Human Highway: The CSNY Album That Never Happened

Human Highway Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

Recorded: 1973 to 1976 Released: -- Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Genre: folk rock/classic rock

The Players: David Crosby (vocals, guitar) Stephen Stills (vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards, organ, piano, percussion) Graham Nash (vocals, piano, organ, rhythm guitar, percussion) Neil Young (vocals, guitar, keyboards, harmonica) The Follow-Up That Never Came After the massive success of Déjà Vu, the “four prominent singer-songwriters” AT went their separate ways. They all had success with solo endeavors, each reaching the top 10 on the Billboard album chart with gold-selling releases. However, “the legacy and the amazing four-part harmonies of CSNY begged for a reunion, and that is exactly what was intended in 1973.” AT From 1973 to 1976, the four assembled various times to record what was to be called Human Highway, but it never came to fruition. According to Graham, they had a definitive track list of ten songs, but it has never been revealed. WK He said, “We had great songs. It was going to be a great album…We had a great title. Human Highway? Are you kidding me? That's fabulous.” WK In his book Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young: The Wild, Definitive Saga of Rock's Greatest Supergroup, David Browne, called it “the Smile of the Seventies” (a reference to the Beach Boys’ famously unreleased album from the 1960s). WK He said, “They were still at the top of their game. It would’ve been a more mature, wiser, beaten-up Déjà Vu…What a missed opportunity.” WK Crosby endorsed a reconstruction of the album after Neil Young released his second archive collection in 2020. He said Human Highway “would have been the best one, man.” WK Hawaii 1973 The four went on vacation for a week in Hawaii in late May of 1973 to record. WK Nash said, “There was great music to be made. We had these great songs, like Neil's ‘Human Highway’ and ‘Maui Mama’ and we were rehearsing them on David’s boat and it was sounding great. We tried to put an album together – and it would have been a great album.” WK However, plans were shelved. Nash said, “I’m not even sure what happened now; it was so long ago.” WK In his memoir Wild Tales, he said, “some business, some cocaine thing, went down, and suddenly we weren’t talking to each other.” WK Broken Arrow Ranch The next effort at recording took place at Neil Young’s Broken Arrow Ranch in Redwood City, California. In addition to recording the title cut, they also tackled “See the Changes,” “And So It Goes,” “Wind on the Water,” “Prison Song,” “Carry Me,” and “Time After Time.” WK “Nash even organized a band photo-op as a possible album cover.” AT However, “The same old egos and preoccupations prevented the album from being finished.” AT Browne described rehearsals as “dysfunctional and uninspired.” WK In 1974, Stills told journalist Cameron Crowe, “I want to play. I want to sing. I want to make good records. And if that doesn't happen, I'm gone.” WK Winterland Ballroom After another set of failed recording sessions, the four went out on tour. They first performed an acoustic set at San Francisco’s Winterland Ballroom on October 4, 1973, at a Manassas concert. WK That set featured several songs from the Human Highway sessions, including the title cut, “As I Come of Age,” “Roll Another Number (For the Road),” “New Mama,” “And So It Goes,” and “Prison Song.” WK

1973 Recording Sessions

Song Title	Writer	Album Appearance	Record Date	Release Date	Notes
The Lee Shore	Crosby	CSN (box set)	12/28/69	9/30/91	3,6
As I Come of Age	Stills	Stills	Mar ‘73	6/23/75	2,3,4, 5,6
Prison Song	Nash	Wild Tales	April ‘73	1/2/74	1,4,6
And So It Goes	Nash	Wild Tales	June ‘73	1/2/74	1,4,5,6
On the Line	Nash	Wild Tales	June ‘73	1/2/74	2,5
Pardon My Heart	Young	--	May/June ‘73	--	1
See the Changes	Stills	CSN	6/28/73	6/17/77	1,4,5,6
Human Highway (1973)	Young	Archives Volume II: 1972-1976	6/29/73	11/20/20	1,4,5,6
New Mama	Young	Tonight’s the Night	Aug/Sep ‘73	6/20/75	3
First Things First	Stills	Stills	8/17/73	6/23/75	2,3,4,5
New Mama	Young	Archives Volume II: 1972-1976	9/10/73	11/20/20	--

