"Sweet Dreams: The Anthology" by ROY BUCHANAN - Albums Tracks from 1970 to 1978 on Polydor and Atlantic Records including Seven Previously Unreleased (September 1992 UK Universal/Polydor/Chronicles 2CD Compilation with Ted Jensen Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

 

"...Dual Soliloquy..."

This career 'Anthology' for the guitar virtuoso Roy Buchanan in Universal's 'Chronicles' Series of 2CD compilations unfortunately opens in the worst possible way. You have to wade through four genuine clunkers to get to the goods, but man when you do - you so get the slew of 5-star ratings.

 

This twofer maybe old now in 2023 (it's been reissued probably twice since 1992), but I've seen it online for about six quid or less, and that's a whole lot of dids for not a lot of quids. To the bent notes and floppy hats...

 

UK released 28 September 1992 - "Sweet Dreams: The Anthology" by ROY BUCHANAN on Universal/Polydor/Chronicles 517 086-2 (Barcode 731451708626) is a 26-Track 2CD 'Chronicles Anthology' of Remasters that plays out as follows:

 

CD1 (75:24 minutes):

1. Baltimore *

2. Black Autumn *

3. The Story Of Isaac *

4. There'll Always Be *

5. Sweet Dreams

6. Pete's Blues

7. The Messiah Will Come

8. Tribute To Elmore James

9. After Hours

10. Five String Blues

11. C.C. Ryder (Live) *

12. My Baby Says She's Gonna Leave Me

13. Please Don't Turn Me Away

14. Country Preacher

15. Wayfaring Pilgrim

Tracks 1 to 4 and 11 are PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED 

Tracks 5 to 7 are from his debut album "Roy Buchanan" released September 1972 in the UK on Polydor 2391 042 and September 1972 in the USA on Polydor PD 5033 

Tracks 8 to 10 are from "Second Album" released February 1973 in the UK on Polydor 2391 062 and February 1973 in the USA on Polydor PD 5046

Tracks 12 and 13 from the album "That's What I Am Here For" released February 1974 in the USA on Polydor PD 6020 and in the UK on Polydor 2391 114

Tracks 14 and 15 from the album "In The Beginning" released December 1974 in the USA on Polydor PD 6035, February 1975 in the UK as "Rescue Me" on Polydor 2391 152.

CD2 (77:16 minutes):

1. Down By The River (Live) *

2. I'm A Ram (Live)

3. I'm Evil (Live)

4. Good God Have Mercy

5. If Six Were Nine

6. Green Onions

7. Soul Dressing (Live In Japan)

8. Hey Joe (Live In Japan)

9. Fly...Night Bird 

10. Turn To Stone 

11. Dual Soliloquy * 

Tracks 1 and 11 are PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED *

Tracks 2 and 3 from the album "Live Stock" released August 1975 in the USA on Polydor PD 6048 (no UK issue) - September 1975 in Germany on Polydor 2391 192

Tracks 4 and 5 from the album "A Street Called Straight" released October 1976 in the UK on Polydor 2391 233 and May 1976 in the USA on Atlantic SD 18170

Track 6 from the album "Loading Zone" released July 1977 in the UK on Polydor 2391 295 and June 1977 in the USA on Atlantic Records SD 18219

Tracks 7 and 8 from the single-album "Live In Japan" released May 1978 in JAPAN on Polydor Records MPF1105

Tracks 9 and 10 are from the album "You're Not Alone" released May 1978 in the USA (no UK issue) on Atlantic Records SD 19170

The 20-page booklet features a history of the mercurial/tragic guitar player from Arkansas and his trademark Telecaster surgically woven into his hips. Penned in March 1992, longtime music chronicler COLIN ESCOTT does a great job of explaining the sometimes torturous journey Buchanan made - a genius on the axe but with no distinctive vocals that stood out - he was forever trying to find an out front vehicle that maybe only Billy Price got to on the "That's What I Am Here For" album in 1974. When I worked at Reckless Records in both Islington and Berwick Street in Soho, Buchanan albums would come and go without too many people noticing or bluntly caring. While he could play to make the hairs on the back on your neck stand up and do a polka - he could seem to get it together on a cohesive LP. Still the TED JENSEN Remasters are fabulous and I've never heard that rare "Live In Japan" album, so that's a treat. To the music...

