The Eagles new CD due October 07

Re: The Eagles new CD due October 07

I will NEVER understand their choice to only distribute this new CD through Wal-Mart/Sam's Club. No Target/Best Buy/B&N/Amazon! WHAT were they thinking???

Re: The Eagles new CD due October 07

I don't like the idea but it makes sense because they'll be getting MAJOR shelf space and marketing at Wal Mart.

Re: The Eagles new CD due October 07

Let's be serious here...The Eagles haven't had a new full-length CD in AGES, yet their catalog sells really well and the reunion shows are always sold out. There is a HUGE market for this title. And EVERY retailer would promote the title and give it prominant (sp?) shelf space. How many people that NEVER shop at Wal-Mart are going to miss out on this title? According to Billboard, it is also ineligible to be icluded in the "Top 200" best sellers chart. And before you think that no one would really care, look at the press that the Kanye West/50 Cent "showdown" received...

Re: The Eagles new CD due October 07

Wal Mart is the biggest retailer in the world and since it's exclusive to them, it will be on endcaps in their CD section and on in-store promos until Christmas. There's no way that any other retailer is going to give them that much exposure for that long.

The Eagles and their record company didn't sit down and say "How can we make less money off this thing?". They either got paid by Wal Mart to go exclusively with them or they're betting that the extra exposure they're getting in the store will result in better sales. Just going exclusively with Wal Mart has people talking about the album (even if it's negative).

There's absolutely no comparison between the two situations. 50 Cent and Kanye West manufactured that just to sell more records and no one is going to fall for the same silly marketing gimmick two times in two months.

Re: The Eagles new CD due October 07

i see what the theory is behind the deal, but isnt it unnecessary and over kill.

the eagles make great music but they were one of the earliest rock bands to start charging ridiculous prices for concert tickets and now an exclusive deal with walmart that must have happened due to walmart and a blank check.
surely it can't be because they love to shop there.

i won't pay to see them and won't pay to hear this cd.

no reason why this couldnt have had an exclusive set and still have the regular cd available at other places.

didnt the eagles have an exclusive greatest hits cd that had a few songs only available at walmart a few years ago?

i know it sounds like i'm saying how much money is enough, and i guess that is what i'm saying.
and i know one can never have enough money and most people will take what ever they can get,
but when does it become a joke and what about,
oh what is the word,... i can't think of it, ..not respect but...
self esteem?
dignity?

oh well i guess it doesn't matter anymore.

Re: The Eagles new CD due October 07

TonyD: Billboard.com recently had excepts from an interview with one of the members (Glenn Frey or Don Felder, can't recall which one right now) and he was questioned about the deal with Wal-Mart. He told about how his father's small business (a hardware store, IIRC) went under after the big box retailers moved into town. Seems kinda hypocritical, IMHO.

Re: The Eagles new CD due October 07

I gave the CD a couple spins and I have to say that it really isn't very good. I don't know how the CD is getting decent reviews.

There are only a couple songs that are any decent, most are simply mediocre and there are a couple that are just plain bad. The Eagles were never known for amazing lyrics, but the lyrics on this didn't sound like it came from an experience band - sounded rather amateurish for the most part.

I did like the harmonies however, the Eagles can still pull that off.

Overall, this would be better if it were only on 1 disc... with 20 songs, there's a lot of filler.

Re: The Eagles new CD due October 07

I knew the CD was coming, but I didn't know it was out. At least now I know why...because I don't shop at WalMart. My reasons for that are not worth getting into here, but I won't shop there, ever.

The Eagles can count me out and consider me a lost fan because I won't be buying this CD.

Re: The Eagles new CD due October 07

you might have something with lack of respect and this coming down to simple greed.

Re: The Eagles new CD due October 07

I think the Amazon sales are third parties, not Amazon.com itself. Still, the point is well taken that you can buy this directly from the band's website for the same $11.88 price as at Wal-Mart (+shipping), here:

http://eagles.shop.musictoday.com/De...x?cp=458_12497

My wife shops for groceries at Sam's Club and Wal-Mart nearly every week, so she picked it up at Sam's today for $11.44 (+tax).

Re: The Eagles new CD due October 07

True enough. Don't get me wrong here..I'm not losing sleep over this or having a tantrum. This is just for conversation sake.

This simply is not something I believe should be done. Customers should be able to buy the CD from their preferred retailer, and I don't care for the idea of a rock group dictating where I shop.

Re: The Eagles new CD due October 07

So other than the debate issue anyone listened to this yet? Any reviews? Odd that they have debuted a song on the country venues, they getting on the wagon with the "pop country" (aks POP music) thing...?

Re: The Eagles new CD due October 07

The Eagles have always been a crossover group between rock and country. Most of their albums could have been described as having many elements of country, including the harmonies and sometimes the use of the fiddle and steel guitar, not to mention the use of the acoustical guitar on most of their early songs.

Hotel California is the one album that was probably the least "country" and most "rock" of all the albums.

I have the CD on my Christmas wish list and will wait until then to buy and listen.