1974 Reunions Concerts In the summer of 1974, the four embarked on a reunion tour that featured many songs from the Human Highway sessions, many of which were released in 2014 on the live box set CSNY 1974. The tour “showed the band in a harmonious and energetic shape.” AT The “three-to-four hour concerts allowed the quartet to showcase a number of new songs that would theoretically constitute the Human Highway album,” AT inspiring another effort at working together in the studio. More Recording Sessions In December of 1974, the four gathered in San Franciso at Nash’s basement studio. Disagreements ensued and Stills even sliced up Nash’s demo tape of Wind on the Water with a razor. Nash kicked Stills out of the house. WK The next effort was at the Record Plant where they worked on “Homeward Through the Haze.” Young left the sessions without any explanation. WK There was an attempted session in January 1975, but it was quickly abandoned. WK Crosby said, “We had been at each other’s faces for too long. If you put all of us together for very long we drain on each other quite a bit. At the end of that long tour, going into the studio was a hopeless cause. Still was burnt out. I was burnt. Even Nash was less than his usual self. And Neil. Neil, Mister Dependable. He came into the studio and said ‘Great, out of sight. I’ll be back tomorrow night’ and never showed up again. That kind of trip really doesn't encourage you to work.” WK Despite the disharmony, it is believed that the sessions produced “Different Tongues,” “Guardian Angel,” “Long May You Run,” “New Mama,” “Mutiny,” and the largely unknown “Western Witches.”

1974 Recording Sessions

Song Title	Writer	Album Appearance	Record Date	Release Date	Notes
Hawaiian Sunrise	Young	Archives Volume II: 1972-1976	6/16/1974	11/20/20	6
Pardon My Heart (1974)	Young	Archives Volume II: 1972-1976	6/16/74	11/20/20	--
Through My Sails	Young	Zuma	6/17/74	11/10/75	1,4,5,6
Goodbye Dick (live)	Young	CSNY 1974 (live box)	8/4/74	7/8/14	1
Traces (live)	Young	CSNY 1974 (live box)	8/21/74	7/8/14	1
Pushed It Over the End	Young	Archives Volume II: 1972-1976	8/27/74	11/20/20	3
Hawaiian Sunrise (live)	Young	CSNY 1974 (live box)	8/29/74	7/8/14	1
Love Art Blues (live)	Young	CSNY 1974 (live box)	8/29/74	7/8/14	1
Pushed It Over the End (live)	Young	CSNY 1974 (live box)	9/14/74	7/8/14	1
Love/Art Blues	Young	Archives Volume II: 1972-1976	12/10/74	11/20/20	3
Separate Ways	Young	Archives Volume II: 1972-1976	12/11/74	11/20/20	3
It’s All Right	Nash	unreleased concert film	1974	--	3
My Favorite Changes	Stills	Stills	1974	6/23/75	3
My Angel	Stills	Stills	1974	6/23/75	3
Myth of Sisyphus	Stills	Stills	1974	6/23/75	--
Homeward Through the Haze (CSNY)	Crosby	CSN (box set)	12/16/74	9/30/91	1,4,5,6
Homeward Through the Haze (CN)	Crosby	Wind on the Water	Dec ‘74	9/15/75	1
Wind on the Water	Nash	Wind on the Water	Dec. ‘74	9/15/75	3
Western Witches	Stills	--	1974	--	3

1975 Recording Sessions

Song Title	Writer	Album Appearance	Record Date	Release Date	Notes
Carry Me	Crosby	Wind on the Water	Mar. ‘75	11/8/75	3,4,6
Critical Mass	Crosby	Wind on the Water	?	9/15/75	3,6
Fieldworker	Songwriter	Wind on the Water	?	9/15/75	--
No One Seems to Know	Young	Archives Volume II: 1972-1976	9/11/75	11/20/20	--
Pardon My Heart (1975)	Young	Zuma	?	11/10/75	--

