Hotel California Revisited (1 Viewer)

[JerryLA]

One of my Christmas presents from me to me was the newly released DVD Audio of Hotel California. This past week I received the disk with much anticipation and must say I'm quite pleased. Having seen Hell Freezes over many times, I have decided I like the acoustic version of the title track better than the original, but the instrument placing between the surround speakers is quite nice on this remixed studio version. New Kid in Town is an example of what the Eagles do best.... sing! The layered background vocals are clear and precise. The acoustic guitar is much more noticable in the rear speakers than it ever was on the original release. I was a bit apprehensive about a 5.1 release of such an old classic. Since this is a fairly new medium, I couldn't really imagine what the instument placement would be in a new re-mix. I was quite surprised and pleased. My collection only consists of about 6 disks, most of which are new music. In my opinion nothing was lost and very much was gained by this new format.

Bringing Joe Walsh into the band full time for this recording was a move that took the Eagles way beyond the laid back "California dude" sound of country rock. Life in the fast lane still kicks butt with great lead guitar by Walsh. The new mix is quite impressive and at room jarring volume, the instrumentation is flawless. Listening to this entire "album" in 5.1 reminds me how talented ex bass player Randy Meisner really is. Try and Love Again is a "deep cut" which I always thought should have gotten more air time but didn't. I saw the Eagles during the Hotel California tour and the show stopper was Meisner doing "Take it to the Limit". An amazing vocal range. That's not to say that the change in personell, with Meisner being replaced by Timothy B Schmitt, didn't bring alot to the recording table but I do believe something was lost when Meisner left.

What can you say about Henley... he is in rare form for this recording. I don't particularly like the fact that now Henley feels ticket prices for the Eagles should equal the price tag of a Jaguar but he is a fine drummer, writer and vocalist. This shows on Wasted Time and The Last Resort.

All in all, I enjoyed the trip back in time and I'm sure I will many many more times. But that's just my opinion... I could be wrong.

Jerry

 

[KeithH]

Jerry, I bought the Hotel California DVD-Audio disc a few weeks ago and agree with your assessment. It is right up there with the best-sounding DVD-Audio discs in my collection (along with Fleetwood Mac and Steely Dan). Of course, the music on Hotel California is outstanding, though I do like their older material as well. I would love to see some of their early albums come out on DVD-Audio. In any event, Hotel California on DVD-Audio is a winner. I prefer the stereo track to the multi-channel one, but I am a stereo fan first. That's just me. I compared the stereo track on the DVD-Audio disc played through my $380 Technics DVD-A10 to the DCC gold CD played through my $1500 Sony SCD-777ES, and the DVD-Audio version won hands-down.

 

[Micahel C]

Keith, Being a quad fan and collector from the early 70's (over 200 quad albums in my collection), I'm glad that surround is finally making a comeback. The new "Hotel California" DVD-A is by far one of the best to date. As to your wish to hear some of their older material as well, you should know that both "On The Border" and "One Of These Nights" were released in quad and I have both in my collection. The mixes that were done then are very similar in nature to the new DVD-A with the acoustic guitars playing out of the rear channels. They are two of my favorite quad tapes due to the superior mix taht was done on them. With the sucess of "Hotel California" we can only hope that Warner will pull out the other two for release as well

 

[Zack Scott]

Just picked it up today. Here's the thing I upgraded my system in waiting for Queen's A night at the Opera disk Hopefully coming next week. So I picked up a Toshiba sd-4700. It both a Dvd Video and Audio player plus hotel california. My god does it sound great.

 

[KeithH]

Zack, the latest I heard is that the Queen A Night at the Opera DVD-Audio disc won't be released until April. Apparently DTS Entertainment had to find a new distributor because the one they had been using went belly up or something.
By the way, Hotel California on DVD-Audio is breathtaking.

 

[Zack Scott]

that's why I said "hopefully." DVDEmpire still hasbn't changed it's street date.

 

[KeithH]

Zack, thanks for the info. Hopefully DVD Empire is right, but I doubt it. As I recall, some people who attended the recent CES said that it was reported there that the disc would be delayed until April.