When I get into a band, I tend to explore their artiste's solo collections. Done this with Pink Floyd and now I'm doing the same with with The Eagles. Don Henley and Glenn Frey (drummer and guitarist, both lead songwriters) have had successful solo careers with Henley edging in front of Frey on sales and public exposure. Both of their music is full of hard, 80s guitar and synth driven rock which is awesome in my eyes and
The best place to begin for Don is Actual Miles, a greatest hits collection that includes a selection of songs from his first three albums, including such awesome tracks as Dirty Laundry, All She Wants To Do Is Dance, The Boys of Summer and The End of Innocence. His voice is instantly recognisable the same as Hotel California but the music is quite different - harder, funkier and certainly pop orientated. Pop is not something The Eagles ever aimed for.
On the Fray side, he hasn't released a collection of his hits which leaves you either buying several albums or getting individual songs for online sources. If it was this, I'd go for Smuggler's Blues, You Belong To The City, Sexy Girl and Brave New World. They are all different, enjoyable to listen and showcase a different side of 'the lone arranger'. The latter two hits are very pop orientated and both climbed their way up the Billboard 200 in the 80s but Sexy Girl is reminiscent of the Eagles with a soft moving, almost bouncing beat. Brave New World is idealistic to say the least.
Joe Walsh deserves a post of his own but that's for another day. If you ever listened to music radio, chances are high you will have heard of Rocky Mountain Way - a staple 70s album orientated rock. Out of the artists, either Walsh or Henley have experienced the most successful career and it's more up your individual tastes to decide which has the better songs. Thankfully for us all, the '14 year vacation' did them all good and they are back on top with Long Road Out Of Eden and UK tour coming soon, long live the Eagles.
to the website and writings Seb Payne - undergraduate Computer Science student from the 