1976 Recording Sessions In 1976, Stills and Young were working on what became the Long May You Run album while Crosby & Nash were recording Whistling Down the Wire. Young invited Nash and Crosby to Florida to add vocals to an “album that Stills and Young essentially had in the can at that point, effectively transforming it into an official CSNY reunion.” AT Nash said Young “sent us some of the songs, and they were great songs – ‘Midnight on the Bay,’ and stuff like that. And so we went and spent about two weeks putting vocals onto all of the tracks.” WK Nash & Crosby then returned to Los Angeles to finish their album. With Stills & Young committed to a tour and wanting a new album out, they didn’t want to wait anymore and reverted to an album by just the two of them.

Song Title	Writer	Album Appearance	Record Date	Release Date	Notes
Long May You Run	Young	Long May You Run	2/5/76	9/20/76	--
Long May You Run	Young	Decade	2/5/76	10/8/77	1,4,5,6
Traces (1976)	Young	Archives Volume II: 1972-1976	2/8/76	11/20/20	3
Taken at All	Nash	CSN (box set)	4/1/76	9/30/91	1,4,5,6
Taken at All	Nash	Whistling Down the Wire	?	6/25/76	--
Ocean Girl	Young	Archives Volume II: 1972-1976	4/14/76	11/20/20	1,5
Midnight on the Bay	Young	Archives Volume II: 1972-1976	4/14/76	11/20/20	1,5,6
Human Highway (1976)	Young	Archives Volume II: 1972-1976	4/15/76	11/20/20	1,5
Black Coral (CSNY)	Stills	Carry On	4/19/76	2/12/13	1,4,5,6
Different Tongues	Stills	Illegal Stills	?	5/7/76	3
Stateline Blues	Stills	Illegal Stills	?	5/7/76	6
Time After Time	Crosby	Whistling Down the Wire	Mar/May ‘76	6/25/76	3,6
Mutiny	Nash	Whistling Down the Wire	?	6/25/76	3
Out of the Darkness	Crosby/ Nash/ Craig Doerge	Whistling Down the Wire	?	6/25/76	6
Broken Bird	Crosby/ Nash	Whistling Down the Wire	?	6/25/76	6
Black Coral (SY)	Stills	Long May You Run	Mar/May ‘76	9/20/76	--
Guardian Angel	Stills	Long May You Run	Mar/May ‘76	9/20/76	3
Let It Shine	Young	Long May You Run	Mar/May ‘76	9/20/76	3
Fontainebleau	Young	Long May You Run	Mar/May ‘76	9/20/76	--
Make Love to You	Stills	Long May You Run	Mar/May ‘76	9/20/76	--
Will to Love	Young	American Stars ‘N Bars	Mar/May ‘76	5/27/77	--
Treetop Flyer	Stills	Stills Alone	Mar/May ‘76	9/11/91	6
Little Blind Fish	?	--	Mar/May ‘76	--	1
Human Highway	Young	Comes a Time	?	10/21/78	--

Notes 1 Features all four members 2 Features Crosby, Stills & Nash 3 Songs rumored to have been intended for the album that were later re-recorded by individual members WK 4 Songs featured on the Albums That Never Were blog playlist 5 Songs featured on the SteveHoffman.tv playlist 6 Songs featured on the OntheRecords.net playlists Spotify Playlist Check out the Dave’s Music Database Spotify playlist for the above tracks.

Possible Track Listings for Single-Disc Album Versions Here are three possible track listings for the album.