Mike

Re: The Eagles new CD due October 07

After one listen, I think it is quite good. I enjoyed the second disc better, it is a bit more rock & roll than the first disc. It reminds me of mid-period albums like One Of These Nights. I do have to say disc 2 ends with a very weak song. I think the title track would have been a better way to close out the album.

Re: The Eagles new CD due October 07

This release is a very pleasant surprise. Vocally the band is as good as ever, and some of the songs, particularly the title track, are as good as anything they've ever done. I think much of it is filler, but when its good, it is very, very good.

Re: The Eagles new CD due October 07

I've been enjoying this for the last week - How Long, Waiting In The Weeds, and the title track are my favorites. It also re-affirms my opinion that Timothy B Schmidt should be limited to backing vocals until he hits puberty.

I figured there would be an uproar over the Wal-Mart exclusivity (which David Fricke makes mention of in his Rolling Stone review), but it honestly doesn't bother me. Unless you strictly buy CDs from an independent mom and pop shop, pretty much every major chain store is guilty of one egregious act or the other. The exclusivity deal is for a year, and after that it will be out everywhere. Just like Mr. Fricke, I'd advise anybody who has an issue with Wal-Mart to get it off their website.

Re: The Eagles new CD due October 07

A lot has been made over this album supposedly outselling the new Britney Spears album 2 to 1.

Now, I'm certainly no fan of Britney Spears and I find it disturbing enough that her album hit #2, and though I'm also no huge fan of the Eagles I think it's sorta cool that a band that hasn't released an album of new material in 28 years has hit #1 right out of the gate while being restricted to one retailer.

The truth is, the method of counting these sales is fundamentally flawed. The new Eagles disc is a 2-disc set. As such, Billboard counts it as two units sold. This is why it appears as though they sold more than twice as many copies as the single-disc Britney release.

It's my understanding that using this faulty counting method the Eagles have more than twice as many sales as Britney so they still beat her.

I personally think counting the multiple discs has to change. It's caused quite a few cases of sales weirdness over the years:

The white album by The Beatles is counted as their best-selling album. Would this really be the case if not for the double-counting? Would it really outsell "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" and "Abbey Road" otherwise? I don't think so.

Michael Jackson's "HIStory" was his first release after his first molestation allegations and was clearly released after his popularity had peaked and had started its catastrophic downturn. However, including the "greatest hits" disc made it look a lot more successful than it really was as it doubled the sales numbers, putting it second only to "Thriller" in terms of his sales rankings. We all know "HIStory" isn't his second most-popular album.

"Live 1975-85" by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band was once officially the best-selling live album of all time until dethroned by "Double Live" by Garth Brooks but that was a result of the sheer size of the collection, spanning three cassettes and compact discs to FIVE LPs. The official sales count of this release is 13,000,000, second only to "Born in the USA" among his discography. In reality it sold about 4,000,000, which is pretty much in line with most of his pre-"Born in the USA" stuff.

The whole thing is just ridiculous. I know Wal-Mart was selling the Eagles album for less than $12. As such it was certainly reasonably-priced and competitively priced in comparison to Britney's album. Should the fact that there are two CDs in there really mean that each purchase be counted twice? In the Michael Jackson example I cited, the inclusion of the "greatest hits" disc was clearly an effort to pad the price and double the numbers, but I don't think that's the case here, but I still don't think the actual disc count or amount of content included should skew the numbers like that.

Re: The Eagles new CD due October 07

Bill: I know that the method of counting you described was used by Billboard at one time, but are you sure it still is practiced? I seem to think that policy changed quite awhile ago. I DO however take issue with Billboard changing their policy regarding exclusive-retailer titles THE DAY BEFORE the chart was released. Previously, Wal-Mart did not report sales to SoundScan/Billboard for exclusive titles (which normally would be only included on the Top Comprehensive CD chart, not the Billboard 200 chart). They released the figures to them on Monday and the policy at Billboard was changed. Otherwise, Britney WOULD have had the #1 title in the US.

Re: The Eagles new CD due October 07

Here's some info I found today:

The multi-disc numbers DO affect the "units shipped" totals for RIAA certification (and it is units shipped, NOT units sold). Under Billboard's "Chart Methodology" info it says that SoundScan receives info from each retailer based on the actual sales of product---no mention of whether it's affected by the number of discs in the set. I emailed them and am awaiting an answer...

Re: The Eagles new CD due October 07

I have the new disc, I have a lot of their older cd's and have seen them numerous times, their are a few songs that fill the bill but unless I am listening with my blinders on all I hear in most of the songs is political retoric...I really don't want to listen to a song about SUV's, back in the day, their rockabilly presence was there, now it seems too surgical, so to speak, too clean if you will, too many hidden messages....or is it just me?
How was their appearance on the CMA awards last night?
I missed it...

FWIW-I consider myself a true die hard eagles fan, really, I love them just not diggin this album.

Re: The Eagles new CD due October 07

Bill: here's the lowdown on the multi-disc set rules...my email to Billboard made the "Chart Beat Chat" column!

http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/chart_beat/chat.jsp

My email is the last one in Fred Bronson's EXTENSIVE column on the policy change.