![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/The-Eagles-1970s-Far-Out-Magazine-1140x855.jpg\")
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
(Credits: Alamy)<\/p>\n
Wed 22 October 2025 20:30, UK <\/p>\n
Nothing about Eagles<\/a> was made by accident. <\/p>\n Although Don Henley was a firm believer in the collaboration between bandmates, he also knew when songs weren\u2019t cutting it for the group, and he wasn\u2019t about to let musical slop on the record if he had anything to say about it. Even though the California rockers\u2019 discography is pretty air-tight all things considered, there are more than a few times when Henley knew no one should see their musical dirty laundry on record.<\/p>\n It was bad enough that he had to compromise back in the day by giving songs like \u2018I Wish You Peace\u2019 the green light, but it was always about more than a few half-hearted songs. He wanted his discography to hold up in the same way that his heroes like The Beatles\u2019 did, and while that did mean expanding albums like Long Road Out of Eden for way too long, Henley figured that he would try to put his best foot forward on each release.<\/p>\n And listening to the stories behind Hotel California, you would have thought that the band were sticklers for perfection. They knew that not every harmony was going to sound absolutely fantastic every single time they got up to the microphone, but they could always tell when to push a song just far enough to where it sounded like a piece of magic once it came through the speakers. But when you make that sweeping of a statement, there\u2019s really nowhere left to go but down afterwards.<\/p>\n The amount of cocaine that they were going through during The Long Run probably didn\u2019t help, but it\u2019s not like the band didn\u2019t have a few lofty ambitions for the record. There were even talks about them turning the record into a huge double album experience, but given the state they were in, they knew it was better for them to cut their losses and make sure to deliver a single album everyone could be proud of.<\/p>\n You can still see the makings of a more epic album to be found in there, though. Joe Walsh\u2019s \u2018In the City\u2019 is a nice slice of hard rock, and given the massive overdubs they put into the guitars on \u2018King of Hollywood\u2019 and those shoes, this had the makings of being an even more brutal dissection of the star-making machine. When it comes to the rest of the material, though, Henley has no plans to ever go back and reminisce. <\/p>\n The album itself was already a nightmare to make, and judging by their usual standards, Henley knew there was no point in digging in the vaults for some of those undiscovered gems, saying<\/a>, \u201cWe\u2019ve been through the vaults three or four times at the urging of the record label. There\u2019s nothing else there. There were a few things that got started for The Long Run, but they didn\u2019t have enough steam. They never got finished. If I had my way, they would never be released. Glenn wouldn\u2019t want them out.\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s not to say that every one of the songs from that time was downright awful by any stretch. It\u2019s easy to hear the fatigue that they all have from working too long, but since they were also finding time to cut loose on the record and even add in a subtle layer of R&B onto tunes like \u2018I Can\u2019t Tell You Why\u2019, there was definitely potential there to build on the fertile ground they were working with.<\/p>\n