We are given four songs from his unreleased first album "The Prophet" touted for release sometime in 1971 on Polydor Records (recordings took place in October 1969, January, July and November 1970 and February 1971). Charlie Daniels and his group act as the backing band (Bob Wilson on keyboards with Tim Drummond on Bass) - provided three of the tunes - "Baltimore", "Black Autumn" and "There'll Always Be" - whilst number four was a Leonard Cohen cover version of "The Story Of Isaac". But laughably for an album supposedly showcasing Buchanan's extraordinary Jeff Beck-like chops on the axe, you hear little of it and Daniels has a terrible voice and the material is plodding at best. 

It isn't until Tracks 5 and 6 from his self-titled debut album "Roy Buchanan" (September 1972) that you start to instantly hear the pyrotechnics he had on a guitar that everyone talked about. The Don Gibson song "Sweet Dreams" that titles the compilation is very cool (he learned it from Tommy McLain's version and not the more famous Gibson or Paty Cline hits), but the slow Blues Rock of "Pete's Blue" (his own composition) is mind-blowing for 1972. Things boogie-up nicely for "Second Album" (February 1973) when he gives us the R&B guitar-and-piano jaunt of "Tribute To Elmore James". Two more cuts surface from that second studio album - a firy Blues in "After Hours" and more of the same in "Five String Blues" - both six minutes plus pieces showing why RB was described in the press as the 'The Best Unknown Guitarist In The World'. It proved a popular album (more coherent than the debut) and shifted units in the USA especially - hitting No. 86 on the Billboard Rock LP charts and enjoying a stay of 13 weeks (his debut had hit No. 107 in September 1972). 

The old 50ts R&B dancer "C.C. Ryder" is next and becomes the fifth Previously Unreleased track. Recorded May 1973 live at The Marquee Club in London - his other four musicians do well to keep up with his 6:49 minutes of slow shuffle to fast building of the song (his playing is fantastic throughout). As a newbee, it's a total find, coming on like John Mayall's Seventies Band on fire and does much to wash the taste of those first four out of your Anthology mouth (one reviewer who had heard the test pressing of the LP described it as 's' two letters and a 't' sending Polydor Records in a new recordings needed panic. "My Baby Says She's Gonna Leave Me" features Billy Price on Lead Vocals while RB goes ape on the pinging guitar notes throughout. UK released February 1974, at least Price gave the whole "That's What I Am Here For" album a Soulful-Rock vibe which moved RB's sound on from just Blues or Rock ("Please Don't Turn Me Away" is the same). "Country Preacher" is a piano-tinkering guitar-lilting short one that comes as a pleasant interlude after all the flash playing that's preceded it. But it is whomped by the fantastic Soulful slow Blues of "Wayfaring Pilgrim" - his playing just so damn good whilst guest Neil Larsen gives us a fabulous piano solo. Both "Country Preacher" and "Wayfaring Pilgrim" were on the February 1975 UK album "Rescue Me" which was called "In The Beginning" in the USA and issued December 1974 there.  

Over on CD2 we get five great live tracks, two from the rarely seen Japan-only LP of 1978, two others from the US album "Live Stock" that didn't get a UK release and the first - a Previously Unreleased Slow Blues of 9:17 minutes duration - Buchanan sounding a lot like Stevie Ray Vaughan goofing off on a mellow Peter Green vibe as he covers Neil Young's "Down By The River". Once again, it's slow boil is bolstered by Billy Price on Vocals with Malcolm Lukens on Keyboards and is a very cool find. Things get funky with a cover of Al Green's "I'm A Ram" recorded the same night as the Previously Unreleased track - Buchanan letting rip - brilliant playing and feel from the band. Acoustic guitar leads in the soft Southern States good moonshine vibe of "Good God Have Mercy" - Buchanan taking Lead Vocals. He then lays into Hendrix's "If Six Were Nine" giving it a Sly Stone/Prince funk-up, Lukens providing the low-rider keyboards that sound so War. The "Loading Zone" studio LP of 1977 saw him give us an 8:09 instrumental version of "Green Onions" - the famous Stax hit for Booker T & The MG's, whilst the Japanese live album throws up Booker T hit No. 2 in the shape of "Soul Dressing" - another instrumental just short of 7:00 minutes (the respectful crowd lets him solo ala Carlos Santana). 

