Making a comeback isn’t always easy. While the hype is usually always there for a stellar band to reform and release new music, that doesn’t mean the music will be easy to make. From fear of failing to live up to that hype or just being plain rusty, sometimes comebacks are easier said than done. Don Henley certainly thought so while the Eagles made Long Road Out of Eden.
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Long Road Out of Eden was released in 2007–over a decade after the Eagles decided to reform in the ’90s. Needless to say, the album was highly anticipated. While The Long Road Out of Eden made waves, hitting No. 1 in several countries, Henley feels there were low moments on the record.
The project was released as a double album. The lengthy tracklisting is varied. There are certainly some high points, but Henley believes the band should’ve focused on quality versus quantity.
“The album would have been better if we’d taken another six months,” Henley once told Rolling Stone. “There are some weak spots. I still think it should have been a single album. But I lost that one.
There were four or five more songs that were good but not finished,” Henley continued. “But we wanted to get it out for Christmas. Again, the dictates of business. Either Christmas, or they’d have to wait for the summer or even next fall to put it out. We’re not getting any younger, so we decided to let it go. But I wasn’t done.”
Henley also cites “democracy” as something that ruined what could’ve been a better album. Too many cooks in the kitchen, as it were. Though he might be “accused of perfectionism,” there are some songs that feel a little lackluster on this record.
“I’m still accused of perfectionism,” Henley said in the same interview. “There’s no such thing as perfection. But I do think it’s a good idea to strive for excellence and have a vision and go for it. This album is very good, but it could have been better. But that thing called democracy reared its head again. And here we are. But that’s OK. I stewed about it for a while. But I’m over it now.”
Revisit the album, below. What do you think? Was Henley right and this album missed the mark?
