The Eagles’ first single, “How Long,” off their new album Long Road
Out Of Eden is a slice of country rock that sounds like some of their
’70s hits. There are reasons for both those things.
** SOME TELLING EAGLES ELEMENTS. Some intriguing elements about the first all-new studio album from America’s all-time best-selling group in 28 years, discussed Saturday.
Although Universal is distributing Long Road Out Of Eden outside the US, the two-CD album is being released Tuesday by the group’s own Eagles Recording Co. That’s a big continuation in the decline of the record label, the music industry’s traditional equivalent of a movie studio. And in a big continuation of the decline of the brick-and-mortar music store, it will only be available in the US on the group’s web site and in big box discount retailers Walmart and Sam’s Club.
The music store, for most of its life known as the record store, was, for those not familiar with it in its glory days in a slower-paced time a great place to linger in the aisles, checking out what was available, even asking record store employees about music.
But in more recent times, music store employees, usually low-paid, frequently knew little if anything about music. CDs were shipped to stores, stocked slowly or misplaced. Meanwhile, the rise of the online retailer, fast and efficient with encyclopedic, easily searched entries — I’m really talking about Amazon.com — beat the music stores on information, service, and price.
Of course, they also tend to keep people in their categories, or “aisles” as I think of it. Because I’m so busy, Amazon has come to replace the book store and the music store for me. But as a result, I don’t “wander the aisles” as much as I used to. I’m pretty sure I’m not alone in that.
Meanwhile, as the virtual superstore was rising, the discount superstore, epitomized by Walmart, had already arrived. They quickly supplanted the traditional music store chains like Tower and even Virgin for selling music in the real as distinguished from virtual world. They don’t have as much choice as the Tower Records used to, but they did match society’s faster pace. One-stop shopping for busy people.
Online music downloading, pioneered by Apple’s iTunes, also changed the model dramatically. The music business had grown huge with singles being supplanted by albums. But now it’s regressing, with people, especially younger people, increasingly buying individual songs rather than entire albums. Which many artists don’t like, since they want to make larger artistic statements and feel that the song — or today, increasingly, the track — that is not hit material is too important to be lost in the shuffle. Which a pretty valid point of view. Some of my favorite songs were never hits.
The Eagles, being somewhat traditional, want to sell albums and not individual songs, so they’re not on iTunes with the new album. Cutting their own deal wit6h Walmart, they’re getting big promotion from the corporation — Walmart spent $40 million promoting previously recorded material from Garth Brooks in a deal two years ago — and higher royalties than record labels pay.
Of course, Walmart is very controversial with many people for its labor practices and some environmental matters. Now the company is saying it will become carbon balanced. And that it will improve on the labor issues.
Whether that’s true or not, I don’t know. What interests me is the logic behind the Eagles’ business moves, finding ways to navigate the fractured new media environment and segmented economy.
There’s another reason why the somewhat improbable Walmart is a pretty good fit with LA glitterati lib Eagles. (Not that they actually live in LA, of course.)
The first single off the album, played in the video above, is a slice of country-western rock, a song written by J.D. Souther in 1974. While the Eagles epitomized the “Southern California sound,” the group — which first came together as Linda Ronstadt’s back-up band — has always had a strong country music cross-over appeal.
In fact, the group reunited in 1994 after Nashville music executives put together an album of Eagles covers in 1993. It turned out that a lot of country stars were actually big fans of the Eagles.
A collection of country music stars played classic Eagles songs, not all of them the big hits, and the album, Common Threads, turned into a huge hit. Half the songs became hits on country music radio.
So if you’re wondering why that new Eagles single playing above sounds both very country-fied and oddly familiar, wonder no more. Notwithstanding the liberal politics of the group, which will appear at the Country Music Awards, and I’ll say more about the actual album, their sound is quite convivial to many Walmart shoppers.