Albums That Never Were Carry Me See the Changes Through My Sails Prison Song Homeward Through the Haze Black Coral First Things First Human Highway And So It Goes Taken at All Long May You Run As I Come of Age

SteveHoffman.tv Human Highway On the Line And So It Goes As I Come of Age First Things First Through My Sails See the Changes Homeward Through the Haze Ocean Girl Midnight on the Bay Taken at All Human Highway Black Coral Long May You Run

OnTheRecords.net See the Changes Human Highway Taken at All Long May You Run And So It Goes Critical Mass/Wind on the Water As I Come of Age Homeward Through the Haze Prison Song Through My Sails The Lee Shore Stateline Blues Out of the Darkness Treetop Flyer Time After Time Midnight on the Bay Black Coral Broken Bird Hawaiian Sunrise This is a consolidated version of two separate track listings offered at OnTheRecords.net.

Resources/References: AT Albums That Never Were blog SH SteveHoffman.tv OR OntheRecords.net WK Wikipedia.org Related DMDB Pages: First posted 3/18/2026; last updated 3/21/2026.

Genesis Wind & Wuthering released

Wind & Wuthering Genesis

Released: December 17, 1976 Peak: 26 US, 7 UK, 31 CN, 57 AU Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): 0.5 US, 0.1 UK, 3.5 world (includes US + UK), 4.09 EAS Genre: progressive rock

Tracks: Eleventh Earl of Mar [7:46] One for the Vine [10:01] Your Own Special Way [6:19] (2/26/77, 62 US, 87 CB, 91 HR, 36 CL, 43 UK) Wot Gorilla? [3:23] All in a Mouse’s Night [6:40] Blood on the Rooftops [5:29] Unquiet Slumbers for the Sleepers… [2:24] …In That Quiet Earth [4:50] Afterglow [4:11] Total Running Time: 51:03 Other Songs from This Era: Match of the Day [3:24] * Pigeons [3:12] * Inside and Out [6:45] * * Written during sessions for Wind & Wuthering. Released 5/20/1977 on Spot the Pigeon EP. The Players: Phil Collins (vocals, drums, percussion) Steve Hackett (guitar) Mike Rutherford (bass, guitar, backing vocals) Tony Banks (keyboards, backing vocals)

Rating: 3.436 out of 5.00 (average of 17 ratings)

About the Album Another album followed by year’s end. “Like its predecessor, the album fit into a progressive rock mode, but even the extended pieces…had a lighter texture and tone to much of its length and was typical of most art rock of the time.” BE The single, “Your Own Special Way,” gave the band their first taste of chart success in the U.S. “Wind & Wuthering followed quickly on the heels of A Trick of the Tail and they’re very much cut from the same cloth, working the same English eccentric ground that was the group's stock in trade since Trespass.” AM “A Trick of the Tail played like Genesis’ attempt at crafting a great Genesis record without Peter Gabriel” AM and this album stills shows the band “seeking the grandeur of the Gabriel years” JP as they “went mostly for the slow and momentous, complete with filibustering interludes that anesthetize the songs.” JP “Wind & Wuthering finds Genesis tentatively figuring out what their identity will be in this new phase of their career. The most obvious indication of this is Mike Rutherford’s Your Own Special Way, which is both the poppiest tune the group had cut and also the first that could qualify as a love song. It stands out on a record that is, apart from that, a standard Genesis record, but quite a good one in that regard.” AM Resources/References: AM AllMusic.com review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine JP Jon Pareles, Blender magazine (10/07). Pages 118-9. Related DMDB Pages: First posted 3/3/2010; last updated 9/14/2025.

