The Eagles

"city girls just seem to find out early
how to open doors with just a smile"

It’s a huge statement that the most popular album ever released is The Eagles Greatest Hits. I honestly don’t find myself reaching for their stuff that much but when I hear their classic songs I always seem to get that peaceful easy feeling they wrote about. Their body of work, career trajectory and phenomenal success cannot be denied.

Last night I caught them live as MSG and was amazed at how good they still sounded. The opening set was like having to drive through the Bronx to get to Manhattan as the first 4 songs from their new album couldn’t stand a chance against their hits. However, as soon as they hit the opening chords on“Hotel California” the arena temperature changed and the audience lept to their feet and started preaching along. I wish I had video of the air-guitaring, the singing, the hordes of people reliving the times in their lives when they connected with the band and their songs. It continued as they went into Witchy Woman, One Of These Nights all the way through to the Desperado finale. A totally different live experience, more subdued than high energy, but fulfilling nonetheless.
I was thinking of their recent 60 Minutes interview when Glenn Frey was asked about the band's extraordinary success, and his Clintonian answer was basically "It's the songs stupid". And there you have it. In the end, it really is pretty basic isn't it?