** FROM THE IRONY FILE: THE RACE FOR THE POLES. First it was Russia, followed by Canada, Norway, Denmark, and the US, racing to stake claims to the Arctic. The melting polar ice cap, courtesy of climate change, is yielding not only the fabled Northwest Passage, but also future access to valuable fossil fuel and mineral resources.
Now Britain is rushing to stake an expansive future claim to the Antarctic. Again, for reasons of future access to fossil fuel resources. Argentina and Chile are also pursuing claims.
I’m sure I needn’t point out the irony.
** FRED AND THE MOONSHINERS. For all the wonders of fastpaced cyberjournalism, one thing it can’t do — unless one steps off the merry-go-round — is travel thousands of miles to unearth an old story with relevance to today. Joe Mathews of the LA Times, author of a creditable bio on Arnold Schwarzenegger, ventured to Tennessee to find the story of Fred Thompson’s background as a federal prosecutor. Which centered primarily on going after moonshiners.
Eight months after the future Law & Order star unsuccessfully prosecuted — and apparently did so half-heartedly, and correctly so — a local county sheriff for selling a confiscated still, then Senator Howard Baker plucked him from obscurity and made him the Republican counsel on the Senate Watergate Committee. And the rest, as they say, was history.
** ORANGE COUNTY FIRE RESOURCES THIN, TRAGICALLY DEPLOYED. In Orange County, where the fire chief charged last week that fire could have been defeated with immediate application of state aircraft to the fray, it turns out that he had dispatched firefighters to LA to fight the fires there. And that the local firefighting capability is much less than in other major California counties with, among other things, too few people assigned per crew. Aside from San Diego County. Like San Diego County, Orange County had a major reliance on volunteer firefighters, a questionable strategy at best. But suffered a major drop-off in their ranks.
The Eagles release their first studio album in many years on
Tuesday. Here the best-selling American rock group of all time
does an acoustic version of a little-known song called “Hotel California.”
** EAGLES ABOUT TO RELEASE LONG ROAD OUT OF EDEN. The most popular American rock group in history is about to release its first all-new studio album in 28 years. The Eagles, who epitomized the “Southern California sound” of the 1970s with soaring harmonies, smooth guitar work, and frequently incisive and biting lyrics, release Long Road Out of Eden on Tuesday. It’s a two-CD set, the first all-new studio album since The Long Run in September 1979.
That doesn’t mean the Eagles haven’t sold many millions of records since then. Of course, they are CDs now, and increasingly downloads. They put out a variety of albums since then — greatest hits compilations and live albums and solo albums — some of which had new material included. (Though mostly in Don Henley and Glenn Frey’s solo albums.)
And after breaking up in 1980 following a row at a fundraising concert in Santa Monica for then U.S. Senator Alan Cranston, they reunited in 1994 — with the aptly-titled Hell Freezes Over — and have toured on and off ever since, making many hundreds of millions of dollars in the process as one of the biggest live draws on the planet.
In a further sign of the decline of the record label, and of the music store, the group is releasing the album itself. Although there are different arrangements in non-US markets, Long Road Out Of Eden will be available in the US only online, through the group’s web site, and in two big retail outlets, Walmart and Sam’s Club. (Outside the US, the album is being distributed by Universal Music Group.)
Walmart, the nation’s largest retailer, is giving the Eagles album a huge push in their stores. This is the first time it’s had an exclusive on a cultural product from superstar performers.
I’ll have more to say about the Walmart connection, which is controversial, and the album itself, later. I’ve listened to most of it.
** DRUMBEAT OF WAR ON IRAN. The rhetoric is escalating once again, courtesy of Vice President Dick Cheney in Washington and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Tehran.
This is a huge factor in the run-up of the price of oil. The Iranians say the latest sanctions announced by the US won’t do much to hurt them. What is definitely helping Iran is the record price of oil.
Iranian oil costs more to produce than that of other oil leaders. At one point, the US policy was to drive the price of oil down as the way to hurt the Iranian economy and foment popular rebellion. But the US couldn’t get OPEC or the Russians to play along.
Now oil is skyrocketing, and Iran’s economy is in better shape.