 

By the time we hit 1978, a sort of Fusion sound has set in, very Gary Wright 'Dream Weaver' - the lovely floating "Fly...Night Bird" featuring Jean Roussel on Keyboards (he'd played on Cat Stevens albums in 1972). But my crave is a full-on grunge guitar run at Joe Walsh's fabulous "Turn To Stone". Walsh initially premiered it his first solo album after The James Gang - "Barnstorm" in 1972. Joe then returned to it for December 1974's "So What" album, but this in a more polished/sophisticated form. Buchanan has taken elements of both versions and put in his own floating piano funky fills atop guitar flourishes - making the 5:46 minutes of "Turn To Stone" a true highlight on this 'Anthology' for me. It comes to an end where it began - a whopping 12:06 minutes of "Dual Soliloquy" recorded July 1972 at the record plant for the debut but Previously Unreleased until here. Penned by him, it's just Roy Buchanan on the guitar without any others - and it's a find. Admittedly a tad more hissy than you would want it to be, "Dual Soliloquy" begins with peaceful strums that he builds in pace. But what gets you is the sheer musicality of it - and it feels like he's just goofing off. Music Historian Colin Escott quite rightly points out that it's a proper way of remembering him - one seriously great American guitarist capable of beauty and pyrotechnics in the same breath. 

 

His loss in August 1988 robbed us of a Jeff Beck, an Eddie Van Halen - even a Jimi. But "Sweet Dreams: The Anthology" will help you remember why people were so impressed and remain so to this day... 

"The Complete Greatest Hits" by EAGLES - Band-Chosen 31-Track Compilation Covering 1972 to 2003 featuring Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Randy Meisner, Bernie Leadon, Don Felder, Joe Walsh and Timothy B. Schmit (March 2008 UK Rhino Records Card Sleeve 2CD Set of Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

 

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"...Here In My Heart..." 

 

When I was growing up with this Country Rock music including pulling a few hotties close to the slow dance warmth of "The Best Of My Love" in 1974 - few in 1974, 1975 and 1976 onward could have imagined the commercial and Rock-cultural juggernaut that the EAGLES would become (I'm 64 now). 

 

On Page 11 of the 12-page booklet that accompanies this skinny but pretty twofer gatefold card-sleeve compilation (chosen by the band to include their output from the 1972 self-titled debut to a rare DVD-single track from 2003) is a picture gallery of their albums - their first "Greatest Hits 1971-1975" LP (from 1976) still being among the biggest selling album of 'all time'. Their second "Greatest Hits" set in 1982 did the same. So this March 2008 band-chosen CD-only compilation uses those same artworks as a point of similar-looking reference, updating those phenomenal unit shifters to a 'Complete' version. 

 

Yet I can remember a time when the EAGLES were terminally unhip, even derided for their globe-conquering success. No anymore; these last two decades of Twenties have seen the EAGLES become the very definition of what is Classic Rock. And when you play through their ludicrously catchy melodies, their cocaine and tequila pickled tales of liars with nice eyes, limits that must be taken and sunny hotels you can't check out of (no one panics quite like Americans) - is it any wonder they not only shifted product but have endured despite internal squabbling that the Depp family would be proud of. Another sweet touch is excepting those tracks clearly indicated as a 'single', all the rest are the full album versions - so no cut-off beginning for "One Of These Nights" like there was on that first "Greatest Hits" set all those years ago. To the good old new kids in town...

 

UK released 17 March 2008 - "The Complete Greatest Hits" by EAGLES on Rhino 8122-79933-7 (Barcode 081227993375) is a 31Track 2CD Compilation in a Mini LP Styled Artwork Gatefold Card Sleeve that plays out as follows:

 

CD1 (73:27 minutes):

1.Take It Easy 

2. Witchy Woman 

3. Peaceful Easy Feeling 

4. Desperado 

5. Tequila Sunrise 

6. Doolin-Dalton  

7. Already Gone 

8. The Best Of My Love 

9. James Dean 

10. Ol '55

11. Midnight Flyer 

12. On The Border

13. Lyin' Eyes 

14. One Of These Nights 

15. Take It To The Limit

16. After The Thrill Is Gone

17. Hotel California

Tracks 1 to 3 from their June 1972 debut album "Eagles" 