Steve Miller Band “Fly Like an Eagle” charted

Fly Like an Eagle Steve Miller Band

Writer(s): Steve Miller (see lyrics here) Released: August 13, 1976 First Charted: December 11, 1976 Peak: 2 BB, 3 CB, 5 GR, 5 HR, 4 RR, 38 AC, 1 CL, 2 CN, 1 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 1.0 US Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 14.8 video, 146.05 streaming

Awards (Steve Miller Band): Click on award for more details. Awards (Seal):

About the Song: The Steve Miller Band was formed by its namesake I 1966 in San Francisco. They appeared at the Monterey Pop Festival in June 1967 and released their first album, Children of the Future, in 1968. Their real breakthrough, however, came in 1973 with The Joker, which reached #2 on the album chart and went platinum. It sparked the #1 tile cut which went five times platinum. It set them up for the even more successful Fly Like an Eagle in 1976. It reached #3 and sold four million copies. Lead single “Take the Money and Run” hit #11 and “Rock ‘N’ Me” topped the charts. The album, however, is “dominated by its title track, all bubbling synths and breathy boys, while everything percolates furiously beneath.” DT “Fly Like an Eagle” just missed out on the top spot, peaking at #2, but was the album’s only gold single. Miller said, “Originally, I wrote the lyrics as a political statement. The words were from the perspective of Native Americans and the despair they felt, especially after the Wounded Knee standoff with law enforcement earlier that year.” MM He continued, saying, “As I sang the song on the road, I came up with new lyrics and kept the ones I like best. At some point on tour, I broadened the lyrics’ focus, replacing ‘reservation’ with ‘revolution.’ I wanted to make the song’s message more universal.” MM When it came time to record the song, he lifted some of the guitar work from his own song “My Dark Hour.” He still thought “it needed more dimension and texture” MM so he picked up a cheap synthesizer. He created effects “that felt like an eagle taking off and flying.” MM He later “added the spacey overdubs…[and] the song sounded just right.” MM On the album, the minute-long instrumental is listed as a separate song, “Space Intro.” The two are often played together on the radio. SF In 1996, Seal covered the song for the movie Space Jam and reached #10 on the Billboard Hot 100. Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Steve Miller Band MM Marc Myers (12/6/2022). Anatomy of 55 More Songs. Grove Press: New York, NY. Pages 207-11. SF Songfacts DT Dave Thompson (2011). 1000 Songs That Rock Your World. Krause Publications: Iola, WI. Page 103. Related Links: First posted 10/2/2023.

The Eagles released Hotel California

Hotel California Eagles

Released: December 8, 1976 Charted: December 25, 1976 Peak: 18 US, 2 UK, 14 CN, 112 AU, 18 DF Sales (in millions): 26.0 US, 1.8 UK, 32.33 world (includes US and UK) Genre: classic rock

Tracks: (Click for codes to charts.) Hotel California (Don Henley/Glenn Frey/Don Felder) [6:30] (2/18/77, 1 BB, 1 CB, 1 GR, 1 HR, 1 RR, 10 AC, 1 CL, 8 UK, 1 CN, 60 AU, 1 DF) New Kid in Town (Don Henley/Glenn Frey/J.D. Souther) [5:04] (12/11/76, 1 BB, 2 CB, 2 GR, 3 HR, 1 RR, 2 AC, 43 CW, 1 CL, 20 UK, 1 CN, 16 AU, 7 DF) Life in the Fast Lane (Don Henley/Glenn Frey/Joe Walsh) [4:46] (4/15/77, 11 BB, 11 CB, 7 GR, 16 HR, 7 RR, 1 CL, 12 CN, 96 AU, 5 DF) Wasted Time (Don Henley/Glenn Frey) [4:55] (20 CL, 16 DF) Wasted Time (Reprise) (Don Henley/Glenn Frey/Jim Ed Norman) [1:22] (35 DF) Victim of Love (Don Henley/Glenn Frey/Don Felder/J.D. Souther) [4:11] (6 CL, 28 DF) Pretty Maids All in a Row (Joe Walsh/Joe Vitale) [4:05] (47 CL, 24 DF) Try and Love Again (Randy Meisner) [5:10] (47 CL, 28 DF) The Last Resort (Don Henley/Glenn Frey) [7:25] (11 CL, 3 DF) Total Running Time: 43:28 The Players: Don Henley (vocals, drums, percussion) Glenn Frey (vocals, guitars, keyboards) Don Felder (guitar, backing vocals) Randy Meisner (bass, vocals) Joe Walsh (guitar, keyboards, vocals)

