became the biggest-selling recording
artists in America with the release of
Eagles: Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975.
Marketed in a classic cover, the album
went straight to No. 1 in the US and No.
2 in the UK. It became the first RIAA
certified platinum album, selling over five
million units in 1976 alone.
Work on the band’s fifth album, Hotel
California, was started in the summer
of 1975, and the band finally entered
Criteria Studios in Miami at the tail end
of March 1976. Recording, however,
was fractured, to say the least, and it
soon became clear that completing this
masterwork was going to take a very long
time. Producer Szymczyk has looked back
on that time stating, ‘Yeah, it did take a
long time. But I have always considered
that we went from the “B” list to the
“A” list with One of These Nights – that
was when people began to think, “Oh,
these guys are for real, they’re going to be
around for a while”, and after we’d taken
six months to do One of These Nights,
then we took about nine months to a year
to make Hotel California, and that was
with Walsh. I think the expectancy was
also exaggerated by the fact that Joe had
joined the band – that brought all his
fans, who all of a sudden became Eagles
fans, and some of them probably weren’t
even quite sure who the Eagles were, and
thought that the Eagles was Joe’s new
band. Even to this day [1980], when they
play Cleveland, you might as well bill it
as Joe Walsh & the Eagles, because in
Cleveland, his home town, he’s still bigger
than the Eagles.’
The band were spending their time
cramming in what studio days they
could in Miami, between flights back
and forth to their touring destinations,
and this chaotic schedule contributed
heavily to the delays in the album’s
recording. Despite the scheduling
conflicts, studio life was reasonably
easy with the new boy, Walsh, as he
had already worked extensively with
Bill Szymczyk on his past solo projects.
Unfortunately, outside the studio they
were living a life full of alcohol, drugs
and women, the cracks were starting to
show behind the scenes.
By November 1976, the new album
had been completed and packed in a
highly distinctive gatefold sleeve. Hotel
California was released to the public
in December 1976, and clocked over a
million copies in the US on pre-release
alone. The album flew up to No. 1 in
the US charts, and remained there for
107 weeks straight. In the UK Hotel
California peaked at No. 2, but continued
to sell around the world in enormous
numbers, exceeding sixteen timesplatinum in reasonably short order. This
was the pinnacle of the band’s career as
far as recorded material went, and has
continued to define their legacy despite
an illustrious subsequent career. Iconic
to this day, Hotel California will always
be remembered as one of the Eagles, and
rock music’s greatest moments.This article is an extract from You Can Never
Leave, the Eagles Special Edition of Music
Legends. Available now at issuu.com.Left to right: Joe Walsh, Randy Meisner and Don Henley
performing live in Rotterdam, Netherlands on 11 May 1977.DO YOU WANT SOME MORE...?
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