Showing posts with label Don Henley. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Don Henley. Show all posts

Monday, October 30, 2023

Eagles et al: Top 100 Songs

Eagles et al

Top 100 Songs

1972 lineup: l to r: Bernie Leadon, Don Henley, Randy Meisner, Glenn Frey

1994 lineup: l to r: Joe Walsh, Timothy B. Schmit, Don Henley, Don Felder, Glenn Frey

The rock/country group the Eagles formed in Los Angeles in 1971. They only released six studio albums during their original run in the 1970s, but are one of the most successful acts in music history. They had five #1 songs with “Best of My Love,” “One of These Nights,” “New Kid in Town,” “Hotel California,” and “Heartache Tonight.” The compilation Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975 is one of the best-selling albums in history.

Original members Glenn Frey (vocals, guitar), Don Henley (vocals, drums), Bernie Leadon (guitar, vocals), and Randy Meisner (bass, vocals) started out as Linda Ronstadt’s backing band. Meisner had previously worked with Poco (1968-69) and Leadon was with Dillard & Clark (1968-69) and the Flying Burrito Brothers (1969-71).

Don Felder (guitar, vocals) joined in 1974 and Joe Walsh (guitar, vocals), who’d previously recorded with the James Gang and as a solo artist, replaced Leadon in 1975. Meisner departed in 1977, replaced by Timothy B. Schmit (bass, vocals), who’d previously been with Poco (1969-77).

The brand broke up – seemingly for good – in 1980. Frey and Henley had successful solo careers. Frey, Henley, Felder, Walsh, and Schmit reunited for the Hell Freezes Over tour in 1994 and recorded four new songs. In 2007, absent Felder, they recorded their first new album in 28 years, Long Road Out of Eden.

After Frey’s death in January 2016, he was replaced on tour by his son Deacon Frey and country singer Vince Gill. Randy Meisner passed away in 2023.

Note: above links go to those acts’ DMDB music maker encyclopedia entries.

Other Links:

  • DMDB profile page for Eagles
  • DMDB music makers’ encyclopedia entry for Eagles

Click here to see other acts’ best-of lists.

Awards (Eagles):

Top 100 Songs

Dave’s Music Database lists are determined by song’s appearances on best-of lists, appearances on compilations and live albums by the featured act, and songs’ chart success, sales, radio airplay, streaming, and awards. Covers of Eagles’ songs have also been included in this list.

DMDB Top 1%:

1. Eagles “Hotel California” (1976)
2. Don Henley “The Boys of Summer” (1984)
3. Eagles “Take It Easy” (1972)

DMDB Top 2%:

4. Eagles “Desperado” (1973)
5. Eagles “Lyin’ Eyes” (1975)
6. Eagles “One of These Nights” (1975)
7. Eagles “New Kid in Town” (1976)

DMDB Top 5%:

8. Eagles “Heartache Tonight” (1979)
9. Eagles “I Can’t Tell You Why” (1979)
10. Eagles “Best of My Love” (1974)

11. Joe Walsh “Rocky Mountain Way” (1973)
12. Don Henley “Dirty Laundry” (1982)
13. Eagles “Life in the Fast Lane” (1976)
14. Eagles “Peaceful, Easy Feeling” (1972)
15. Eagles “Take It to the Limit” (1975)
16. Eagles “Please Come Home for Christmas” (1978)
17. Don Henley “The End of the Innocence” (1989)
18. Eagles “Tequila Sunrise” (1973)
19. Don Henley with Patty Smyth “Sometimes Love Just Ain’t Enough” (1992)
20. Joe Walsh “Life’s Been Good” (1978)

21. Eagles “The Long Run” (1979)
22. Don Henley “The Heart of the Matter” (1989)
23. Don Henley with Stevie Nicks “Leather and Lace” (1981)
24. Eagles “Witchy Woman” (1972)
25. Firefall (with Timothy B. Schmit on background vocals) “Just Remember I Love You” (1977)
26. Eagles “Already Gone” (1974)

DMDB Top 10%:

27. Eagles “Seven Bridges Road” (live, 1980)
28. Don Henley “All She Wants to Do Is Dance” (1984)
29. Don Henley “Sunset Grill” (1984)
30. James Gang “Funk #49” (1970)

31. James Gang “Walk Away” (1971)
32. Glenn Frey “The Heat Is On” (1984)
33. Glenn Frey “You Belong to the City” (1985)
34. Eagles “Get Over It” (1994)
35. Glenn Frey “Smuggler’s Blues” (1984)
36. Joe Walsh “All Night Long” (1980)
37. Eagles “Hole in the World” (2003)
38. Don Henley “New York Minute” (1989)
39. Joe Walsh “A Life of Illusion” (1981)
40. Don Henley “Not Enough Love in the World” (1984)

