Live (1980)
Disc One
1. Hotel California
2. Heartache Tonight
3. I Can't Tell You Why
4. The Long Run
5. New Kid in Town
6. Life's Been Good
Disc Two
1. Seven Bridges Road
2. Wasted Time
3. Take it to the Limit
4. Doolin Dalton (Reprise II)
5. Desperado
6. Saturday Night
7. All Night Long
8. Life in the Fast Lane
9. Take it to the Limit
 
It was a bit surprising that, as well
as being a consistent multi-platinum selling group that turned
everything to gold (platinum, really) that they touched, that these guys were also an
incredible live band. I say "a bit surprising" because when
looking/listening at a band like The Eagles, they don't really seem to
fit the description of a stellar live group. They never had the energy and
mobility of a Springsteen, nor did they have a theatrical flair like a
band such as Kiss. They were simply five laid back guys in jeans,
standing mostly still and giving each song everything they had. And
they had an awful lot. It was easy to see that these guys took their
music very seriously, and tried as hard as they could to replicate their
songs as true to the original as they could, while still retaining a
certain amount of originality necessary for a great show.
It was then a bit of disappointment with this, their first ever, live
release, simply because it really didn't show anything that made these
guys or their performances so magical. It was pretty well known at the
time of this release, that the guys were officially "over". So this
release was probably originated to keep the lawyers happy. The songs
sound good - almost too good. Many of the songs sound as though
they were heavily overdubbed and the aura makes you feel as though the
guys were just going through the motions. Since they toured with a
string section on their previous tour (supporting Hotel California), they feature a heavy
amount of material on this album from that tour, and where it sounds
o.k., the string sections just sound too perfect, and one can't
really imagine it sounding this good back in 1976.
Even at the length of a double album, there's a lot of great songs
missing here. The only sin in the song selection is including a couple
of Joe Walsh solo songs. O.K., so Walsh is an Eagle, but, at the very
least, have him sing one or two of his Eagle songs. Beggars have to be
choosers. So there are a lot of hits here, but there are occasional
nice surprises, such as Saturday Night from Desperado and Wasted Time from Hotel California, the rest is pretty
much as one might expect, although they tend to favor the latter part of
the career. The one "new" song (although
they had performed it for a couple of tours) is the Steve Young written
Seven Bridges Road which shows off the five part harmony quite
well and actually was a very minor hit that was released as a single to support the
album.
So early in their career, this was the only way you could know, or
remember, what this band sounded like live. While adequate, you have to
agree it was a bit bland.
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