Hotel California

iTunes Review

Released in December 1976 after 18 months of anticipation, the Eagles’ fifth studio album Hotel California was one of the most successful albums of all-time, selling over a million copies in its first week and 10 million copies overall while garnering multiple Grammy nominations. The title track won the 1977 Grammy for Record of the Year, and the album remains a major touchstone of its era, reflecting both the glamour and the dark underside of 1970’s Los Angeles. Just as the title track eerily surmises that “you can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave” over a bed of elliptical, pristinely-recorded guitar leads, so goes the Eagles’ deceptively smooth appeal, their harmonies and indelible melodies seducing radio listeners worldwide while they recount the wreckage surrounding them. “Life in the Fast Lane,” “Victim of Love” and “New Kid In Town” reflect the group’s further slide from country-rock to the mainstream pop that had California sunshine virtually shining out from its grooves, much of this attributable to new guitarist rocker Joe Walsh replacing the country-leaning Bernie Leadon. The shift obviously worked wonders, as the group continued to attract new fans and define the sound of FM radio for a long time after.