DMDB Top 20%:

41. Poco “Rose of Cimarron” (1976)
42. Eagles “Learn to Be Still” (1994)
43. Eagles “Love Will Keep Us Alive” (1994)
44. Linda Ronstadt “Desperado” (1973)
45. Glenn Frey “The One You Love” (1982)
46. Don Felder “Heavy Metal (Takin’ a Ride)” (1981)
47. Eagles “How Long” (2007)
48. Eagles “The Last Resort” (1986)
49. Don Henley “The Last Worthless Evening” (1989)
50. Don Henley “I Can’t Stand Still” (1982)

51. Eagles “Victim of Love” (1976)
52. Don Henley “Through Your Hands” (1996)
53. Glenn Frey “True Love” (1988)
54. Glenn Frey “Sexy Girl” (1984)
55. Eagles “James Dean” (1974)
56. Eagles “In the City” (1979)
57. Travis Tritt “Take It Easy” (1993)
58. Clint Black “Desperado” (1993)
59. Poco “Keep on Tryin’” (1975)
60. Don Henley “Come Rain or Come Shine” (1995)

61. Joe Walsh “Space Age Whiz Kids” (1983)
62. Joe Walsh “The Confessor” (1985)
63. Don Henley “Taking You Home” (2000)
64. Poco “You Better Think Twice” (1970)
65. Randy Meisner “Never Been in Love” (1982)
66. Randy Meisner “Hearts on Fire” (1980)
67. Flying Burrito Brothers “Wild Horses’ (1970)
68. Jackson Browne “Take It Easy” (1973)
69. Don Henley “Johnny Can’t Read” (1982)
70. Eagles “Outlaw Man” (1973)

71. Don Henley “How Bad Do You Want It?” (1989)
72. John Anderson “Heartache Tonight” (1993)
73. Glenn Frey “Part of You, Part of Me” (1991)
74. Don Henley “Who Owns This Place?” (1986)
75. Eagles “Those Shoes” (1979)

Beyond the DMDB Top 20%:

76. Glenn Frey “Party Town” (1982)
77. Glenn Frey “I Found Somebody” (1982)
78. Randy Meisner “Deep Inside My Heart” (1980)
79. Joe Walsh “The Radio Song” (1987)
80. Poco “Indian Summer” (1977)

81. Don Henley “A Month of Sundays” (1984)
82. The Gipsy Kings “Hotel California” (1990)
83. Don Henley “Drivin’ with Your Eyes Closed” (1984)
84. Johnny Cash with Don Henley “Desperado” (2002)
85. Joe Walsh “Turn to Stone” (1972)
86. Joe Walsh “Meadows” (1973)
87. Joe Walsh “Ordinary Average Guy” (1991)
88. Glenn Frey “All Those Lies” (1982)
89. Eagles “Wasted Time” (1976)
90. James Gang “Midnight Man” (1971)

91. Eagles “Ol’ ‘55” (1974)
92. Timothy B. Schmit “Boys Night Out” (1987)
93. Eagles “No More Cloudy Days” (2005)
94. Eagles “After the Thrill Is Gone” (1975)
95. Eagles “The Sad Café” (1979)
96. Poco “C’mon” (1971)
97. Joe Walsh “Vote for Me” (1992)
98. Don Henley “The Garden of Allah” (1995)
99. Bruce Springsteen “Take It Easy” (live, 2016)
100. Little River Band with Glenn Frey “Take It Easy/Lyin’ Eyes” (live, 1988)

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First posted 7/22/2017; last updated 10/30/2023.

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Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Eagles return with Long Road Out of Eden, first studio album in 28 years

Long Road Out of Eden

Eagles

Released: October 30, 2007

Peak: 11 US, 11 UK, 2 CN, 16 AU

Sales (in millions): 7.0 US *, 0.6 UK, 8.2 world (includes US and UK)

Genre: heritage rock

* Actual sales were 3.5 million, but because it was a double album, it was certified for twice that.

Tracks, Disc 1:

Song Title (Writers) [time] (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts.