Tracks 4 to 6 from their April 1973 second studio album "Desperado"

Tracks 7 to 12 from their June 1974 third studio album "On The Border"

Tracks 13 to 16 from their June 1975 fourth studio album "One Of These Nights"

Track 17 from their December 1976 fifth studio album "Hotel California" 

 

CD2 (71:36 minutes): 

1. Life In The Fast Lane 

2. Wasted Time 

3. Victim Of Love 

4. The Last Resort 

5. New Kid In Town 

6. Please Come Home For Christmas

7. Heartache Tonight 

8. The Sad Cafe 

9. I Can't Tell You Why 

10. The Long Run 

11. In The City 

12. Those Shoes

13. Seven Bridges Road (Live) 

14. Love Will Keep Us Alive 

15. Get Over It 

16. Hole In The World

Tracks 1 to 5 also from their December 1976 fifth studio album "Hotel California"

Track 6 is a November 1978 US 45-single A-side 

Tracks 7 to 12 are from their September 1979 sixth studio album "The Long Run"

Track 13 is from their November 1980 first live double-set "Eagles Live"

Tracks 14 and 15 from November 1994 seventh studio album "Hell Freezes Over"

Track 16 is a July 2003 DVD-Single release 

EAGLES were:

DON HENLEY, GLENN FREY, RANDY MEISNER, BERNIE LEADON, DON FELDER, JOE WALSH and TIMOTHY B. SCHMIT

 

Mastering is by long-time producer to the band BILL SZYMCZYK and he's using the gorgeous TED JENSEN CD Remasters from 1999 so the tracks sound utterly stupendous in their clarity. For old-timers like me stuff like the deep album cuts of "Doolin-Dalton", "Midnight Flyer" and the lovely "I Can't Tell You Why" (a huge concert fave amongst fans) sound full at last - it's the same throughout. The 12-page booklet has some very cool colour/black and white photos from different time periods as well as track-by-track personnel/release details using Billboard. The only disappointment would be that although they picture the 2007 double-CD comeback album "Long Walk Out Of Eden" in the booklet, there are no songs from it for contractual reasons. To the chunes...

The band clearly rate 1974's "On The Border" to the more famous "Desperado" from 1973 ("Border" quite rightly gets five selections including the Tom Waits cover version "Ol' 55"). And of course, the beast that is 1976's "Hotel California" sees a whopping six cuts and yet we miss the brilliant "Try And Love Again" - a superb Randy Meisner moment (it would have been cool to see his fantastic instrumental "Journey Of The Sorcerer" from 1975's  "One Of These Nights" make the choices here - but alas). Speaking of cool - those sliding notes that open "One Of These Nights" still thrill. 

 

I thought at first that I'd be all cheesed out by the sappy "Please Come Home For Christmas", but as ever Don Henley could sing the County Jail phonebook and make it sound fab. Speaking of fabulousity - it's good to see guitar-hero Joe Walsh acknowledged with his quietly brilliant "In The City" - whilst the gorgeous and moving "Long Run" album finisher "The Sad Cafe" still whomps after all these decades. Clever inclusion is the exclusive live track "Seven Bridges Road" that came with "Eagles Live" in November 1980 - a Steve Young cover version they virtually do Acapella. "Seven Bridges Road" was actually issued as a seven-inch single in December 1980 on Asylum E-47100 where even something as obscure as that peaked at No. 21 on the US pop charts - because it was new from the Eagles. Steve Young's original song and LP of the same name was first issued 1971 on Reprise Records - see my separate review for an Ace CD that reissued Steve Young's work then and after. 

 

Fans will not be surprised either to see the gorgeous "Love Will Keep Us Alive" be on here - a Timothy B. Schmit sung ballad they co-wrote with Jim Capaldi of Traffic and Paul Carrack of Ace and Squeeze fame. And it ends rather hammily with the Rock guitar riffage of "Get Over It" - Henley having a go at TV victims and poor-me culture in general. But far better is "Hole In The World" - again a Henley/Frey original that uses the band's harmonies to sing about fractious politics and remind of just how good they are when the Eagles hit all the marks. 

 

I've seen this 2CD set "The Complete Greatest Hits" for as little as three quid and even in 2023 (as I write) - it's just below seven British pounds brand new from most retail sites. That's a whole lot of dids for just a few quids. Get flappin' birdies... 

