| The long run: Finally, the
Eagles make their boxed set
Virtually everybody who is anybody in the music business has been immortalized by a boxed set: from Eric Clapton and Bob Dylan to Linda Ronstadt, Stevie Wonder, Jimi Hendrix, Tom Petty, Sammy Davis Jr. - well, you get the idea. There has been one major holdout until now, however: The Eagles, who finally embraced boxed-set mania with last week's release of the four-CD ''The Eagles: Selected Works 1972-1999.'' ''Yeah, it seemed like we were the only guys not to have a boxed set,'' Eagles co-singer Glenn Frey says from Los Angeles. ''I hope people will understand that our label, Elektra/Asylum, has been asking for this boxed set since 1985. But we never put one out. We had two `Greatest Hits' albums, a double-live album, and six studio records that continued to sell. We didn't like disturbing the flow of our catalog, so we always resisted a boxed set.'' But ''timing is everything,'' says Frey, adding that a new box ''might be the best way to conclude the last century and the last 28 years of this band. Let's do it for Christmas 2000, you know? We're not promoting it like a new record, because it's not, but it is a unique collection that I think a lot of Eagles fans would like to have.'' The new box, retailing for $59, lacks the rarities, alternate takes, and previously unreleased tunes of many other boxes - primarily because the Eagles don't have any. ''There is no vault of great unreleased Eagles classics,'' says Frey. ''It just doesn't exist for our band. We recorded stuff that we deemed worthy of recording - and that's it.'' What the box does have is new sequencing of vintage Eagles songs. There are many inspired segues, notably ''Tequila Sunrise'' leading into ''Witchy Woman,'' and ''Outlaw Man'' into ''Peaceful Easy Feeling.'' And the tunes are smartly divided into three CDs entitled ''The Early Days'' (mostly the country-rock made when Bernie Leadon and Randy Meisner were in the band, in the early '70s), ''The Ballads'' (from ''Desperado'' to ''New Kid in Town''), and ''Fast Lane'' (from ''Hotel California'' to ''King of Hollywood''). But what caps the set is a live CD from the Eagles' New Year's Eve show at the Staples Center in LA last year. It contains some Eagles hits, along with rarely performed nuggets ''Ol' 55,'' ''Funky New Year,'' and ''Those Shoes.'' The live CD by itself is also available for free downloading on several online retail sites, including Amazon.com, Borders.com, and Musicland.com. And this from a band that has often been accused of greed, at least when it broke the $100 barrier for ticket prices on its reunion tour in the mid-'90s. ''You know, our fans own all of our records,'' says Frey. ''So to ask some diehard fans to spend $60 on a box just to get 12 cuts from New Year's Eve is going to make some people unhappy, and I think it reflects badly on the band. There are enough accusations of greed flowing around for everybody in our business. These are greedy times. So we thought it was good public relations'' to release the downloadable live album. Frey put most of the box together himself, with help from Don Henley and veteran Eagles producer/engineer Bill Szymczyk, who generally handled the sequencing. ''Bill was once a DJ, so he's good at that,'' says Frey. Szymczyk also inserted some funny studio chatter, especially on a sonic collage titled ''Random Victims Part 3.'' This consists of nine-plus minutes of the band members joking around between takes and poking fun at each other. As guitarist Joe Walsh says, ''My nerves are raw from drinking and from being in love. I don't need any more of this abuse! I'm not as bad as you guys say I am.'' Most of the random bits, however, are just silly, hardly essential listening. But apart from attempts at comic relief, the box reaffirms the Eagles' brilliance at crafting songs that ''are built to last,'' as author David Wild writes in the liner notes. And though the band members were always seen as ''cosmic cowboys'' from California, the truth is they came from all over. Frey was the son of an auto worker in Michigan and Henley the son of an auto-parts store owner in Texas. Meisner was from Nebraska, Leadon from Minnesota, and Don Felder from Florida. The Eagles started as Linda Ronstadt's backup band in 1971 (earning $200 a week per person), but have gone on to become megasellers. Their first ''Greatest Hits'' album, in fact, is currently jockeying with Michael Jackson's ''Thriller'' as the all-time best-selling single album, having passed 27 million in sales. The Eagles/Jackson battle has been followed closely by the trades this year, but as Frey says with a laugh, ''Gosh, who cares? After 10 million, who's counting?'' The new box may be the final release from the Eagles (and no tour is planned to back it), but don't bet your life savings that this is the last you'll hear from them. ''As long as we have open minds and keep an open door, which we have done since we regrouped, I won't say anything is impossible with the Eagles,'' says Frey. ''The door ain't closed.''
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