From 1976, Hotel California is considered the Album that really got The Eagles critical attention winning them a Grammy and remains their best seller in studio terms. Their 'Greatest Hits' Album will probably become the biggest selling Album of all time.
It was their 5th and their first with legendarily strange guitarist, Joe Walsh.
The title track was released as a single and it refers to "warm smell of colitas" which in fact, is Mexican slang for cannabis. Betcha didn't know that...
The cover is a shot of the Beverly Hills Hotel and sometimes an Album can be justified by two or three standout tracks. This is one of those - 'Hotel California', 'New kid in town' and 'Life in the fast lane' are worth it alone and after that, it gets a bit lost. Although 'Last Resort' is there too.
Hardly the masterpiece that everyone touts.....but undoubtedly three great songs anyway that make it really worthwhile. And that's not to be unfair to them because they were solidly, consistently good. One of us here, has seen them live and they are a great live band.
It's country rock really, albeit with a big studio sound. Here's a live version YouTube link below, from the year after release and it'll give you an idea. It certainly went down well at Streamabout this week!
But every good collection should have this in it. It's evocative of a time and a band that developed that country rock niche all on their own.