"Madonna" by MADONNA - July 1983 US and UK Debut Album on Sire Records featuring Paul Pesco of The System, Curtis Hudson and Lisa Stevens of Hot Streak and Pure Energy, Reggie Lucas of MFSB and Mtume, Anthony Jackson of MFSB, Gwen Guthrie, John "Jellybean" Benitez (May 2001 UK 'Warner Remasters Series' CD Reissue with Two Bonus Tracks with Ted Jensen Remasters - Reissued 2020) - A Review by Mark Barry...

 

 

 

 

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This Review And Many More Like It 

Available In my Kindle e-Book (June 2022 Version)

 

LOOKING AFTER NO. 1 

Volume 2 of 2 - M to Z...

 

Your All-Genres Guide To

Exceptional CD Reissues and Remasters 
For Music from 1956 to 1986

Over 1,760 E-Pages of In-Depth Information
240 Reviews From The Discs Themselves

No Cut and Paste Crap...

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"...Burning Up For Your Love..." 

I must be getting old. There was a time, when as a hip and happening young buck who liked all-sorts of uppity singers and dance-dodgy genres of music (including Synth Pop and Disco), that I quite dug the 24-year old Mad Maddie and her lippy sexpot midriffs. 

 

But God this 1983 Dancing-Baby Debut Album is showing its surgical cracks in 2022. Let's get to the Borderlines before I'm hunted down like a dog that's gonna need an eye-patch...

 

UK released 22 May 2001 (re-issued 2020) - "Madonna" by MADONNA on Warner Brothers 9362-47903-2 (Barcode 093624790327) is part of the Warner Remasters Series - an Extended Edition CD Reissue with Two Bonus Tracks that plays out as follows (55:35 minutes):

 

1. Lucky Star [Side 1]

2. Borderline 

3. Burning Up 

4. I Know It 

5. Holiday [Side 2]

6. Think Of Me 

7. Physical Attraction 

8. Everybody 

Tracks 1 to 8 are her debut album "Madonna" - released July 1983 in the USA on Sire Records 9 -23867-1. Produced by REGGIE LUCAS and JOHN "Jellybean" BENITEZ - it peaked at No. 8 in the USA and No. 6 in the UK. 

 

BONUS TRACKS: 

9. Burning Up (12" Version) - 5:56 minutes

10. Lucky Star ("New" Mix) - 7:15 minutes 

 

The spine-visible Digitally Remastered wording on the rear inlay for these Warner Remasters CD reissues all look the same - in this case given a 12-page booklet that reproduces the LPs few photos of a very young and bright Madonna Louise Ciccone. It also throws in the lyrics, album credits and not much more unfortunately. The two Remixes as Bonuses are a nice touch, but 'released in 1983' is hardly the examination of her musical legacy and her debut's impact that fans deserve. Still, the TED JENSEN Remaster from first generation tapes is suitably muscular when the Linn and Oberheim Synth Pop and Disco Beats need it - which is a lot. 

 

Despite only sporting eight tracks, her self-titled debut album "Madonna" was a commercial goldmine and eventually got milked for five American singles across almost two years - "Everybody" (October 1982), "Burning Up" (March 1983), "Holiday" (September 1983), "Borderline" (February 1984 USA) and finally "Lucky Star" (August 1984 USA). "Lucky Star" had been issued in Blighty first in September 1983 – speaking of which - it doesn't take a genius to notice that huge numbers of mixes and remixes are missing from the bonuses - but at least there are Extras worth having. To the music...

 

I had forgotten "Burning Up" – a very on fire for your torso bopper with Drum Machines aplenty and the pinging guitar of Paul Pesco (of The System). "I Know It" is so Disco it hurts and not really her greatest moment. Even if it feels a tad weedy at the outset, the Remaster soon sorts out the monster "Holiday" – a total Eighties winner penned by Curtis Hudson and Lisa Stevens of Pure Energy and later Hot Streak. You can just imagine so many dancefloors filling up to this irresistible beat in that summer of 1983. But the one I like is the very Hall & Oates shake-your-hair vibe to "Think Of Me" – a genuine forgotten album gem.