  1. No More Walks in the Wood
  2. How Long (8/16/07, 10 AC, 23 CW, 76 CN)
  3. Busy Being Fabulous (2/9/08, 12 AC, 28 CW)
  4. What Do I Do with My Heart (2008, 13 AC)
  5. Guilty of the Crime
  6. I Don’t Want to Hear Anymore (2009, 23 AC)
  7. Waiting in the Weeds
  8. No More Cloudy Days (7/9/05, 3 AC)
  9. Fast Company
  10. Do Something
  11. You Are Not Alone

Tracks, Disc 2:

  1. Long Road Out of Eden
  2. I Dreamed There Was No War
  3. Somebody
  4. Frail Grasp on the Big Picture
  5. Last Good Time in Town
  6. I Love to Watch a Woman Dance
  7. Business As Usual
  8. Center of the Universe
  9. It’s Your World Now

Total Running Time: 90:53

The Players:

  • Glenn Frey (vocals, guitar, keyboards)
  • Don Henley (vocals, drums)
  • Timothy B. Schmit (bass, vocals)
  • Joe Walsh (guitar, vocals, keyboards)

Rating:

3.960 out of 5.00 (average of 15 ratings)

Quotable: “An album meticulously crafted to fit within the band’s legacy without tarnishing it” – Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album:

After 1979’s The Long Run and a live album the next year, the Eagles disappeared for 14 years. They were widely embraced when they returned 14 years later with 1994’s mostly live album Hell Freezes Over. They cashed in on that reunion, “driving up ticket prices into the stratosphere as they played gigs on a semi-regular basis well into the new millennium.” AMG They released a box set, which contained their 1999 Millenium Concert, a 2005 DVD of yet another tour outing, and a 2003 2-disc compilation.

However, it wasn’t until 2007 that they released a full-fledged studio album. “It could be that they were running out some contractual clause somewhere, it could be that they were waiting for the money to be right, or the music to be right.” AMG

When they finally did come out with Long Road Out of Eden, they did so with little fanfare, “indulging in few interviews and bypassing conventional retail outlets in favor of an exclusive release” AMG in which the album was only available in North America through their website or Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club stores. AMG Billboard magazine controversially reversed a policy under which such exclusive releases were inelligible to chart, allowing the album to debut at #1.

As for the actual material, it is “crafted to evoke the spirit and feel of the Eagles’ biggest hits…The J.D. Souther-written How Long recalls ‘Take It Easy,’ the stiff funk of Frail Grasp on the Big Picture echoes back to the clenched riffs of ‘Life in the Fast Lane,’ and while perhaps these aren’t exact replicas, there’s no denying it’s possible to hear echoes of everything from ‘Lyin’ Eyes’ and ‘Desperado’ to ‘Life in the Fast Lane,’ and Timothy B. Schmit turns Paul Carrack’s I Don’t Want to Hear Anymore into a soft rock gem to stand alongside his own ‘I Can’t Tell You Why.’” AMG

“These tunes…but sonically… play as companions to Henley’s brooding end-of-the-‘80s hit The End of the Innocence, both in their heavy-handed sobriety and deliberate pace and their big-budget production.” AMG “The Eagles…sound utterly disconnected from modern times, no matter how hard Don Henley strives to say something, anything about the wretched state of the world on Long Road Out of Eden, ‘Frail Grasp on the Big Picture,’ and Business as Usual.” AMG However, “it’s all executed well and the doggedly out-of-fashion sonics only make the songs more reminiscent of the Eagles’ older records, especially if their solo work from the ‘80s is part of the equation.” AMG “It often manages to avoid sounding crass, as the songs are usually strong and the sound is right, capturing the group’s peaceful, easy harmonies and Joe Walsh’s guitar growl in equal measure.” AMG

On the second disc, “Walsh spends seven minutes grooving on Last Good Time in Town as if he were a Southwestern Jimmy Buffett with a worldbeat penchant, Glenn Frey sings Jack Tempchin and John Brannen’s Somebody as if it were a sedated, cheerful ‘Smuggler’s Blues,’ and the whole thing feels polished with outdated synthesizers.” AMG

If disc 2 “seem a bit like the Eagles’ lost album from the Reagan years, the first disc recalls their mellow country-rock records of the ‘70s – that is, if Joe Walsh had been around to sing Frankie Miller’s blues-rocker Guilty of the Crime to balance out Henley and Frey’s Busy Being Fabulous and What Do I Do with My Heart, a counterpoint that serves the band well.” AMG

“That first disc is the stronger of the two, but the two discs do fit together well, as they wind up touching upon all of the band’s different eras…it’s an album meticulously crafted to fit within the band’s legacy without tarnishing it.” AMG

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First posted 3/26/2008; last updated 8/20/2021.

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Tuesday, November 8, 1994

Eagles reunite with Hell Freezes Over

11/8/1994:
First posted 3/26/2008; updated 9/16/2020.

Hell Freezes Over

Eagles

Released: November 8, 1994

Recorded: 1994

Peak: 12 US, 28 UK, 11 CN, 23 AU

Sales (in millions): 8.0 US, 0.1 UK, 12.1 world (includes US and UK)

Genre: classic rock

Tracks: Click for codes to singles charts.

