HOTEL CALIFORNIA, The Eagles 2024

A Few Notes in the Guise of a Review

In 1977, while sharing a Chelsea townhouse on Old Church Street in London with the late producer David Cammell, The Eagles invited me to a lavish private concert party to introduce HOTEL CALIFORNIA to the British public.

There, a fine dinner was served, and we were all given crystal ashtrays inscribed with the haunting name of the album. I recall that I still have mine—somewhere... 

What matters is how the music and lyrics transported me with delight. There was the extraordinary, unique timbre of Don Henley’s mesmerizing delivery of the lead vocal as he sat behind his drums, as well as the beautiful, harmonious backup vocals Don Felder, Glenn Frey, Joe Walsh, and Randy Meisner effortlessly provided.