 

The "Burning Up" twelve-inch version is more attacking than the album cut – and mixed louder – which feels like a good idea (the Remaster really kicks). Keeping that signature synth lead-in, "Lucky Star" is again transformed by a remix – this time by the Producer she had a falling out with – Reggie Lucas of MFSB and Mtume fame. Punctured by flicking Chic-type guitar licks, Synth jabs and smooth backing vocals, it may be extended, but "Lucky Star" feels more interesting that the shorter LP cut.

 

What was so exciting back in the day is beginning to sound like it's had its day to me, but fans will love "Madonna" and need it like a crucifix earring. To them, their lady of dance can do no wrong...and after 300 million album sales...even I can forgive Shanghai Surprise...

"The Studio Albums Collection 1972-1979" by EAGLES (March 2013 UK Warner Brothers/Asylum 6CD Box Set with MIni LP Repro Artwork Card Sleeves and 1999 Ted Jensen Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

 

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"...The Long Run..."

 

With Glenn Frey's dreadfully sad passing Monday, 18 January 2016 (aged only 67) – like many I've been playing the EAGLES 70ts back catalogue with a strange mixture of wonder and genuine loss – loving the melodies but also wallowing in many long-haired memories – songs that I pulled girls close to and at times, songs that even eased a heartache or three.

 

I suppose it's that all our heroes are passing...and I for one would rather they were still playing, singing and inspiring us. So I thought it would be a good idea to return to this dinky 6-album EAGLES collection that so ably sums up why these melodic Desperado's shifted so many millions of albums between 1972 and 1979. They were just so bloody good. And those Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Randy Meisner, Don Felder and Bernie Leadon harmonies slaughtered all in their path. Here are the Sunrises doused in Tequila and the Hotels in California where you can't leave...

 

UK released March 2013 – "The Studio Albums Collection 1972-1979" by EAGLES on Warner Brothers/Asylum 8122 7967468 (Barcode 081227967468) is a 6-CD Mini Box Set with Mini LP Repro Artwork Card Sleeves and 1999 TED JENSEN CD Remasters. It plays out as follows:

 

Disc 1 – "Eagles" (37:07 minutes):

1. Take It Easy [Lead Vocals, Glenn Frey]

2. Witchy Woman [Lead Vocals, Don Henley]

3. Chug All Night [Lead Vocals, Glenn Frey]

4. Most Of Us Are Sad [Lead Vocals, Randy Meisner]

5. Nightingale [Lead Vocals, Don Henley]

6. Train Leaves Here This Morning [Lead Vocals, Bernie Leadon] – Side 2

7. Take The Devil [Lead Vocals, Randy Meisner]

8. Earlybird [Lead Vocals, Bernie Leadon]

9. Peaceful Easy Feeling [Lead Vocals, Glenn Frey]

10. Tryin' [Lead Vocals, Randy Meisner]

Tracks 1 to 10 are their debut album "Eagles" – released June 1972 in the USA on Asylum SD 5054 and August 1972 in the UK on Asylum SYTC 101. All songs are band originals except "Nightingale" which was written by Jackson Browne and "Take It Easy" which is a co-write between Glenn Frey and Jackson Browne. "Train Leaves Here This Morning" is a co-write between Bernie Leadon and Gene Clark (of The Byrds). "Peaceful Easy Feeling" is a Jack Tempchin song. The album peaked on the US album charts at No. 22 with "Take It Easy", "Witchy Woman" and "Peaceful Easy Feeling" all released as successful US 7" 45-singles in May, August and December 1972. The Non-LP B-side "Get You In The Mood" on the flip of their debut US 45 "Take It Easy" is not included in this Box Set.

 

Disc 2 – "Desperado" (35:55 minutes):

1. Doolin-Dalton [Lead Vocals, Don Henley & Glenn Frey]

2. Twenty One [Lead Vocals, Bernie Leadon]

3. Out Of Control [Lead Vocals, Glenn Frey]

4. Tequila Sunrise [Lead Vocals, Glenn Frey]

5. Desperado [Lead Vocals, Don Henley]

6. Certain Kind Of Fool [Lead Vocals, Randy Meisner] – Side 2

7. Doolin-Dalton (Instrumental)

8. Outlaw Man [Lead Vocals, Glenn Frey]

9. Saturday Night [Lead Vocals, Don Henley & Randy Meisner]

10. Bitter Creek [Lead Vocals, Bernie Leadon]

11. Doolin-Dalton/Desperado (Reprise) [Lead Vocals, Don Henley]

Tracks 1 to 11 are their 2nd album "Desperado" – released April 1973 in the USA on Asylum SD 5068 and June 1973 in the UK on Asylum SYL 901. All songs are Eagles originals except "Outlaw Man" - written by David Blue. The album peaked at 41 in the USA but only charted belatedly in the UK in July 1975 at No. 39 - the month their 4th album "One Of The These Nights" was issued.