  1. Get Over It (10/22/94, 31 US, 4 AR, 21 AC, 4 CN, 74 AU) *
  2. Love Will Keep Us Alive (12/17/94, 22a US, 1 AC, 52 UK, 10 AU) *
  3. The Girl from Yesterday (11/12/94, 58 CW) *
  4. Learn to Be Still (1/21/95, 61a US, 33 AR, 15 AC, 9 CN) *
  5. Tequila Sunrise
  6. Hotel California
  7. Wasted Time
  8. Pretty Maids All in a Row
  9. I Can’t Tell You Why
  10. New York Minute (Don Henley solo song) (11/3/90, 48 US, 24 AR, 5 AC)
  11. The Last Resort
  12. Take It Easy
  13. In the City
  14. Life in the Fast Lane
  15. Desperado
* Studio cuts. Chart figures are only for those songs not previously featured on any Eagles’ albums.

Total Running Time: 72:36

The Players:

  • Glenn Frey (vocals, guitar, keyboards)
  • Don Henley (vocals, drums)
  • Don Felder (guitar, vocals, mandolin)
  • Timothy B. Schmit (bass, vocals)
  • Joe Walsh (guitar, vocals, organ)

Rating:

3.582 out of 5.00 (average of 19 ratings)

Awards:

About the Album:

“The Eagles’ first newly recorded album in 14 years gets off to a good start with the rocker Get Over It, a timely piece of advice about accepting responsibility, followed by the tender ballad Love Will Keep Us Alive, the country-styled The Girl from Yesterday, and Learn to Be Still, one of Don Henley's more thoughtful statements.” AMG

“Unfortunately, that’s it. Hell Freezes Over contains an EP’s worth of new material followed by a live album. The Eagles, known for meticulously recreating their studio recordings in concert, nevertheless released Eagles Live in 1980. Six songs from that set reappear here, and only one is in a noticeably different arrangement, Hotel California, which gets an acoustic treatment.” AMG

“As was true on Eagles Live, the group remains most interested in their later material, redoing five songs from the Hotel California LP and two from its follow-up, The Long Run, but finding space for only three songs from their early days, Tequila Sunrise, Take It Easy, and Desperado, the last two of which were also on Eagles Live.” AMG

“As such, Hell Freezes Over is hard to justify as anything other than a souvenir for the Eagles’ reunion tour. That, however, did not keep it from topping the charts and selling in the millions.” AMG

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Saturday, September 21, 1985

John Mellencamp “Rain on the Scarecrow” charted

Rain on the Scarecrow

John Cougar Mellencamp

Writer(s): John Mellencamp, George M. Green (see lyrics here)

Released: April 1986

First Charted: September 21, 1985

Peak: 21 US, 28 CB, 19 GR, 26 RR, 16 AR, 5 DF (Click for codes to charts.)

Sales (in millions): --

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 8.8 video, -- streaming

Awards:

Click on award for more details.

About the Song:

John Mellencamp was born in Seymour, Indiana in 1951. He released his first album, Chestnut Street Incident, in 1976. He achieved superstar status in 1982 with fifth album, American Fool, a five-time platinum seller which reached #1 on the Billboard album chart. It began a streak of five consecutive platinum-selling, top-ten albums. 1985’s Scarecrow was the biggest of them. It also sold five million copies and generated five top-40 hits. The album’s first three singles (“Lonely Ol’ Night,” “Small Town,” and “R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A.”) were all top-10 hits. The fourth single, “Rain on the Scarecrow,” didn’t do as well as its predecessors, but “it holds up as well if not better than any of those hits.” AS

It is “a fierce, downcast track written from the perspective of a man pushed to the brink by the pressures of making a living via agriculture.” AS Mellencamp and collaborator George Green (who also co-wrote “Hurts So Good”) were talking about towns that were disappearing and people who were losing their farms which had, in some cases, been in their families for generations. It ranks alongside “King Harvest Has Surely Come” by the Band and “A Month of Sundays” by Don Henley as “one of the best songs about the sadder side of the farming life.” AS

“That sense of heartbreak mixes with potent anger as Mellencamp inhabits the harried protagonist with uncanny authenticity in one of his most memorable vocals. Amidst stomping drums and cutting guitars, he sets the scene with brutal efficiency in the first few lines: ‘Scarecrow on a wooden cross, blackbird in the barn / Four hundred empty acres that used to be my farm.’” AS

Cashbox called it “solid riveting rock and roll from an American treasure” WK that is an “impassioned plea on behalf of America’s small farmers.” WK Billboard said it has a “raw rage and bleak visions of a disintegrating way of life.” WK

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First posted 12/24/2022; last updated 12/26/2022.

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Monday, December 31, 1984

Dave’s Faves: My Album Collection in 1984

Dave’s Faves:

My Album Collection in 1984

By year’s end, this was what my collection looked like. Albums acquired in 1984 are noted with an asterisk.