Rating: 4.344 out of 5.00 (average of 23 ratings) Quotable: “Hotel California unveiled…a band…that made music worthy of the later tag of ‘classic rock’” – William Ruhlmann, AllMusic.com Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

Eagles 2.0 The 1976 version of the Eagles was far different than the group from just five years earlier. The band formed in 1971 with singer/guitarist Glenn Frey, singer/drummer Don Henley, guitarist/singer Bernie Leadon, and bassist/singer Randy Meisner. The four had served as backup singers for Linda Ronstadt and were experienced session musicians. TB They were “cosmic cowboys” CM who epitomized the country-rock sound, but “couldn’t rock convincingly.” AM However, Frey and Henley “were cowboys only as much as Brian Wilson was a surfer. Quite at home in Los Angeles, they hung with literate songwriters like Jackson Browne and tapped into the zeitgeist of the time which was, one way or another, decadence. Frey and Henley had an ear for hooks and they had built the Eagles into one of the biggest bands in America.” CM Still, they “never seemed to get a sound big enough for their ambitions.” AM They’d also “pretty much exhausted the cactus-and-tequila iconography of country rock as practiced by the Byrds and the Flying Burrito Brothers.” TM Leadon, “who had given the band much of its country flavor,” AM left the group in December 1975. “Normally personnel changes for bands of this stature are cataclysmic.” TM However, the pairing of new arrival Joe Walsh, “whose banshee wail and theatrical solos sparked the James Gang and such solo singles as ‘Rocky Mountain Way,’” TM with guitarist Don Felder [who’d come on board in 1974] gave the band more “arena-rock heft.” AM “The Eagles maintained their trademark vocal-harmony style, but where some of the group’s earlier work tended toward a pastoral, folksy feel, they now” TB had a “pronounced rock swagger.” TM In the Studio The Eagles entered the studio in March 1976. They recorded at Criteria Studios in Miami, Florida, as well as the Record Plant in Los Angeles.” TB They had “very little material prepared and watched the studio hours tick by as they struggled to come up with the music, arrangement, and lyrics. It was a torturously long process with Don Henley and Glenn Frey acting as dictators over the ensemble.” CRS The group “were notoriously perfectionist in the studio” CM and, in the interest of making “a big statement…would not rush anything.” CM They “were known to nitpick over every detail in a song, sometimes spending days getting a chorus just right.” CRS With occasional diversions into touring, they managed to drag the recording process out until October. With “changes in producer and personnel, as well as a noticeable growth in creativity, Hotel California unveiled what seemed almost like a whole new band.” AM “In the eighteen months between the release of their 1975 album One of These Nights and Hotel California in 1976, they made “a stylistic shift toward mainstream rock.” AM Henley and Frey got “in touch with a rock-star audacity they’d been missing.” TM This newer version of the Eagles “could be bombastic, but also one that made music worthy of the later tag of ‘classic rock,’ music appropriate for the arenas and stadiums the band was playing.” AM Themes Don Henley said, “It didn’t start out to be a concept album, but it became one after all.” CM His songs use “California as a metaphor for a dark, surreal world of dissipation; comments on the ephemeral nature of success and the attraction of excess; branches out into romantic disappointment; and finally sketches a broad, pessimistic history of America that borders on nihilism.” AM In simpler terms, Frey said, “We think that this album represents the whole world, not just California, as something elegant which has been corrupted.” CM “No record captured the spiritual decline of America better.” CM Ironically, the band’s statement on corruption and greed came to be a critique of the Eagles themselves. CM A Commercial Juggernaut The Eagles had been a consistent platinum-selling band through their first four albums with 1975’s One of These Nights reaching an enviable four million in sales in the U.S. Hotel