 

Disc 3 – "On The Border" (40:25 minutes):

1. Already Gone [Lead Vocals, Glenn Frey]

2. You Never Cry Like A Lover [Lead Vocals, Don Henley]

3. Midnight Flyer [Lead Vocals, Randy Meisner]

4. My Man [Lead Vocals, Bernie Leadon]

5. On The Border [Lead Vocals, Don Henley]

6. James Dean [Lead Vocals, Glenn Frey]

7. Ol' 55 [Lead Vocals, Glenn Frey & Don Henley] – Side 2

8. Is It True? [Lead Vocals, Randy Meisner]

9. Good Day In Hell [Lead Vocals, Glenn Frey & Don Henley]

10. Best Of My Love [Lead Vocals, Don Henley]

Tracks 1 to 10 are their 3rd album "On The Border" – released March 1974 in the USA on Asylum 7E 1004 and May 1974 in the UK on Asylum SYL 9014. "Already Gone", "James Dean" and "Best Of My Love" were all issued as successful US 45s in April, August and November 1974 ("Best Of My Love" would their first US No. 1). Al Perkins of Stephen Stills' Manassas plays Slide Guitar on Tom Waits' "Ol' 55".

 

The mighty tune-smith and Bukowski-type hero that is Tom Waits probably made more money out of his "Ol' 55" on Side 2 of "On The Border" than he did from the royalties of his entire first two albums on David Geffen's Asylum label which went criminally unnoticed for years. Bernie Leadon's beautiful "My Man" was a tribute to Gram Parsons the leader of the Country-Rock outfit The Flying Burrito Brothers who had died in September of 1973 (only six months before the Eagles' third album was released). It's the kind of effortless warmth they often achieved in ballads – the type of song I used to play into the ground and ruminate on (deep baby deep). You can just about make out Glenn Frey's whispered "Good Night Dick" as the title track "On The Border" fades out – a caustic jab at President Richard Nixon's impending doom amidst the infamous Watergate scandal and cover-up (Tricky Dicky finally resigned in shame in the Autumn of 1974).

 

Disc 4 – "One Of These Nights" (43:01 minutes):

1. One Of These Nights [Lead Vocals, Don Henley]

2. Too Many Hands [Lead Vocals, Randy Meisner]

3. Hollywood Waltz [Lead Vocals, Don Henley]

4. Journey Of The Sorcerer [Instrumental by Bernie Leadon]

5. Lyin' Eyes [Lead Vocals, Glenn Frey] – Side 2

6. Take It To The Limit [Lead Vocals, Randy Meisner]

7. Visions [Lead Vocals, Don Felder]

8. After The Thrill Is Gone [Lead Vocals, Glenn Frey & Don Henley]

9. I Wish You Peace [Lead Vocals, Bernie Leadon]

Tracks 1 to 9 are their 4th album "One Of These Nights" – released June 1975 in the USA on Asylum 7E 1039 and in the UK on Asylum SYLA 8759.

 

It's worth noting that the track "One Of These Nights" is the 'full album version' here - the cut on March 1976's "Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975)" LP (which has sold over 40 million copies worldwide) is an edit that loses the intro. For me one of the album’s strength’s (amidst a distinct lack of tunes on Side 2) was the Side 1 finisher "Journey Of The Sorcerer" – Bernie Leadon's orchestra and banjo instrumental - the BBC used it as a theme song to the TV adaptation of Douglas Adam's wonderful "The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy".