  1. Air Supply Lost in Love (1980)
  2. Air Supply The One That You Love (1981)
  3. Asia Asia (1982)
  4. Asia Alpha (1983)

  5. The Beatles Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)
  6. The Beatles Magical Mystery Tour (1967)
  7. The Beatles Hey Jude (1968)
  8. The Beatles 1962-1966 (compilation: 1962-66, released 1973)
  9. The Beatles 1967-1970 (compilation: 1967-70, released 1973)
  10. Pat Benatar Crimes of Passion (1980) *
  11. Pat Benatar Get Nervous (1982)
  12. Pat Benatar Live from Earth (live, 1983) *
  13. Pat Benatar Tropico (1984) *
  14. Blondie Parallel Lines (1978)
  15. Blondie Eat to the Beat (1979)
  16. Chicago Chicago 16 (1982)
  17. Chicago Chicago 17 (1984) *

  18. Def Leppard Pyromania (1983)
  19. John Denver Greatest Hits (compilation: 1969-72, released 1973)
  20. Dennis DeYoung Desert Moon (1984) *
  21. Neil Diamond The Jazz Singer (soundtrack, 1980)

  22. Eurythmics In the Garden (1981) *
  23. Eurythmics Sweet Dreams Are Made of This (1983) *
  24. Eurythmics Touch (1983) *
  25. Dan Fogelberg Greatest Hits (compilation: 1972-82, released 1982)
  26. Foreigner 4 (1981)
  27. Foreigner Records (compilation: 1976-82, released 1982)
  28. Foreigner Agent Provocateur (1984) *

  29. J. Geils Band Freeze Frame (1981)
  30. Genesis Genesis (1983) *

  31. Daryl Hall & John Oates H2O (1982)
  32. Daryl Hall & John Oates Rock ‘N’ Soul Part I (compilation: (1973-83, released 1983)
  33. Don Henley Building the Perfect Beast (1984) *

  34. Michael Jackson Off the Wall (1979) *
  35. Michael Jackson Thriller (1982)
  36. Billy Joel The Stranger (1977) *
  37. Billy Joel The Nylon Curtain (1982)
  38. Billy Joel An Innocent Man (1983)
  39. Journey Escape (1981)
  40. Journey Frontiers (1983)

  41. Cyndi Lauper She’s So Unusual (1983) *
  42. Huey Lewis & the News Sports (1983) *

  43. Barry Manilow Greatest Hits (compilation, released 1978)
  44. John Cougar (Mellencamp) American Fool (1982)
  45. John Cougar Mellencamp Uh-Huh (1983) *
  46. Men at Work Business As Usual (1981)
  47. Men at Work Cargo (1983)

  48. Olivia Newton-John Greatest Hits (compilation: 1971-76, released 1977)
  49. Olivia Newton-John Totally Hot (1978)
  50. Olivia Newton-John/Electric Light Orchestra Xanadu (soundtrack, 1980)
  51. Olivia Newton-John Physical (1981)
  52. Olivia Newton-John’s Olivia’s Greatest Hits Vol. 2 (compilation: 1978-82, released 1982)
  53. Stevie Nicks The Wild Heart (1983)

  54. Alan Parsons Project The Best of (compilation: 1977-83, released 1983) *
  55. Alan Parsons Project Ammonia Avenue (1984) *
  56. Steve Perry Street Talk (1984) *
  57. The Police Ghost in the Machine (1981)
  58. The Police Synchronicity (1983)
  59. Prince & the Revolution Purple Rain (1984) *

  60. Queen Greatest Hits (compilation: 1973-81, released 1981)

  61. REO Speedwagon Wheels Are Turnin’ (1984) *
  62. Kenny Rogers Greatest Hits (compilation: 1977-80, released 1980)

  63. Lionel Richie Can’t Slow Down (1983) *

  64. Bruce Springsteen Born in the U.S.A. (1984) *
  65. Styx Styx II (1973)
  66. Styx Equinox (1975) *
  67. Styx The Grand Illusion (1977)
  68. Styx Pieces of Eight (1978) *
  69. Styx Cornerstone (1979)
  70. Styx Paradise Theater (1981)
  71. Styx Kilroy Was Here (1983)
  72. Styx Caught in the Act (live, 1984) *

  73. Toto Toto IV (1982)

  74. John Williams (composer) Star Wars IV: A New Hope (soundtrack, 1977)

  75. Yes The Yes Album (1971) *
  76. Yes Fragile (1971) *
  77. Yes Classic Yes (compilation: 1971-77, released 1981) *
  78. Yes 90125 (1983) *

    Various Artists:

  79. Flashdance (soundtrack, 1983)
  80. Footloose (soundtrack, 1984) *
  81. K-Tel: High Energy (1979)
  82. K-Tel: Starflight (1979)
  83. K-Tel: Wings of Sound (1979)
  84. Two of a Kind (soundtrack, 1983)

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First posted 8/31/2021.

