Hotel California (Eagles album)

Hotel California is the fifth studio album by the American rock band the Eagles, released on Asylum in late 1976. It is the first Eagles album without the appearance of their founding member Bernie Leadon and their first album with the guitarist, Joe Walsh. It is also the last album featuring their original bass player Randy Meisner. The album became the band's best-selling studio album, with over 16 million copies sold in the U.S. alone and over 32 million copies sold worldwide. The album topped the charts and won the band two Grammy awards for "Hotel California" and "New Kid in Town". The album was nominated for Album of the Year but lost to Fleetwood Mac'sRumours.

The album yielded three Top 20 singles, "New Kid in Town", "Hotel California", and "Life in the Fast Lane". "New Kid in Town" and "Hotel California" both topped theBillboard Hot 100, and "Life in the Fast Lane" reached number 11 on the charts. The album was ranked number 37 on Rolling Stone '​s list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time". The album further established the group as the most successful American band of the decade, making the Eagles household names. The song "Hotel California" is considered by many to be one of the greatest rock songs of all time; it was ranked number 49 on Rolling Stone '​s list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". The guitar duet at the end of the song was performed by Don Felder and Joe Walsh. The album also features "Wasted Time", "Victim of Love", and "The Last Resort".



Contents
[hide]  *1 History  ==History[ edit] == Hotel California was the Eagles' fifth studio album of original material and became a critical success and a major commercial hit; since its release in late 1976, it has sold over 16 million copies in the U.S. alone. The album was at number 1 for eight weeks in early 1977 (non-consecutively), and included two tracks which became number 1 hits as singles on the Billboard Hot 100: "New Kid in Town", on February 26, 1977, and "Hotel California" on May 7, 1977.
 * 2 Album cover
 * 3 Album pressing
 * 4 Critical reception
 * 5 Track listing
 * 6 Personnel
 * 7 Singles
 * 8 Charts and certifications
 * 8.1 Peak positions
 * 8.2 Year-end charts
 * 8.3 Sales and certifications
 * 9 Grammys
 * 10 See also
 * 11 References
 * 12 External links

In 2001, the TV network VH1 named Hotel California number 38 on 100 Greatest Albums of All Time. Hotel California was ranked 13th in a 2005 survey held by British television's Channel 4 to determine the 100 greatest albums of all time. In 2003, the album was ranked number 37 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.[5]

While the band were recording the album, Black Sabbath were also recording the album Technical Ecstasy in an adjacent studio at Criteria Studios in Miami. The band were forced to stop recording on numerous occasions because Black Sabbath were too loud and the sound was coming through the wall.[6]

Following its original release on standard LP, cassette and 8-track cartridge formats, the album was considered for Quadraphonic release in early 1977; this idea was later dropped following the demise of the Quadraphonic format. However, 25 years later, the album was released in a Multichannel 5.1 DVD-Audio disc. On August 17, 2011, the album was released on a hybridSACD in Japan in The Warner Premium Sound series, containing both a stereo and a 5.1 mix.[7]

Members of the Eagles have described the album as a metaphor for the perceived decline of America into materialism and decadence. In an interview with the Dutch magazine ZigZag shortly before the album's release, Don Henley said: This is a concept album, there's no way to hide it, but [unlike the Eagles' earlier concept album, 1973's Desperado] it's not set in the old West, the cowboy thing, you know. It's more urban this time (…) It's our bicentennial year, you know, the country is 200 years old, so we figured since we are the Eagles and the Eagle is our national symbol, that we were obliged to make some kind of a littlebicentennial statement using California as a microcosm of the whole United States, or the whole world, if you will, and to try to wake people up and say 'We've been okay so far, for 200 years, but we're gonna have to change if we're gonna continue to be around.’ <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:22.3999996185303px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">The album's final track, "The Last Resort", was about the decline of society. Glenn Frey on the "Hotel California" episode of In the Studio with Redbeard explained about the track: <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:inherit;">It was the first time that Don took it upon himself to write an epic story and we were already starting to worry about the environment… we're constantly screwing up paradise and that was the point of the song and that at some point there is going to be no more new frontiers. I mean we're putting junk, er, garbage into space now. <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:22.3999996185303px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">Every track from the Hotel California Album was performed live during the Hell Freezes Over Tour with the exception of the Randy Meisner song, "Try and Love Again". ==Album cover<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:22.3999996185303px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">The front cover artwork is a photograph of the Beverly Hills Hotel by David Alexander with design and art direction by Kosh.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-8" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[8]  The rear album cover was shot in the lobby of the Lido Hotel in Hollywood. ==Album pressing<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:22.3999996185303px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">Original vinyl record pressings of Hotel California (Elektra/Asylum catalog no. 7E-1084) had custom picture labels of a blue Hotel California logo with a yellow background. These also had text engraved in the run-out groove of each side, continuing an in-joke trend the band had started with their previous album One of These Nights:

==Critical reception<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:22.3999996185303px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">The album has consistently been praised by rock critics. Reviewing the album in AllMusic, critic William Ruhlmann wrote of the album "In the early part of their career, The Eagles never seemed to get a sound big enough for their ambitions; after changes in producer and personnel, as well as a noticeable growth in creativity, Hotel California unveiled what seemed almost like a whole new band. It was a band that could be bombastic, but also one that made music worthy of the later tag of "classic rock," music appropriate for the arenas and stadiums the band was playing."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-9" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[9]
 * 1) Side one: "Is It 6 O'Clock Yet?"
 * 2) Side two: "V.O.L. Is Five-Piece Live", indicating that the song "Victim of Love" was recorded live, with no overdubbing. Joe Walsh and Glenn Frey confirm this on the inner booklet of The Very Best Of. This only referred to the instrumental track, however; vocals were added later. This was in response to those who criticized the Eagles' practice of copious overdubbing of instruments. They wanted to demonstrate that they could play together without overdubs if they wanted to.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:22.3999996185303px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">Critic, Robert Christgau wrote of the album "Speaking strictly as a nonfan, I'd grant that this is their most substantial if not their most enjoyable LP--they couldn't have written any of the songs on side one, or even the pretentious and condescending "The Last Resort," without caring about their California theme down deep."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-10" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[10] ==Track listing<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == ==Personnel<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:22.3999996185303px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;"><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-11" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[11] ==Singles<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == ==Charts and certifications<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == ===Sales and certifications<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] === ==Grammys<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] ==
 * Eagles
 * Don Felder – guitars, pedal steel guitar, vocals
 * Glenn Frey – guitars, piano, clavinet, synthesizer, vocals
 * Don Henley – drums, percussion, vocals
 * Randy Meisner – bass guitar, guitarrón, vocals
 * Joe Walsh – guitars, slide guitar, electric piano, organ, synthesizer, vocals
 * Production
 * Bill Szymczyk – producer
 * Allan Blazek, Bruce Hensal, Ed Mashal, Bill Szymczyk – engineers
 * Bill Szymczyk – mixing
 * Jim Ed Norman – string arrangements, conductor
 * Sid Sharp – concert master
 * Don Henley, John Kosh – art direction
 * John Kosh – design
 * David Alexander – photography
 * Kosh – artwork
 * Norman Seeff – poster design
 * Kevin Gray – CD preparation
 * Ted Jensen – mastering and remastering
 * Lee Hulko - original LP mastering
 * "New Kid in Town"/"Victim of Love" - Asylum 45373; released December 7, 1976
 * "Hotel California"/"Pretty Maids All in a Row" - Asylum 45386; released February 22, 1977
 * "Life in the Fast Lane"/"The Last Resort" - Asylum 45403; released May 3, 1977
 * Awards
 * Nominations