Hotel California From The Eagles
Doris Joo
Hotel California is the fifth studio album by American rock band the Eagles, released on December 8, 1976, by Asylum Records. Recorded by the band and produced by Bill Szymczyk at the Criteria and Record Plant studios between March and October 1976, it was the band's first album with guitarist Joe Walsh, who had replaced founding member Bernie Leadon, and the last to feature founding bassist Randy Meisner. The album cover features a photograph of the Beverly Hills Hotel, taken by David Alexander.
Hotel California was an immediate critical and commercial success, topping the US Billboard Top LPs & Tapes chart. At the 20th Grammy Awards, the title track won Record of the Year, and "New Kid in Town" won Best Arrangement for Voices. The album was also nominated for Album of the Year but lost to Fleetwood Mac's Rumours (1977). Three singles were released from the album, with the title track and "New Kid in Town" topping the Billboard Hot 100 and "Life in the Fast Lane" reaching No. 11.
They're the same themes that run through all of our work: loss of innocence, the cost of naivet, the perils of fame, of excess; exploration of the dark underbelly of the American dream, idealism realized and idealism thwarted, illusion versus reality, the difficulties of balancing loving relationships and work, trying to square the conflicting relationship between business and art; the corruption in politics, the fading away of the Sixties dream of "peace, love and understanding."[4]
On the title "Hotel California", Henley said that "the word, 'California,' carries with it all kinds of connotations, powerful imagery, mystique, etc., that fires the imaginations of people in all corners of the globe. There's a built-in mythology that comes with that word, an American cultural mythology that has been created by both the film and the music industry."[4] In an interview with the Dutch magazine ZigZag shortly before the album's release, Henley said:
Bernie Leadon, who was the principal country influence in the band, left the band after the release of the previous album One of These Nights. For Hotel California, the band made a conscious decision to move away from country rock, and wrote some songs that are more rock & roll, such as "Victim of Love" and "Life in the Fast Lane". Leadon was replaced by Joe Walsh who provided the opening guitar riff of "Life in the Fast Lane" that was then developed into the song. The title for "Life in the Fast Lane" was inspired by a conversation between Frey and his drug dealer during a high speed car ride.[6]
The chord progression and basic melody of the title track, "Hotel California", was written by Don Felder. Don Henley wrote most of the lyrics, with contributions from Glenn Frey. Henley noted that the hotel had become a "literal and symbolic focal point of their lives at that time", and it became the theme of the song. Frey wanted the song to be "more cinematic", and to write it "just like it was a movie". Henley sought inspiration for the lyrics by driving out into the desert, as well as from films and theatre.[7] Parts of the lyrics of "Hotel California" as well as the song "Wasted Time" were based on Henley's break up with his then girlfriend Loree Rodkin.[8][9]
The album was recorded between March and October 1976 at Criteria Studios in Miami and Record Plant Studios in Los Angeles, and produced by Bill Szymczyk.[2] Although the band favored Los Angeles, the producer Szymczyk wanted to record in Miami as he had developed a fear of living on a fault line in Los Angeles after experiencing an earthquake, and a compromise was then struck to split the recording between both places.[6] While the band were recording the album, Black Sabbath were recording Technical Ecstasy in an adjacent studio at Criteria Studios. The band was forced to stop recording on numerous occasions because Black Sabbath were too loud and the sound was coming through the wall.[11] The last track of the album, "The Last Resort", had to be re-recorded a number of times due to noise from the next studio.[6]
The front cover artwork is a photograph of The Beverly Hills Hotel shot just before sunset by David Alexander with design and art direction by Kosh.[13] According to Kosh, Henley wanted him to find a place that can portray the Hotel California of the album title, and "portray it with a slightly sinister edge". Three hotels were photographed, and the one with The Beverly Hills Hotel was selected as the cover. Both The photographer and Kosh shot the image 60 feet above Sunset Boulevard on top of a cherry picker.[14] As the image was taken from an unfamiliar vantage point in fading light, most people did not initially recognize the hotel. However, when the identity of Beverly Hills Hotel was revealed, the hotel threatened legal action over the use of the image.[6]
Kosh designed a Hotel California logo as a neon sign which was used on the album cover and in its promotional materials. As it proved difficult to bend real neon tubings into the desired shape of the script, the neon effect of the logo was achieved with airbrush by Bob Hickson. Additional portraits of the band used in the album package and promotional materials were shot by Norman Seeff.[14]