California, however, became a monster, selling over 26 million copies in the United States – more than their first four albums combined. With estimates of worldwide sales between 32 and 42 million, the album also ranks as one of the twenty best-sellers of all time. The Songs Here’s insights into individual songs on the album. “New Kid in Town” Perhaps nervous about abandoning their country-rock audience, the first single, “the gently-sung ballad” TM New Kid in Town, was rooted in their old sound. It featured Glenn Frey, who’d also taken the lead on classic country-leaning Eagles songs “Take It Easy,” “Peaceful, Easy Feeling,” “Tequila Sunrise,” and “Lyin’ Eyes.” Fans embraced it, sending it all the way to #1. It was their third trip to the top, following the Don Henley-led “Best of My Love” and “One of These Nights.” The real test, however, would be how fans reacted to the rest of the album. “Hotel California” The title cut was more representative of the Eagles’ new, more classic-rock-oriented sound – and a shift toward Henley as “the band’s dominant voice, both as a singer and a lyricist.” AM He wrote or- co-wrote seven of the songs on the album. Still, Felder and Walsh also “perform an amazing guitar duet, establishing the Eagles’ rock foundation.” RV Hotel California was “a sprawling epic” TL became a staple at classic rock and “may be the group’s finest work.” RV The song “framed Hollywood…in terms so impressively vague they seemed mythic.” BL Henley said, “I meant it to be a symbolic piece about America in general, which is a land of excess. Lyrically the song deals with classical themes of conflict: darkness and light, good and evil, youth and age, the spiritual versus the secular. I guess you could say it’s a song about loss of innocence.” CM The song had “Satanic undertones that might have been subconsciously cribbed from Jethro Tull’s ‘We Used to Know’ when the bands toured together. As for the warm smell of colitas, fans are split on whether the word is Spanish slang for cannabis buds or an easy lay. Given the band and the era, the safest guess is both.” TL “Life in the Fast Lane” Nowhere is that stylistic shift of the album more apparent than on Life in the Fast Lane, “the album’s super-energized rock moment” TM which “drew a line between the band’s country-tinged past and rock and roll future.” TL The song “captured coke culture in a catchphrase.” BL It offered “the perspective of a brutal morning after…and celebrity excess.” TM The title was suggested to Frey as he and a coke dealer were zipping down the highway. CM “Wasted Time” and “The Last Resort” “If the title track defines the album, Wasted Time, The Last Resort, and ‘Life in the Fast Lane’ reinforce it.” CM The first two showcase Henley’s balladry at its best; “The Last Resort” may be the Eagles’ most overlooked epic. “Victim of Love” and “Try and Love Again” and “Pretty Maids All in a Row” The album also included “the retro Victim of Love” TM and Try and Love Again, “a plaintive country-rock ode that’s the album’s often-neglected masterstroke.” TM That was also Meisner’s only contribution to the album, both as lyricist and singer. Joe Walsh, meanwhile, contributed Pretty Maids All in a Row, an unexpected foray into balladry. Notes A 40th anniversary edition of the album included a live disc recorded at the L.A. Forum between October 20-22, 1976.

Review Sources: AM AllMusic.comreview by William Ruhlmann BL Blender (10/08). “100 Greatest American Albums” CM Toby Creswell & Craig Mathieson (2012). 100 Best Albums of All Time. Hardie Grant Books. Page 186. TM Tom Moon (2008). 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die. Workman Publishing Company, Inc.: New York, NY. Page 248. CRS Tim Morse (1998). Classic Rock Stories: The Stories Behind the Greatest Rock Songs of All Time. New York, NY: St. Martin's Griffin. Pages 187-8. RV The Review (Oct./Nov. 2001). “The 100 Greatest Albums of All Time” by Clarke Speicher TB Thunder Bay (2005). Albums: The Stories Behind 50 Years of Great Recordings. Thunder Bay Press; San Diego, CA. Pages 184-5. TL Time Magazine (11/13/2006). “All-TIME 100 Albums” by Josh Tyrangiel and Alan Light Related DMDB Links: First posted 3/11/2008; last updated 12/8/2024.