fold in perfectly when needed. Although not as strong a song as "How Bad Do You Want It", the third track "I Will Not Go Quietly" makes good use of background vocals as well. Another Henley and Kortchmar collaboration, this strong uses Axl Rose on background vocals and he goes perfectly with the hard rock edge of this song.

Despite Kortchmar's solid influence, the collection's best track "The Last Worthless Evening" wasn't a Kortchmar collaboration from a songwriting or production standpoint. Mike Campbell and John Corey (Corey and Stan Lynch wrote and produced this with Henley) provide some terrific guitar work. The acoustic sound makes this song special. In this song, Don sings this song to himself about a woman who has broken up with someone and Don feels he can fill the void in the woman's life. The best part of the song is the bridge in the middle of the song that goes "Time Time Ticking...". This song is a classic.

"New York Minute" was written in 1989 by Henley, Kortchmar, and Jai Winding. It is a truly great song that features Toto's Jeff Porcaro on drums and Toto's David Paich on piano. This song has a terrific haunting quality. What nobody would realize is how this song would almost become a soundtrack for the state of New York City following the World Trade Center attack. Lyrics such as "Harry Got Up....Went Down to the Station; And He Never Came Back" and "Lying here in darkness; I hear the Sirens Wail" are examples of this. Paich also contributes piano on "Little Tin God". "Little Tin God" deals with Evangelists and Healers. This best way to describe this song's sound is a folk-like quality applied with a harder Rock edge.

Edie Brickell and Melissa Etheridge contribute background vocals on "Gimme What You Got". Because of Kotchmar's guitar, this song has almost a John Fogerty sound to it - much like you hear on "Centerfield". Sheryl Crow contributes background vocals on "If Dirt Were Dollars". This song also has a Fogerty like quality. Both songs may have a Fogerty sound, but they also explore Fogerty-like topics of materialism and greed.

The collection wraps up with "The Heart of the Matter". This song almost seems like a perfect "wrap-up" like song. Mike Campbell plays guitar and keyboards and is a co-writer and producer with Henley on this track (also Kortchmar co-produces). Don sings about a lost love and he explores to see what went wrong by getting to "The Heart of the Matter". Campbell's work on guitar and keyboards will really be the foundation to this song.

The liner notes of this collection contain the lyrics to all of the songs. The production and songwriting credits are also included. The collection also does a nice job at listing the studio musicians. Overall, this is a solid effort by Don Henley - highly recommended.

Why do I say that? It's because it encapsulates the decade better than any other did both musically and lyrically. The 80s were, indeed, the end of the innocence for many, many of us. In my case I got married, had kids, got divorced and changed careers at least 4 or 5 times. The music fits every niche and cranny, from the metal edge of "I will not go quietly" to the satire of religion in "Little Tin God" and the failed materialism of "Gimme what you got." All summed up in the overture of the brilliant title cut and ending with the heartbreaking "Heart of the matter." To me there simply is no argument to make. This is the best album of the 80s.

Though Sunset Grill is the best Don Henley Song in my opinion, the title track is a darn close second. The piano riff and the great lyrics make it a classic. I like how he switches from acousitc guitar to organs and then electric guitar in his songs. This album contains his best collection of songs of his four solo albums and it is the best produced. It is easily one of the best albums of the eightites becuase of the way Henley encapsulizes the feeling of the late eightites. The withering economy and the realization "of the tired man we elected king" comes full circle. He has beautiful love songs that have a message and unlike his new album, every song is written well and is cohesive to the album as a unit. Henley's voice is his greatest asset and I hope he will revert back to the songwriting displayed here and forget the scholck he wrote for Inside Job.

Forty percent of this CD is really top-notch stuff. "The End of the Innocence," "The Last Worthless Evening," "New York Minute" and "The Heart of the Matter" are as good and poignant as pop rock music gets; no wonder they were released as singles. Don Henley is one heck of a lyricist, and he knows how to write a catchy tune. The title track leads off the album, piano laden, sentimental and beautiful. Like all the aforementioned songs, there's a sadness to the lyrics, in this case the loss of childhood and teenage innocence. "The Last Worthless Evening" is an easygoing Eagles-like ditty that, through its lyrics, perfectly captures the hardships of romance and remaining alone as one grows older. "New York Minute" is even more woeful. It begins with a starry-eyed string section and keyboards, which lead to Henley's grizzled voice singing about suicide, street violence and the precarious shortness of life. The somewhat haunting chorus of "New York Minute" is as beautifully harmonic as it gets, and ultimately, the song ends on a positive note, lyrically. Truly, it's one of the best songs Henley has ever been associated with, and that includes his work with The Eagles.

Henley is also defiant and angry in spots. "How Bad do You Want it?," despite a cheesy sax, overly loud drums, hymnallike background vocals and a dark lingering synth, possesses genuine spirit that is commendable. Meanwhile, it's priceless to hear the thin voice of Axl Rose performing backing vocals on the somewhat forced "I Will Not Go Quietly," a song in which the pseudo-sounding metal bite is less than its valiantly attempted bark.

Besides the gritty "If Dirt Were Dollars," the forced tunes leading up to the album's last track, "The Heart of the Matter," don't do a lot for me. But that's OK -- "Heart of the Matter" contains some of the best breakup lyrics ever written. Henley couldn't have written a better, more astute song, or chosen a more perfect tune to close out the CD.

"The End of the Innocence" may have a touch of radio-ready, late-1980s AOR gloss to it, but the songs are admittedly immediate and memorable. And, as mentioned, the four good songs on this album are better than just good; they're excellent.