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Monday, November 19, 1984

Don Henley released Building the Perfect Beast

Building the Perfect Beast

Don Henley

Released: November 19, 1984

Peak: 13 US, 14 UK, 17 CN, 4 AU, 16 DF Click for codes to charts.

Sales (in millions): 3.0 US, 0.06 UK, 3.06 world (includes US and UK)

Genre: classic rock

Tracks:

Click on a song titled for more details.
  1. The Boys of Summer [4:45]
  2. You Can’t Make Love [3:34]
  3. Man with a Mission [2:43]
  4. You’re Not Drinking Enough [4:40]
  5. Not Enough Love in the World [3:54]
  6. Building the Perfect Beast [4:59]
  7. All She Wants to Do Is Dance [4:28]
  8. A Month of Sundays [4:31]
  9. Sunset Grill [6:22]
  10. Drivin’ with Your Eyes Closed [3:41]
  11. Land of the Living [3:24]

Total Running Time: 47:01

Rating:

3.966 out of 5.00 (average of 26 ratings)

Awards:

(Click on award to learn more).

Henley’s Second Solo Outing

The Eagles were one of the most successful acts of the 1970s, landing five multi-platinum albums and five #1 singles. When the members went their separate ways, they “faced the Eighties with a much less certain hold on their audience.” RS While Glenn Frey and others “steered a safe, commercial course” RS Henley wrote “and recorded songs with a sociopolitical conscience, working at a painstaking pace,” RS releasing only three albums in the decade.

When he embarked on a a solo career, he pondered if he could do it alone. He wondered about putting another band together before saying, “Nah, I can do this.” UCR That first outing was was 1982’s I Can’t Stand Still. The lead single, “Dirty Laundry,” was a #3 hit and propelled the album to #24 on the Billboard album chart and gold status. “Compared to the commercial heights he’d reached as a member of the Eagles, however, that was small potatoes – and a far from definitive statement for a singer-songwriter seeking to define himself as an artist in his own right.” UCR

The follow-up album, 1984’s Building the Perfect Beast, was much more successful, reaching #13 and going triple platinum. It also went a long way in defining the kind of artist Henley wanted to be. He said, “I drank a lot of Scotch making that first album…And then after it was done, I figured, ‘Yeah, I can do this,’ so this album was much more confident. ... I stretched further and took more chances.’” UCR

Sound of the ‘80s

The album’s drum “machine-assisted arrangements,” UCR “synthesizer sounds and crisp production” AM are hallmarks of ‘80s pop music and these songs definitely “seem crafted for pop radio.” AM “Unlike most pop in the 1980s, however, Henley had deep intellectual themes” AM beneath it. “Building the Perfect Beast is a meticulously crafted and programmed set of songs about love and politics.” RS

The album finds him “deepening the pointed observations on human relationships that had always defined his best work” UCR such as on “the wistful, gorgeous ‘Boys of Summer.’” RS In general, “the first side is given to personal reflections on love and loss…Side two is more issue oriented.” RS

“Although the politics and the sound of the album make the decade of release easy to place, Henley’s earnest delivery and universal messages give many of the tracks a timeless feel, which is no small feat. This is Henley’s most consistent album, and it is the place to start for those wanting to sample his solo work.” AM

Danny Kortchmar

Henley brings in guitarist Danny Kortchmar as a co-songwriter (and even sole songwriter on a couple of tracks). He “made a name for himself as a producer and co-writer with many artists in Henley’s peer group” UCR working with James Taylor, Jackson Browne, and others. Through two years of writing, Henley and “Kootch” “developed a level of trust and communication that allowed Henley the opportunity to take new risks.” UCR

Danny helps give the songs arrangements that “are more varied and generally edgier than the Eagles’ easy-rolling songs – a development consistent with Henley’s growing politicization.” RS

Henley said, “Maybe what I’m trying to do is find a purpose for being in the music business…I’m trying to make people think a little bit and be aware of things. Maybe rock & roll is not the vehicle for this sort of thing – but I don't see why it can’t be.’” RS

Other Musicians

Henley also “employed a long list of session ringers” UCR including bassist Pino Palladino, drummer Jim Keltner, Toto’s Steve Porcaro and David Paich, and Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench from Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers. The album also features appearances from Lindsey Buckingham (Fleetwood Mac), Belinda Carlisle (the Go-Go’s), Martha Davis (the Motels), Sam Moore (Sam & Dave), Randy Newman, Charlie Sexton, JD Souther, and Patty Smyth (Scandal).

