Entertaining interview via Mr. Media with Ben Fong-Torres, author of a new book entitled Eagles: Taking It to the Limit, published earlier this month to coincide with the Eagles’ upcoming 40th anniversary.

No 1970′s record collection is complete without it. The record-breaking compilation Eagles: Their Greatest Hits 1971-75 turns 35 today.

Certified 29-times-platinium in the U.S. (meaning 29 million copies shipped to retailers – a feat equalled only by Michael Jackson’s Thriller) the disc is estimated to have sold some 42 million copies worldwide. Four of the album’s five number one Billboard Hot 100 Singles were recorded during Don’s tenure as guitarist, with One of These Nights reaching #1 in August 1975 and Lyin Eyes receiving a Grammy award for Best Pop Group Performance in 1976.

Actually, one could call the success a fluke. The record’s release was only meant to kill time in order for the band to finish work on Hotel California.

What we call it is return on investment!

Need last minute tickets to Don’s “Evening at the Hotel California” show on Saturday at the Lakeland Center? Head straight to Ticketmaster or the venue box office.
Updated 12-4-10

Tickets go on sale this Sunday via Livenation. Line-up and details at the Bridge School Site.

Coming on the heels of the highly publicized Gibson EDS-1275 Don Felder doubleneck re-issue, the new Don Felder “Hotel California” custom 1959 Les Paul VOS hits dealers around September 30.

A replica of the axe Don considers the number one item in his set up, the Felder VOS (Vintage Original Spec) will feature a rounded, thinner neck (unusual for the era) and aged wood finishing optically mocking Don’s own original model which he used in the studio recording of Hotel California. Limited to 150 reissues worldwide, fifty of the personally signed Felder ’59s also come with Hotel California sheet music autographed by Don.

For more, check out our sample specs page. For delivery, contact your Gibson dealer.

Photo credit: Lauren Bendzsak

It’s no news that, ever since Eve’s influence on visitors to the Garden of Eden was put in writing, women have been a chief source of inspiration to authors, poets and songwriters throughout history.

Pop culture author Michael Heatley’s “The Girl in the Song” (October 2010 release) reveals the female sources of inspiration to the songwriters of rock music’s signature tunes. Who is the Hollies’ “Carrie Ann?” Which “Uptown Girl” is Billy Joel singing about? Where did “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” hang out? This handy reference should help clear up the meaning behind song lyrics you’ve probably misunderstood since day one.

If the the author doesn’t get around to it this time, perhaps volume two will shed some light on those “Bad Girls” Don immortalized back in 1983.

One of several notable Elektra artists!

Elektra Records is sixty, as in the big 6-0.

Expert Eagles fans shouldn’t have much trouble identifying Warner Brothers’ Elektra or Elektra/Asylum. Its logo has spun countless times on turntables and graces the small print on the band’s album jackets, cassettes and CDs. Alongside those Eagles discs were probably several other Elektra artists, perhaps Bob Dylan, Jackson Browne, The Doors, Joni Mitchell, Linda Ronstadt, Ian Matthews, Harry Chapin, David Lindley, Andrew Gold, Carly Simon or Warren Zevon.

Worth checking out on the slicked-up birthday website is a media rich online timetable chronicling the history of the Elektra label.

While perusing the list of 100 essential Elektra artists, we subconsciously inventoried a substantial part of our album collection. Made us feel kinda old. But only briefly, because 60 is the new 20.

Dust off your vinyl records for this year’s Record Store Day. And don’t just smear that gunk around with a damp cloth, “revirginize” them with this new spa treatment. Should be a snap for our readers who regularly wax their legs.

Jeff Beck alert! Listen to his new release Emotion and Commotion in its entirety for a week on an upcoming NPR exclusive first listen beginning April 6.

And finally, according to Fox Sports’ CEO, if you’re a classic rocker over the age of 60, well then, you better weigh what you did in your heyday, or else you don’t have a shot at performing during next year’s Super Bowl halftime show.

Back in 1976, Gordon Lightfoot’s song “Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” made it to #2 in the Billboard charts. For those not familiar, the song tells the tale of an iron ore freighter which capsized during a severe storm on Lake Superior a year earlier, claiming the lives of its entire crew of 29. Lightfoot read about it in Newsweek magazine and immediately sat down and composed perhaps his best-known song, finishing it two weeks later. Basically a dirge, not only was it distinctive due to its lack of fleeting melody or a catchy refrain at a time when disco was coming of age, it was distinctly overkilled by AM radio (just like Hotel California a year later.)

Anyway, perhaps due to the song’s popularity, the case of the Edmund Fitzgerald has never really rested. Initially, the cause of the accident was attributed to human error, as is usually the case when catastrophe meets insurance company. A Canadian television documentary Dive Detectives (History Television, March 31) has re-examined the case and concludes that the Fitz suffered its fate at the mercy of a huge rogue wave, combined with the boat’s age and enormous payload.

The result? The film’s findings have prompted Gordon Lightfoot to slightly change the lyrics of his iconic song in his live performances in order to more or less exonerate whatever crew member may have been responsible for when that “main hatchway gave in.” Hatchway or none, the classic song remains one of the most lyrically poignant ever recorded.

Lightfoot, the lyrics and the film

‘Bout time! We got a list a mile long!

Where the ceremony will be held in October this year is still up in the air, since the present HOF & Museum building in Nashville is targeted for demolishing to make way for a new convention center.