The album was released by Asylum Records on December 8, 1976, in vinyl, cassette and 8-track cartridge formats. It was considered for quadraphonic release in early 1977, but this idea was dropped following the demise of the quadraphonic format. On the album's 25th anniversary in 2001, it was released in a Multichannel 5.1 DVD-Audio disc. On August 17, 2011, the album was released on a hybrid SACD in Japan in The Warner Premium Sound series, containing both a stereo and a 5.1 mix.[18]
Original vinyl 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 third album On the Border. The text reads: Side one: "Is It 6 O'Clock Yet?"; Side two: "V.O.L. Is Five-Piece Live", indicating that the song "Victim of Love" was recorded in a live session in studio, with no overdubbing. Joe Walsh and Glenn Frey confirm this on the inner booklet of The Very Best Of.[19] This only referred to the instrumental track, however; the lead vocal and harmony for the chorus were added later. This was in response to those who criticized the Eagles' practice of copious overdubbing of instruments and that they were too clinical and soulless in the studio. They wanted to demonstrate that they could play together without overdubs if they wanted to.[6]
A 40th anniversary deluxe edition was released on November 24, 2017. The set includes the original remastered album, and a second CD that features 10 live tracks from the concert at The Forum, recorded in October 1976 two months before the original release of the album.[20] This bonus CD was also issued as a stand-alone vinyl LP in 2021.[21]
Retrospective reviews have also been positive. Robert Hilburn of the Los Angeles Times, writing after the band broke up, called the album "a legitimate rock masterpiece", in which the band "examined their recurring theme about the American Dream with more precision, power and daring than ever in such stark, uncompromising songs as "Hotel California" and "The Last Resort"."[35] William Ruhlmann from AllMusic later said "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."[22] Steve Holtje, writing for CultureCatch in 2012, felt that even though "an awful lot of the album is snarky whining from co-leaders Don Henley and Glenn Frey, two guys who didn't really seem like they had that much they could legitimately complain about", in the final analysis "Hotel California and the underrated concept album Desperado stand as the group's greatest statements".[36]
The song "Hotel California" was ranked number 49 on Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" in 2004.[45] It maintained the ranking in 2010,[46] and was re-ranked at number 311 in 2021.[47]
The album and its tracks were nominated for five Grammy awards in 1978, winning two; Record of the Year for the title track and Best Arrangement for Voices for "New Kid in Town". However, the band's manager Irving Azoff refused requests by the ceremony's producer for the band to attend or perform at the ceremony unless a win was guaranteed. The band therefore did not appear at the ceremony to collect their awards. Henley later said: "The whole idea of a contest to see who is 'best' just doesn't appeal to us."[6]
The album first entered the US Billboard 200 at number four,[48] reaching number one in its fourth week in January 1977.[36][49] It topped the chart for eight weeks (non-consecutively), and it was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in a week of release.[50] In its first year of release it sold nearly 6 million copies in the United States,[51] and by July 1978 it has sold 9.5 million copies worldwide (7 million in the US and 2.5 million elsewhere internationally).[52] On March 20, 2001, the album was certified 16 platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, denoting shipment of 16 million in the United States,[50][53] and had sold over 17 million copies in the US by 2013.[54] Worldwide the album has sold 32 million copies.[55] On August 20, 2018, the album was certified 26 platinum by the RIAA for 26 million units consumed in the United States under the new system that tallies album and digital track sales as well as streams.[56]
In July 2022, three men, all involved in rare book and memorabilia dealing, were indicted by a Manhattan, New York City, grand jury on felony charges of conspiracy and possession of stolen property; one was further charged with hindering prosecution. Prosecutors alleged that they had forged provenance documents attempting to demonstrate that they were the lawful owners of some of Frey and Henley's original drafts of lyrics for songs on the album, including "Hotel California" and "Life in the Fast Lane" and "New Kid in Town", when they in fact knew those materials, around a hundred handwritten pages on yellow notebook paper estimated to be worth $1 million in total, to have been stolen. Their plot had come to light after, having sold Henley some of the documents for $8,500 in 2012, they returned to Henley offering to sell him some more after listing them at Sotheby's four years later; he then filed a complaint with the New York County district attorney's office. All three protested their innocence through their attorneys.[61][62]
c80f0f1006