He also “set about building the perfect solo band, intending to up his game when it came time to take the new songs on the road.” UCR He said, “I wanted some new, fresh people, so I just went out looking for them. I went to clubs all over town…I held auditions for three or four weeks. I must have gone through God knows how many guitar players. It was excruciating.’” UCR

Awards

Building the Perfect Beast garnered five Grammy nominations, winning Best Male Vocal Performance for “The Boys of Summer.” That song was also nominated for Song and Record of the Year. Henley also won four MTV Video Music Awards in 1985, including Video of the Year for “The Boys of Summer.”

The Songs

Here’s a breakdown of each of the individual songs.

The Boys of Summer

Don Henley

Writer(s): Don Henley, Mike Campbell (see lyrics here)

Released: single (10/26/1984), Building the Perfect Beast (1984)

B-side: “A Month of Sundays”

Peak: 5 BB, 6 CB, 6 GR, 6 RR, 33 AC, 15 AR, 12 UK, 15 CN, 3 AU, 1 DF Click for codes to charts.

Sales (in millions): 0.20 UK

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 64.0 video, 686.53 streaming

Awards:

(Click on award to learn more).

About the Song:

“The Boys of Summer” was the lead single from Building the Perfect Beast, Don Henley’s second solo album after the Eagles disbanded in 1980. The title of the song comes from a book about the Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team by Roger Kahn. However, the song isn’t about baseball. Henley used the title “to represent everything youthful and vibrant with which the narrator can no longer compete.” AS Henley explained that it “is about aging and questioning the past.” WK The narrator is nostalgic about a past relationship, convinced that he can win his ex back once she gives up on fleeting romances with the boys of summer.

There is a reference in the lyrics to a Deadhead sticker on a Cadillac. Henley said it was “an example of his generation selling out.” WK While driving on the San Diego freeway, he actually saw a Cadillac Seville – what he called “the status symbol of the right-wing upper-middle-class American bourgeoisie” – with a Grateful Dead bumper sticker on it. SF

Mike Campbell, “Tom Petty’s right-hand man,” SF created the rhythm on a drum machine and offered it to Petty, but the synthesizers didn’t fit with the album, Southern Accents, that they were doing at the time. Jimmy Iovine, who was producing the album, connected Campbell with Don Henley who then wrote lyrics for it and said he wanted to record it. Campbell ended up playing guitar on the song and producing. SF

The black-and-white video was directed by French graphic designer/photographer Jean-Baptiste Mondino. It shows the main character as a boy, young adult, and middle-aged man – each reminiscing about a past relationship. It won Video of the Year and three other awards at the MTV Video Music Awards in 1985.

In 2003, the Ataris did a pop-punk cover of the song which reached #20 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #2 on the alternative-rock chart. The Hooters also covered the song in 2007.

You Can’t Make Love

Don Henley

Writer(s): Don Henley, Danny Kortchmar

Released: Building the Perfect Beast (1984)

Peak: 4 DF Click for codes to charts.

Sales (in millions): --

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 1.90 streaming

About the Song:

Had a fifth single been released from Building the Perfect Beast, this seems the most likely candidate. The song features Lindsey Buckingham on guitar and harmony vocals.

Man with a Mission

Don Henley

Writer(s): Don Henley, Danny Kortchmar, J.D. Souther

Released: B-side of “Not Enough Love in the World” (May 1985), B-side of “Sunset Grill” (August 1985), Building the Perfect Beast (1984)

Peak: 32 DF Click for codes to charts.

Sales (in millions): --

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 0.03 streaming

About the Song:

The weakest track on Building the Perfect Beast was inexplicably slated as the B-side for not just one, but two of the album’s singles. Charlie Sexton makes an appearance on guitar and Belinda Carlisle provides harmony vocals. The song was co-written by JD Souther.

You’re Not Drinking Enough

Don Henley

Writer(s): Danny Kortchmar

Released: Building the Perfect Beast (1984)

Peak: 29 DF Click for codes to charts.

Sales (in millions): --

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 1.44 streaming

About the Song:

This beautiful song was written solely by Danny Kortchmar. It features Sam Moore (famously of Sam & Dave) on harmony vocals.

Not Enough Love in the World

Don Henley

Writer(s): Don Henley, Danny Kortchmar, Benmont Tench

Released: single (May 1985), Building the Perfect Beast (1984)

B-side: “Man with a Mission”

Peak: 34 BB, 30 BA, 29 CB, 25 GR, 30 RR, 6 AC, 17 AR, 63 CN, 7 DF Click for codes to charts.

Sales (in millions): --

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 0.42 video, 5.33 streaming

About the Song:

This was the third single from Building the Perfect Beast. This ballad served as a predecessor to the adult contemporary fare that Henley mastered on his third album, 1989’s The End of the Innocence. Cher covered the song on her 1996 album It’s a Man’s World. It was released as a single, reaching #31 in the UK.

