Our own Steve Crawford wrote this about the Eagles in Dallas earlier this year as part of his epic pan: “I absolutely hate them. I hate their somnambulistic country/rock hybrid, which is neither country nor rock. I hate their combination of well-crafted, uninspired studio “perfectionism” and the insufferable conceit of ego monsters Henley and Frey”. Kinda hard to argue with the logic there though I hate them less than Crawford does. I’ve only seen em once and I walked out after half an hour.
But I do like some of their songs and I am going to catch up on my sleep time this Friday where I check the boys out again. With that in mind, I listened to their setlist (except for one song which I couldn’t find though that probably shouldn’t bother us here) and it break downs like this:
The Eagles – 4 songs
Desperado – 5 Songs
On The Border – 2 songs
One Of These Nights – 3 songs
(that would get you to the blue Greatest Hits by the way)
Hotel California – 5 Songs
The Long Run – 4 Songs
Plus odds and sods and nothing from 2007’s Long Road Of Eden.
In other word, they were just about done for before the blue hits was released.
1. Saturday Night – Terrible country waltz – C-
2. Train Leaves Early This Morning – Dreadful country snoozer, Gram Parsons should get out of his grave (well, you know what I mean) and kill em – D
3. Peaceful Easy Feeling – Here, we go, a beautiful warm summer evening love, though that “inner ear” line has gotta go – A
4. Witchy Woman – The hoo hummiest of their goodies – B-
5. Doolin- Dalton -Just terrible western stroll, you really need o hear it to understand how bad a line like “Easy money, faithless women” can be – D-
6. Tequila Sunrise – Maybe their best story song with a fine metaphor to boot – A-
7. Doolin’-Dalton/Desperado – Why are they playing the reprise? Got me – C-
8. Already Gone – Rank misogyny but catchier and livelier than anything that’s come up so. A blast to play yourself, gwan, try – A-
9. Lyin’ Eyes – The playing doesn’t help but this is an honest to god good country song – A
10. One Of These Nights – Yep, that blue Greatest hits all you’ll ever need – A
11. The Best Of My Love – OK, I give up, On The Border is a real album – A
12. Take It To The Limit – Over orchestrated but a pretty good song – B+
13. Wasted Time (Reprise) – Again, I guess I’ll understand why this is here if I am awake when they play it – D
14. Pretty Maids All In A Row – What’s worse than the Eagles with guitars? The Eagles with pianos – D
15. I Can’t Tell You – Execreble country blues – D
16. New Kid In Town – Really good country ballad -the only good song on the entire Hotel California – B
17. Heartache Tonight – Wow, they have raised themselves from a long slumber for some handclapping! – C
18. Those Shoes – Generic southern blues only slower and more boring than you can possibly imagine – D-
19. In The City – Joe Walsh – I don’t count myself a Walsh fan, but it’s like how Lenon looks good next to Stalin – C
20. Life’s Been Good – Not that good – B-
21. The Long Run – All about winners and losers with the Eagles – B-
22. Funk #49 – This’ll sound like George Clinton in context – B
23. Life In The Fast Lane – If you consider fast 50mph on the highway – C
24. Hotel California – Existential bullshit that owes cash money to the WEarren Zevon estate – C
25. Take It Easy – Why did it take Jackson Browne to loosen up the uptight assholes? – B+
26. Rocky Mountain Way – Man, they must have been hard up for a big finish – C
27. Desperado – I hope to be home and in my jammies by the time they play this – B