This is a very in-demand album today.

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Just before 'Hotel California' was released (1976), the Eagles were a solidly established, premier Country/Folk band with great sales and hit tunes.   With 'Hotel California,' we saw a new side of the Eagles.  The solos were taut, the harmonies were tighter, and the lyrics were soaked in frisson and both evocative and effectively sage in describing a cultural shift in America.   Songwriting credits go to Don Felder (melodies), Don Henley, and Glenn Frey (lyrics).  Joe Walsh "wrote" the stunning dual-guitar descending arpeggio that ends the song but did not get writing credits despite the harmonics of Walsh and Felder's guitars.  The album is likely the peak of The Eagles’ illustrious career.  

 

Up to that point, it might have been fair to lump the band into the genre of country-tinged soft rock.  Early hits like 'Take It Easy,' 'Tequila Sunrise,' and 'The Best Of My Love,' certainly fit the bill.   But the addition of Joe Walsh on guitar allowed the band to spread its wings, on Hotel California.  The album found room for the sinewy mid-tempo groove of the title track, the crunching rock of “Victim Of Love” and “Life In The Fast Lane,” and the epic sweep of “The Last Resort.”

 

Life was getting faster, more aggressive, and more self-oriented.  The album felt deeply cinematic and felt far less country than straight-ahead Rock 'N Roll, or Mexican Reggae, depending on where you stand. 

 

'Life In The Fast Lane,' sparked conversations about the excess in this country,  hedonism, narcissism, and 'Is this what we've become?'  'Wasted Time,' an absolutely brilliant tune where co-writers Glenn Frey and Don Henley dared to wax empathic and sing about the dance men and women play out in their early twenties and find themselves stunned by being alone in their early thirties.

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This album was acquired from a collector/seller I've known since the early eighties (in fact I created his first website for him), and he has never let me down.  This was a purchase of general rock albums and 45s.  At the time I was really not a frantic Eagles fan and this LP was part of a negotiated bundle price.   It has been in storage (hence unframed) up until just months ago when I began to clean house of all I had in storage and a good deal of what's been hanging on my walls for decades.   The Eagles are now in a small collection of bands who will be remembered with time, a super band if you will, with Don Henley, in my opinion, as a singer/songwriter who might fall in with the likes of Paul Simon, Paul McCartney (solo career), not quite with Dylan or Lennon, but vastly underrated.   This album, signed by the band, typically brings a higher price than individual Eagle albums. A Google search should bear that out. 

 

The LP cardboard is in Very Good shape (VG+).  The corners aren't "nubbed,"  there are no scratches or tears,  the spine is properly squared and legible,  and because the LP was stored and packed vertically, there is no disc ring apparent.  The Vinyl is clean.  Aside from the usual SC&P, it tracks without skipping with clean sound.

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Certain bands and certain LPs perform like blue-chip stock; their value increases annually.  This LP falls into that category.  I bought a Front Signed 'Beatles For Sale,' in 1994 for $4,000.00.  I sold it in 2004 for $21,000.00. 

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I DO NOT offer REFUNDS or RETURNS.  My goal is to clean my house of most of the aggregate collection.  A seller always deals with taking a very hot item back but not in the condition it was sent out in.  So I'm drawing boundaries.  You want to do whatever research you can and are motivated to do before any purchase (it's why I offered the contract for comparison).  If you feel uncomfortable with this sale dynamic, I understand.  I've never cared for the fancy letterhead and parchment LOAs.  Holograms and all sorts of unnecessary stuff.  I offer a simple LOA.  The prize is what you've purchased.  In the case of Frank Caiazzo, the LOA, and the item are both prizes.

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$2,750.00