Building the Perfect Beast

Don Henley

Writer(s): Don Henley, Danny Kortchmar

Released: B-side of “All She Wants to Do Is Dance” (February 1985), Building the Perfect Beast (1984)

Peak: 7 DF Click for codes to charts.

Sales (in millions): --

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 0.02 streaming

About the Song:

The album’s title cut tackles the topic of genetic engineering. RS JD Souther adds “chant voices” to the track along with Patty Smyth, Martha Davis, and Waddy Wachtel.

All She Wants to Do Is Dance

Don Henley

Writer(s): Danny Kortchmar

Released: single (February 1985), Building the Perfect Beast (1984)

B-side: “Building the Perfect Beast”

First Charted: 1/26/1985

Peak: 9 BB, 9 CB, 8 GR, 6 RR, 12 AR, 13 CN, 1 DF Click for codes to charts.

Sales (in millions): --

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 4.20 video, 43.93 streaming

About the Song:

The second single from Don Henley’s second solo album gave him his fourth top-10 solo hit on the Billboard Hot 100, following 1981’s “Leather and Lace” (#6, with Stevie Nicks), 1982’s “Dirty Laundry” (#3) and “The Boys of Summer” (#5) from Building the Perfect Beast. It was also his third time to top the album rock chart. The song features backing vocals from Patty Smyth and Martha Davis.

The song’s upbeat, danceable beat betrays more serious lyrical content. Written solely by Danny Kortchmar, the song addresses “America’s reckless foreign policy.” RS It criticizes the United States’ intervention in Central America, particularly the Reagan administration’s funding of the right-wing Contras group to overthrow the government in Nicaragua.

A Month of Sundays

Don Henley

Writer(s): Don Henley

Released: B-side of “The Boys of Summer” (10/26/1984), Building the Perfect Beast (1984)

Peak: 3 DF Click for codes to charts.

Sales (in millions): --

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 0.99 streaming

Awards:

(Click on award to learn more).

About the Song:

Far Out magazine’s Tim Coffman called this “the most gripping song Don Henley ever made.” FO The only song on Building the Perfect Beast to be written solely by Henley “reads like a slice-of-life poem that happens to be set to music.” FO

Henley grew up in Texas as the son of blue-collar workers surrounded by farmland. He sings “A Month of Sundays” from the perspective of a farmer watching his livelihood replaced by assembly lines. He also laments losing his better half, although we’re never sure what happened to her. It’s a “gut-wrenching” FO tale. “You can’t help but feel for this man at the end of his life, wondering where everything went wrong.” FO

Sunset Grill

Don Henley

Writer(s): Don Henley, Danny Kortchmar, Benmont Tench

Released: single (August 1985), Building the Perfect Beast (1984)

B-side: “Man with a Mission”

First Charted: 12/15/1984

Peak: 22 BB, 20 CB, 11 GR, 14 RR, 18 AC, 7 AR, 52 CN, 1 DF Click for codes to charts.

Sales (in millions): --

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 5.90 video, 0.07 streaming

Awards:

(Click on award to learn more).

About the Song:

“Henley has a gift for writing about the heart and soul of America and for mixing his love for the country and small-town life.” AM “The album's longest and most ambitious piece, ‘Sunset Grill,’ describes in disturbingly vivid images a character’s sense of entrapment in an evil, convulsive metropolis: ‘You see a lot more meanness in the city / It’s the kind that eats you up inside / Hard to come away with anything that feels like dignity.’” RS

In the spirit of the iconic ‘80s sitcom Cheers, the song is a tribute to the local hangout “where everybody knows your name.” The titular restaurant is an actual hamburger joint on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, California.

Patty Smyth of Scandal is featured singing harmony vocals. Randy Newman helped arrange the synthesizers for the song. Pino Palladino plays bass. He worked as a session musician with the likes of Jeff Beck, David Gilmour, Tears for Fears, and The Who.

The song was released as the fourth single from Building the Perfect Beast in August 1985, but had already been a top-10 hit on the album rock track eight months earlier.

Drivin’ with Your Eyes Closed

Don Henley

Writer(s): Don Henley, Danny Kortchmar, Stan Lynch

Released: Building the Perfect Beast (1984)

First Charted: 4/13/1985

Peak: 9 AR, 8 DF Click for codes to charts.

Sales (in millions): --

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 0.93 streaming

Land of the Living

Don Henley

Writer(s): Don Henley, Danny Kortchmar

Released: Building the Perfect Beast (1984)

Peak: 22 DF Click for codes to charts.

Sales (in millions): --

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 0.02 streaming

Resources/References:

Related DMDB Pages:

First posted 3/2/2006; last updated 10/1/2025.

 
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