A long-delayed comeback

It has been 28 years since the last album, The Long Run, was released. Don Felder is not with the band anymore but Eagles music is as solid as ever. I do not know how old they are today but Eagles Glenn Frey on vocals and guitar; Don Henley (vocals and drums); Joe Walsh (vocals and guitar); and Timothy Schmit (vocals and bass) still soar high.

Together as The Eagles, these guys can still put together a socially astute and empathetic set of tunes performed in the easy, rambling, but musically perfect, manner of the old days. Released only a few weeks ago, Long Road Out of Eden is a sprawling, lengthy piece that pays tribute to American rock music as defined by the Eagles and I cannot think of any other group, except the Eagles, who could have done a better job.

One of the most popular groups of all time, The Eagles is known for enduring hits like Hotel California, Desperado, Best of My Love, I Can’t Tell You Why, Love Will Keep Us Alive, The Long Run, Heartache Tonight, Tequila Sunrise, Take It Easy, New Kid in Town and others. They have sold over 120 million albums, made No. 1 five times, won four Grammys including Record of the Year for Hotel California. The Eagles Greatest Hits album has already sold over 29 million copies in the US alone and is the biggest selling album in music history.

Can Long Road Out of Eden be any different? Written, performed and produced by The Eagles, the album is a two-disc set made up of 19 new songs plus one country music oldie How Long that they were supposed to record 35 years ago. Probably because J.D. Souther wrote it for The Eagles during its Desperado days, it sounds like the perfect Eagles song and became the first single release.

Along with the other cuts in Disc One with the same effortless harmonies, virtuoso playing and smooth production that the Eagles has always been known for, How Long prepares the listener for what is to come. As you move into Disc Two, you get a clear idea of how this ’70’s rock band lifted itself up from the past and then soared to the skies, all polished and shining bright to make its claim to fame again.

Here now is a master class in music performance and production. Disc Two has the title track, Long Road Out of Eden, a 10-minute arena fodder that epitomizes the greatness of Eagles music. Intense, dramatic but never indulgent or theatrical, it can be enjoyed with friends while blaring out of a karaoke machine in the barrio or from a car deck during those long drives alone. Bands old and new should check this out if they want to find out how much they still have to learn.

Incidentally, The Eagles is also one of the top-touring bands in the world, and it held on to that position even without a new album in the stores. Can you imagine what a concert would be like with all its old hits and the new songs from Long Road Out of Eden? Probably spectacular.

Golden Globe nominees

Rock goes to the Globes. Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vadder and hip-swiveling Shakira recently added Golden Globe nominees to their resumes. Vedder is nominated with Michael Brook and Kaki King for Best Original Score for the movie Into the Wild. Vedder’s composition Guaranteed, which he also performs, is up for the Best Original Song trophy.

Other song award nominees: Shakira’s Despedida, which she co-wrote with Antonio Pinto for Love in the Time of Cholera; Grace is Gone by Clint Eastwood and Carole Bayer-Sager also from Grace is Gone; That’s How You Know from Enchanted and Walk Hard from Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story. Eastwood, whom not everybody knows, is an excellent musician with such impeccable taste, take careful note of the music in his films, is also on tap for Best Musical Score with Grace is Gone, against The Kite Runner, Atonement and Eastern Promises.

That’s not all. There also promises to be lots of Beatles music when the awards go out on Jan. 13, 2008. The movie Across the Universe with its Beatles score is nominated for Best Picture Comedy or Musical alongside Charlie Wilson’s War, Hairspray, Juno, Sweeney Todd and The Great Debaters.