Of course, we’ve heard all this bellicose rhetoric before.
** TURKISH CRISIS. More saber rattling from Turkey, with its military commander today saying the Turkish army will “make the Kurdish rebels grieve.” He also seemed to back off his comment of yesterday, in which he said that Turkey will not invade northern Iraq before Prime Minister Erdogan meets with President Bush in Washington on November 5th.
** FIRE CRITICS OPPOSED NEW FIREFIGHTING RESOURCES. The Orange County Register reports that a couple of prominent conservative Republican politicians who criticized the early air response to the fires by the state and federal government actually opposed efforts to create stronger firefighting resources at the local level.
Hardly a surprise.
** PELOSI SLUMPS IN CALIFORNIA POLL. The latest installment of the Field Poll of California voters, conducted October 11-21, shows House Speaker Nancy Pelosi now on the wrong end of a plurality job rating. Her job approval is 35% approving, 40% disapproving. Senator Dianne Feinstein has a 51% job approval rating. Senator Barbara Boxer has a 44% job approval rating.
Pelosi’s popularity has dropped greatly among Democrats, upset about the lack of change in Washington. Only 48% of California Democrats now approve of Pelosi’s job performance. Independents are split, with each view in the mid-30s, while Republicans are clearly very opposed.
** SCHWARZENEGGER LIVE WEBCAST ON SOCAL FIRES AT 11:30 AM. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger holds a press conference with state and local law enforcement officials and prosecutors at the Orange County’s sheriff’s command post to discuss price gouging, scams, and arson. The event will be webcast live at 11:30 AM.
** SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA FIRE UPDATES. Click here for the locations of and updates on the fires of Southern California.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia is fast re-emerging as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer, bringing you English-language, jargon-free, fast-paced coverage of global and Russian news from the new Russia Today channel.
You probably already know about CNN International, BBC World, and Al Jazeera. Russia Today, which also features culture, entertainment, and sports, is based in Moscow and is owned and operated by the TV Novosti division of Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti.
While it’s foolish to expect to see, say, criticism of Vladimir Putin on Russia Today, the channel is quite interesting nonetheless. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** TRACK GLOBAL AND U.S. ENERGY PRICES IN NEAR REAL TIME VIA BLOOMBERG ENERGY MARKET WATCH. Crude oil prices closed at a record $91.86 per barrel Friday on concern over the geopolitical situation, namely situations in Iraq, Pakistan, and Iran. Energy markets are closed on the weekend.
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Oh, No. The Eagles revival lol
Oh, No. The Eagles revival lol
Great video of a great song! I never get tired of that one. I hope the new album is good. I guess it must be or you wouldn’t be getting into it.
The album is good.
The ’70s are back, baby! (Minus the bad fashion.) Get over it.
>Ann :
Oh, No. The Eagles revival lol
Oct 27, 2007 11:05 AM
The ’70s are back, baby! (Minus the bad fashion.) Get over it.
>Ann :
Oh, No. The Eagles revival lol
Oct 27, 2007 11:05 AM
Still no Schwarzeneger. lol
The Rolling Stones released a video exclusively through Best Buy a few years ago, which was I believe the first of these exclusives…
Walmart did almost as much as illegal downloading to destroy the brick and mortar “record store” business model, and also to accelerate the concentration of the labels upon the top-selling crap, which is all WalMart wanted to buy, and bought in volume of Biblical proportions.
I don’t know what’s up with AS. USC is playing Oregon now.
I see even the Orange County Register gets the hypocrisy of its politicians’ failures on fire policy.
Unrelated to anything else (other than the past discussions here of water wars), this is absolutely fascinating — it’s a story, told from the perspective of 2062, of a fairly bad (though by no means absolutely worst-case) scenario for our future…
USC is trailing 7-3 in the second quarter. ASU/California is a 7 p.m. start.
Bill, did you see that Oregon State used an ineligible player when they beat Cal???
