The Eagles’ Return To, Well, Just Where They Were

There’s something wonderful about a band that isn’t looking to innovate or radically change the face of the music industry. Rather, the group is simply motivated by the desire to make good music as they see it. That wistful contemplation aside, remember the Eagles? You know—Don Henley, Glenn Frey, and company? In the later years, legendary axeman Joe Walsh was a bandmate as well? It probably didn’t go unnoticed when the Eagles released their first true studio album, Long Road Out of Eden, just last month—nearly 30 years after the release of 1979’s The Long Run. A 20-song double disc affair, Long Road Out of Eden incorporates almost startling replications of the band’s classic sounds—including hints of Henley’s solo material thrown in for good measure. The first disc proves to be the more interesting of the two, with such as tracks as “How Long” and “Waiting in the Weeds” drawing rather strong comparisons to the feel and structure of the band’s classic hits. Disc two is by no means a disappointment, but in its embrace of the contributors’ later-era inklings, it is likely to draw less enthusiasm. At any rate, if you’re in the mood for a blast from the past in the form of a nostalgic Eagles effort, you’d do well to check out Long Road Out of Eden.