Don Henley came to prominence as drummer, singer, and songwriter with legendary 1970s country-rockers the Eagles, who virtually defined the laid-back, West Coast pop/rock sound of their era. After the group split, the ever-cantankerous Henley toughened things up considerably with his solo work. He made a splash straight out of the gate with the wry social commentary of "Dirty Laundry" from his 1982 debut album. He went on to even greater acclaim with 1984's "Boys of Summer" and his landmark 1989 album, THE END OF THE INNOCENCE, an elegiac affair that did for the late '80s what the Eagles did for the '70s. Henley reunited with his Eagles pals in 1994 for the "Hell Freezes Over" tour. The band would continue to play together sporadically for the next decade.
Japanese reissue packaged in a limited edition miniature LP sleeve.
Product Notes
Henley--arguably the most talented member of the Eagles--had toyed with playful pop hooks on his I Can't Stand Still solo bow in 1982. Two years later he got down to business on this brainy, politics-themed sophomore disc, which indicted his native Hollywood as venomously as "Hotel California" once did. Surfaces were still somewhat glossy--there's no denying the foot-tapping elan of "Boys of Summer or "All She Wants to Do Is Dance." But the vitriol roiling just beneath those surfaces was deep, intellectual stuff. Henley, as he continued to prove with the more eloquent The End of the Innocence a few years later, is someone his fans can neither underestimate nor predict. Can we say the same of Glenn Frey or Randy Meisner? --Tom Lanham
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