I should note — they call the story a “worst case scenario”, but the truth is, the worst case projections of global warming are too scary to contemplate — civilization does not survive them. James Lovelock thinks that about two-thirds of us are going to die, and the remainder will be living in barely-civilized enclaves in latitudes from Canada north. I’m dubious of that projection, but he does have some not-100%-crazy science to back up his position, and that’s the “worst case”.
I should note — they call the story a “worst case scenario”, but the truth is, the worst case projections of global warming are too scary to contemplate — civilization does not survive them. James Lovelock thinks that about two-thirds of us are going to die, and the remainder will be living in barely-civilized enclaves in latitudes from Canada north. I’m dubious of that projection, but he does have some not-100%-crazy science to back up his position, and that’s the “worst case”.
I’d say that’s worst case …
SC’s tied it up.
>Sacramento Solon :
USC is trailing 7-3 in the second quarter. ASU/California is a 7 p.m. start.
They cheated!
>Bill, did you see that Oregon State used an ineligible player when they beat Cal???
Oct 27, 2007 01:00 PM
To its credit.
>Capitol Boy :
I see even the Orange County Register gets the hypocrisy of its politicians’ failures on fire policy.
Oct 27, 2007 12:52 PM
Amazon killed the record store. That and the record store.
>Wilbur :
Walmart did almost as much as illegal downloading to destroy the brick and mortar “record store” business model, and also to accelerate the concentration of the labels upon the top-selling crap, which is all WalMart wanted to buy, and bought in volume of Biblical proportions.
Oct 27, 2007 12:13 PM
Was that a video or an album?
>Hap Hazard :
The Rolling Stones released a video exclusively through Best Buy a few years ago, which was I believe the first of these exclusives…
Oct 27, 2007 12:07 PM
Wonder if those “Conservatives” the REGISTER cites will tell their constituents that the scariest words in English are “We’re from the Govt and We’re here to Help” when it comes to disaster aid. Course if they’re from the current FEMA they might well be afraid!
Orange county Board of Supervisors, are Wankers. I would pay anything to keep those Firefighters safe. I saw the video of the Orange County Firefighters using their emergency shelters…Give them anything to keep them safe. If the taxpayers in the OC gave up one botox treatment, they could make a payment on a couple of Helicopters.
Orange county Board of Supervisors, are Wankers. I would pay anything to keep those Firefighters safe. I saw the video of the Orange County Firefighters using their emergency shelters…Give them anything to keep them safe. If the taxpayers in the OC gave up one botox treatment, they could make a payment on a couple of Helicopters.
Too bad about USC, they almost did it.
Bummer.
They cheated!
>Bill, did you see that Oregon State used an ineligible player when they beat Cal???
—-
Story in the Chronicle either Thursday or yesterday about it. Not sure what the outcome will be, Beavers could end up having the victory taken away. However, it probably won’t be decided until after the season is over and the penalty will be determined on what part the no-no player had on the game.
That measure failed 3-1. It was heavily opposed by law enforcement, as it would have redirected funds from them to firefighting.
I don’t know whether it would have been a good redirection of funds – the additional law enforcement resources have been used to prevent crime and apprehend criminals, and we can statistically say that there are some people alive and unharmed today due to those activities. While additional fire suppression might have resulted in significantly less property damage, we have to weigh that against the far less quantifiable value of having the people who weren’t raped or killed over the last two years.
Nick M,
Sounds good in theory but,like LA County…I think Orange needs a Fire assessment.
It was a concert video of the Rolling Stones, on 2 DVDs. Best Buy was the only place you could buy it, and I remember many ads on TV promoting its sale.
Amazaon and record stores did quite a bit to kill the record store,but the recording industry killed itself with pushing CDs on everyone that contained maybe one good song, and tamped down any alternative delivery system, not to mention the misguided assault on downloaders, who are the very folks they should have catered to to buy single songs, etc. I won’t regret if the record labels all go broke.
What’s for today’s video? More Eagles?
What’s for today’s video? More Eagles?
Perhaps.