 

Disc 5 – "Hotel California" (43:27 minutes):

1. Hotel California [Lead Vocals, Don Henley]

2. New Kid In Town [Lead Vocals, Glenn Frey]

3. Life In The Fast Lane [Lead Vocals, Don Henley]

4. Wasted Time [Lead Vocals, Don Henley]

5. Wasted Time (Reprise) [Instrumental] – Side 2

6. Victim Of Love [Lead Vocals, Don Henley]

7. Pretty Maids All In A Row [Lead Vocals, Joe Walsh]

8. Try And Love Again [Lead Vocals, Randy Meisner]

9. The Last Resort [Lead Vocals, Don Henley]

Tracks 1 to 9 are their fifth and biggest selling album "Hotel California" – released December 1976 in the USA on Asylum 7E 1084 and in the UK on Asylum K 53051. It went to Number 1 in both countries and has subsequently sold over 30 million copies. "New Kid In Town", "Hotel California" and "Life In The Fast Lane" were all US 45s in December 1976, March and May 1977 – with both "New Kid..." and "Hotel California" hitting the coveted No. 1 spot.

 

Disc 6 – "The Long Run" (42:39 minutes):

1. The Long Run [Lead Vocals, Don Henley]

2. I Can't Tell You Why [Lead Vocals, Timothy B. Schmit]

3. In The City [Lead Vocals, Joe Walsh]

4. The Disco Strangler [Lead Vocals, Don Henley & Glenn Frey]

5. King Of Hollywood [Lead Vocals, Glenn Frey]

6. Heartache Tonight [Lead Vocals, Glenn Frey] – Side 2

7. These Shoes [Lead Vocals, Don Henley]

8. Teenage Jail [Lead Vocals, Glenn Frey & Don Henley]

9. The Greeks Don't Want No Freaks [Lead Vocals, Don Henley]

10. The Sad Café [Lead Vocals, Glenn Fry]

Tracks 1 to 10 are their sixth album "The Long Run" – released September 1979 in the USA on Asylum 5E-508 and October 1979 in the UK on Asylum K 52181. "Heartache Tonight", "The Long Run" and "I Can't Tell You Why" were all released as US 7” singles in September and November 1979 and February 1980 with "Heartache Tonight" emulating the album's No. 1 position on the US charts.

 

Joe Walsh's wonderful "In The City" first turned up in a version on "The Warriors" Soundtrack LP in 1979 (a co-write with Barry De Vorzon who formed Valiant Records in the 60ts and penned loads of music for films and TV) – while the Grammy-winning "Heartache Tonight" was a co-write between Glenn Frey, Bob Seger and J.D. Souther. Jimmy Buffett sings on the silly vocal refrains in the awful "The Greeks Don't Want No Freaks" - while ace Saxophonist David Sanborn saves the day by putting in a beautiful solo on the moving finale piece "The Sad Café".

 

The clamshell box pictures all six albums on the rear and inside you get singular card sleeves with no booklet. So the gatefold and inner of "Eagles" is missing, the textured feel to the front and back cover of "On The Border" isn’t there, the Embossed "One Of The Nights" front cover and it’s inner sleeve is not here, the gatefolds, inners and varying posters that came with "Hotel California" and "The Long Run" are all awol too. Shame someone couldn’t have taken a leaf from the Japanese when it comes repro artwork. However – in a nod to the period - each of the CD's label designs reflect their original design (white Asylum for the first two, Boxed Cage logo for number three and so on). They've even printed each album’s original vinyl catalogue number printed on the disc too. But that's it. No lyrics, no booklet, no photos, no appraisal or history – which is a damn shame. Cheap and cheerful I suppose...

 

The Remasters are those carried out by Ted Jensen in 1999 when the catalogue was reissued and they sound really great (always did). But it’s the consistency of the music... What hammers you time and time again as you wade through the albums is the sheer quality of the tunes – hit after catchy hit – and none of it feels maudlin or dated forty years after the event. OK, this is so American West Coast – but man is it good. Even when they made a 2CD "Best Of" compilation there a few years ago, there was still plenty of room for those album nuggets in-between the hits. I've highlighted who sang lead vocals on what – Frey and Henley getting the lion's choice – but in truth the Meisner, Leadon and Felder tracks all impress too.

 

What a glorious sound they made for that whole brilliant decade – and what a sad loss to music is Glenn Frey’s passing. "The Studio Albums Collection 1972-1979" is musically comprehensive, attractive to behold and sounds damn cool too – dig in, enjoy and remember him this way...