Okay, folks, here’s a first-blush reflection on the Eagles Long Road Out of Eden release. By way of introduction, this is a two CD set that’s selling for $11.88 exclusively at Walmart. After years of wrangling they’ve ditched their record company. The CD set is packaged in a bi-fold cardboard cover very reminiscent of an album cover, with an enclosed booklet. Though not touted as carbon neutral, it is built from “Mixed Sources” high-percentage recycled materials. The packaging and photography is impeccable.
The backup band is largely made up of the usual suspects from the Farewell I and Hell Freezes Over DVD sets – a really tight bunch. Producer credit is given to the Eagles with touring band members Steuart Smith, Richard Davis, and Scott Crago as well as Bill Szymczyk. The band and Szymczyk produced a full album back around 2001 but failed to release it. Perhaps some of these cuts are from that vintage. The mix was by Elliot Scheiner, who mixed the above-mentioned two DVDs and has become the premier mixer in this genre. The mixes are immaculate. There is lots of meat for the subwoofers in the kick drum and bass sounds as well as crisp highs as fodder for the tweeters. As has become traditional with Eagles products, this is probably destined to become a system check CD for many people because of its clean, crisp recording style. There’s plenty of space between the various components, but each song gels well into a tight groove that simply works. As usual, the performances and arrangements are spot-on tight, with few wasted notes. I’ve got to say that if you like the Eagles, you are definitely getting the value for your pennies in this set.
The two CDs are like two different worlds. Disk one represents the Southern California country-rock and ‘70s anti-disco, anti-punk, smooth-pop sensibility. If a reviewer calls the whole album that, he clearly hasn’t made it to disk two, where the artsy side of the Eagles re-emerges. There you have the protest songs and more serious side of each of the Eagles. There they stretch out and try a few new things. Let’s look at the songs one at a time:
Disk 1
1. No More Walks in the Wood – As song about over-forestation and over-development. Features the Eagles’ lush multi-part harmonies and one acoustic guitar. Perhaps the lyrics were a bit too literal and not open ended enough?
2. How Long – Practically irresistible and inarguable. A “perfect” Take It Easy-esque country-rock statement. You can hear it everywhere about right now.
3. Busy Being Fabulous - A Henley anti-Hollywood ballad. Smooth, self-contained, excellent production.
4. What Do I Do with My Heart - A Frey piano ballad with a strangely ‘70s-‘80s anti-disco musical sensibility and a “You are leaving me” theme.
5. Guilty of the Crime - Here’s your Walsh party animal rocker with slide. Pretty much mindless party pop.
6. I Don’t Want to Hear Any More – Paul Carrack-penned Timmy Schmidt ballad with an “It’s Over But We’re Okay” theme. Lush, lush vocal treatment and interesting lead sound.
7. Waiting in the Weeds – A clean acoustic Henley ballad. There is deeper, more mature lyical thing going here where he kind of compares love and his career as a musician.
8. No More Cloudy Days – This Frey ballad premiered on Farewell I. He wrote it for his daughter after she experienced a relationship breakup. It is driven by an interesting bass and kick sound.
9. Fast Company – Here’s an uptown, Motown-esque song in protest of the Hollywood culture.
10. Do Something – An acoustic with pedal steel Timmy Schmidt motivational piece.
11. You Are Not Alone – Classy, reassuring ballad. This could serve as a great album closer.
So ends disk 1, over 45 minutes of music. They could have released this disk alone and it would have seemed complete.
Disk 2
1. Long Road Out of Eden – begins with a Middle Eastern flavor and moves into a war/culture protest song from the perspective of a returning soldier. An interesting attempt: Support the troops – write a war protest song. Clearly one of the artsiest fore’s on the album.
2. I Dreamed There Was No War – a dreamy wistful instrumental. Short but sweet.
3. Somebody – Frey attempts the classic “crow is following you” motif, resurrecting what they have jokingly referred to as their “satanic rhythm and blues country rock” period a la Witchy Woman.
4. Frail Grasp on the Big Picture – Here’s an interesting take on uptown swing and R&B with social commentary on our culture’s apparent short memory and un-thought-out lifestyle.
5. Last Good Time in Town – Walsh finally gets around to a serious piece about the virtues of the domestic, as opposed to party, life. The title refers to staying home. The style is reminiscent of his “But Seriously Folks” era and the interesting guitar solos evoke the “So What” era.
6. I Love to Watch a Woman Dance - An interesting folk/pop piece that soon shows its true colors as he makes it clear he loves to dance with his wife.
7. Business as Usual – An uptown rocker talking about commerce as god.
8. Center of the Universe – a soft Timmy tune where he makes the point that we are not (the song’s title)
9. It’s Your World Now – Surprise! It’s a unique mariachi-flavored closer from Fret offering his perspective on the world and our place in it to the next generation.
And here ends another complete disk with nearly forty-six minutes of music that might easily have stood on its own.
This is a very complete package with something from every era for every Eagles fan. Does it break lots of new ground? Mmm… Don’t think so. The Eagles were never all that ground-breaking – instead they excelled at consolidating successful trends into the most tasteful statements, something of the sina qua nons, for the genre’s they entered. Here they usually make their commentary points pretty well without forcing the listener to get down and roll too much in their point of view. They get serious, but rarely maudlin. There are some really cool guitar sounds here, but very few ground-breaking guitar statements. Yes, Felder is missed.
Because of Henley’s on-again-off-again relationship with the media, I’m betting they won’t get a lot of coverage for this work. You can buy it off Amazon, by the way, if Walmart is just too much of suburbia for you. By the way, I’m not sure there was ever a greater contrast between artistic statement and delivery method than their selling this album in Walmart.
Bob
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Originally Posted by Bob Womack
I'm no fan of the big record companies but c'mon...WalMart? Robert Johnson did better down at the crossroads.
We all have holes in our indvidual worldviews that are glaring. Being a public figure puts yours on display in bold marquee letters. I've never been under the misapprehension that the Eagles really were super-virtuous characters. NEVER. I've never taken their political, geopolitical, or environmental advice. To be honest, in the big picture, they differ from me like night and day. However, in the micro-sphere, they do, on occasion, make some good points. 
