Time to bury the beast (KYI W/O).

Conventional wisdom on the 70s says they were a decade of decadence. From most historical accounts, that conventional wisdom is correct. Conventional wisdom on the Eagles, one of the leading bands of that decade of excess, says that they made mostly inconsistent albums with a few decent singles here and there. That conventional wisdom is correct (which may have to do with why their 1975 greatest hits albums is currently the number one selling album in America). But conventional wisdom also says that the Eagles did make one truly great album, that album being Hotel California.

Conventional wisdom is wrong in this case.

"It can't be wrong" people will doubtlessly shriek in horror at that last statement. After all, Rolling Stone always puts it on its lists of the greatest albums of all time. It made #37 on the 500 greatest albums of all time list (for the record, the Eagles self-titled debut album came in at #374). And it's one of the biggest sellers of all time. So who am I to say that it's not great?

Some people will argue that it needs to be judged great simply in terms of historical significance. So we will look at that...later. In the meantime, let's consider the main reason the average person will have for thinking of buying this album: the music. Let's go to the disc itself.

In theory, Hotel California was supposed to be a concept album about the excess of Southern California life in the late 1970s. The concept is fairly clear if one listens to the album all the way through. However, listening to the album in fragmented terms (IE: Picking out individual tracks and listening to them alone) destroys the concept. In this case, fragmenting the album is the best way to enjoy it. So let's toss the concept out the window.

The album begins with the nearly epic title track. The song itself starts out with a fairly lengthy extended acoustic guitar solo before Don Henley starts to sing. The song also has an extended guitar outro, which truthfully, goes on way too long. Lyrically, the song uses the titular hotel as a metaphor for American Society as a whole. If one listens closely enough to the lyrics, they will find that it's actually a pretty bleak portrayal of the emptiness of so many lives. The song overall is actually pretty good and almost justifies the purchase of the disc. However, constant radio overplay has robbed it of much of the magic it once had.

Even more overplayed is the following cut, "New Kid in Town". The song is easily the most countrified song on the album that basically found the Eagles abandoning the country pop-rock sound that they had developed on their previous 4 albums. The song itself sounds rather slow and tired, which may be appropriate, considering as it's a comment on the pitfalls of fame. Sung from the perspective of a former big time man who's been replaced by the new kid on the block, the song does gain a little bit of rock edge in the last verse with the addition of some angry bite to Glenn Frey's singing and some rock guitar. But overall, I find myself echoing the songs closing line of "I don't wanna hear it".

Easily the best song on Hotel California is the hardest rocker on it: "Life in the Fast Lane". Another commentary on excess, it has Henley detailing the misadventures of a hedonistic couple who find themselves done in by their materialistic excess. Joe Walsh's guitar playing on here is killer and the lyrics are pretty good. Also, I admit to do a karaoke riff on the song back in 1998 that poked fun at our-then chief exec's foibles ("He was our pot-headed prez, he was brutally handsome").

Another decent (although not well-known) rocker on Hotel California is the Henley sung "Victim of Love". This one is actually fairly good with its blistering opening lick and rather cynical tone. Some of the lyrics are fairly memorable too with lines like "You say he's a liar and he put out your fire/How come you still got his gun in your hand?"

So far, three decent songs one weak one. Hey Hotel California may be closer to heaven than hell.

Unfortunately, the rest of the album consists of filler. "Wasted Time" is a ballad that has the potential to be memorable. But isn't really at all, thanks to the rather cliched lyrics ("Your baby's gone and you're all alone. And it looks like the end"). The song itself is followed by a rather pointless instrumental reprise. Why the Eagles found that necessary I'll never know.

"Pretty Maids All in a Row" and "Try and Love Again" are both equally unmemorable.

The final cut on Hotel California is a socially conscious ballad called "The Last Resort". The song seemingly condemns the excess of the period (along with the environmental rape of California). The central theme of the song is explained in the closing line "You call someplace paradise/Kiss it goodbye". Profound maybe. But the song itself is too long and rather preachy in spots. "We satisfy our endless needs and justify our bloody deeds/In the name of destiny and the name of God/And you can see them there/On Sunday morning". Thanks for the sermon Reverend Don. Like we didn't know that already.

Conventional wisdom says Hotel California is a great album. But three good songs and six mediocre one do not a great album make. In that regard, Hotel California is just like all the Eagles other (non-compilation) albums. A few good songs drowning in a sea of filler.

Some people will say that Hotel California is significant historically as a condemnation of the 70s Me Decade. In fact, a review of the album in the All Music Guide compares it to Pink Floyd's The Wall. However, The Wall worked better as a true condemnation of that era by putting it in universal themes. Meaning that The Wall works as a truly great album by standing up well 26 years after its release.

Hotel California also manages to be a walking contradiction in that it goes from celebrating the excesses of the time to condemning them the next. That approach helps to date the album.

So Hotel California is not as historically significant as revisionist rock history might lead one to believe. There were better albums from that era from roots rockers (Tom Petty's debut album came out around the same time) and country rockers (anything by the late Gram Parsons) and certain artists (Uncle Tupelo) took the Eagles Country rock template and did a lot more with it than Henley, Frey and co ever did (UT's No Depression album rocks harder than anything on Hotel California). Also, it needs to be considered that the Eagles may have done more harm than good by opening the door for the likes of Garth Brooks and the hat act crowd that took over the country and pop charts in the 90s.

Hotel California has some good songs. But you can easily get them on a greatest hits album sans the filler. Or you can easily track down MP3s of them if you'd like. But as a whole, the conventional wisdom on the Eagles needs to be changed to: Decent singles band that never made a consistent album. That includes Hotel California. Time to sharpen the steely knife and kill and bury the beast.

This review is the opening salvo in the Kill Your Idols write-off hosted by yours truly. To find out more and read other entries go to http://www.epinions.com/content_4401307780