Interesting dynamic set up there, pitting police against fire. Meanwhile, the state and feds have to bail out the locals.
>NickM :
That measure failed 3-1. It was heavily opposed by law enforcement, as it would have redirected funds from them to firefighting.
I don’t know whether it would have been a good redirection of funds – the additional law enforcement resources have been used to prevent crime and apprehend criminals, and we can statistically say that there are some people alive and unharmed today due to those activities.
It is expensive to live in California. I am sure it is expensive to dock a yacht in Newport Beach but, I am going to be interested to see what the cost is going to be to the safety personnel exposed to burning toxins. With the recent cuts in workers comp, lets hope the government stands by their working men and women for future illnesses.
Bill – what set up the dynamic is that the OC Board of Supervisors allotted all the initial Prop. 172 money to law enforcement back in the mid-90s.
Thanks for the warning about the release of yet another bloated ego-fest from Henley and Fry. Now we can add the Eagles to our boycott list along with their evil empire sponsors, Wal-Mart. What a bunch of hypocritical corporate sell-outs they turned out to be. Henley donated campaign cash to both Al Snore and Ralph Nader in 2000, but apparently has no problem selling his soul to a company that goes against the ‘progressive values’ he pretends to support. Bands like the Eagles could start their own labels and support new, up and coming and far more creative artists who don’t have the luxury of milking an overblown legacy. Boycott the soul sellers! Any fan of real music would never set foot in Wal-MArt!
That was a poignant article concerning the Orange County Fire Authority.
Since I have been both a volunteer and a full time paid employee, I am qualified to say this:
Everyone loves and appreciates volunteers but, they should not be used as a substitution for regular appointed employees. The training is different, the commitment is more substantial and lets face it…times are changing. We need to beef up our fire services.
They got what they paid for.
They got what they paid for.
Paul, your comments are deeply surprising.
>Paul Burton :
Thanks for the warning about the release of yet another bloated ego-fest from Henley and Fry. Now we can add the Eagles to our boycott list along with their evil empire sponsors, Wal-Mart.
Hamstrung by history? Or something else?
>NickM :
Bill – what set up the dynamic is that the OC Board of Supervisors allotted all the initial Prop. 172 money to law enforcement back in the mid-90s.
Oct 28, 2007 11:27 AM
A lot of very bad air.
>carole w :
It is expensive to live in California. I am sure it is expensive to dock a yacht in Newport Beach but, I am going to be interested to see what the cost is going to be to the safety personnel exposed to burning toxins. With the recent cuts in workers comp, lets hope the government stands by their working men and women for future illnesses.
Oct 28, 2007 11:22 AM
Paul BURTON! THAT is our Paul. Never change! lol
I usually try not to let my opinion of an artist interfere with my evaluation of their art. (e.g. I’m not crazy about Orson Scott Card’s anti-gay comments, but he’s written some very good books — stuff that makes you rethink your values, and your expectations of what the future will be or should be like.)
It’s pretty rare for somebody to tick me off enough that I can’t stand to support them.
Another random news hit — idle speculation amongst NWN commenters months ago, conventional wisdom today: Webb Seen as a Potential 2008 Running Mate, Washington Post, Sun 10/28/07.
The space-insertion feature ain’t fixed.
Here’s a tinyurl for that link:
http://tinyurl.com/2k7ynk
Auros,
“He is an unguided missile,too unpredictable”
Sounds like a characterization of me. No wonder I like him.
Hillary must have a VP with extensive military service.
Webb is a good Dem VP prospect.
That’s why I featured him last year and why he was gave the Dem response to the State of the Union.
Webb is a good Dem VP prospect.
That’s why I featured him last year and why he was gave the Dem response to the State of the Union.
Yeah, the irony is we already have great reserves underneath Alaska that have been outlawed for political advantage. Let’s acquire the rights to more arctic oil so we can outlaw that too.
Bill says:
> I’m sure I needn’t point out the irony.
Yeah, the irony is the obtuseness of guys who don’t get the irony.