The Eagles broke up in 1980, and by all accounts it was an acrimonious dissolution. So much so, that when Don Henley was once asked if the band would ever get back together, he replied 'When Hell freezes over'. Inevitably they did reform, and the resultant live album was called 'Hell Freezes Over'. But what if they hadn't broken up after the disappointing 'The Long Run' album, and had buckled down and written some better songs. The resultant album could have been the one to put them back at the top of their game, and this is what it could have sounded like. It seemed that in 1981, most of the members of the band were happy to give up songs here and there to soundtrack albums, and so a lot of these songs are quite hard to find, but when they are all put together they do form a coherent whole, and don't at all sound like they've come from such disparate sources. For the record, Don Felder's 'Heavy Metal' comes from the soundtrack of the movie of the same name, as does his 'All Of You'. Joe Walsh's party anthem 'All Night Long' comes from the 'Urban Cowboy' soundtrack, and 'Fast Times at Ridgemont High' provides Henley's ballad 'Love Rules,' Felder's 'Never Surrender', and Timothy B. Schmit's 'So Much In Love'. 'Leather And Lace' is a duet by Don Henley and Stevie Nicks, from her 'Bella Donna' album, and the rest of the songs come from the band member's 1981 solo albums. It's a far cry from the exquisite country-rock of their early records, but it's the direction that they were heading in following the massive success of 'Hotel California', and to a lesser extent 'The Long Run', so this this is a reasonable representation of where they were at in 1981.
Track Listing
01 Heavy Metal (Takin' A Ride)02 Dirty Laundry 03 So Much In Love 04 All Night Long 05 The One You Love 06 A Life of Illusion 07 Leather and Lace (with Stevie Nicks)08 I Found Somebody 09 Hearts Of Fire10 Love Rules11 Never Surrender 12 All Of You
The concept and (quite literal) album cover are from the now deleted archive of The Album Fixer.
Following the success of their last album, 'Dirty Laundry', and bouyed by the success of the title track as a single, the band would have been keen to consolidate that success. Don Henley and Glen Frey seemed to be on a roll with their writing, and contributed a couple of songs each which could easily be hit singles, and the rest of the band chipped in with some nice rockers and ballads, resulting in a 1982 follow-up album called 'Sunset Grill'. In reality, all the songs are taken from solo albums by the band members, and once again soundtracks come to the rescue, with Frey's 'You Belong To The City' appearing on the 'Miami Vice' TV Series soundtrack, and 'The Heat Is On' coming from 'Beverley Hills Cop'. Don Felder also released a solo album in 1983, including songs written in 1982, but there's nothing from it here as the general consensus of opinion is that it was a very poor effort, and Timothy B. Schmit's solo album didn't appear until two years later, so there's nothing from him here either. Even without contributions from Felder and Schmit, I think that this is a stronger album than 'Dirty Laundry', and a very enjoyable listen.
Track listing
01 Smuggler's Blues02 The Boys Of Summer03 You Belong To The City04 I Can Play That Rock & Roll05 All She Wants To Do Is Dance06 The Heat Is On07 Not Enough Love In The World08 Rosewood Bitters09 Sexy Girl10 Sunset Grill
Once again, thanks to The Album Fixer for the concept and album cover.
