Definitive Audiophile pressings

BjorgenFjorgen said:
Nothing wrong with the Eagles. Two successive generations of Big Lebowski fans have unfairly given them a bad rap.
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The Eagles are fine, it’s fun to shit on them because they are an easy target. If they were held in the same esteem as Loggins & Messina or Poco or Jackson Brown (kinda where they should be) I don’t think many people would care. I think Hotel California and their Greatest Hits albums became Michael Jackson or Pink Floyd level huge is hard to wrap our collective generational heads around that level of popularity. Usually when an album is that big, it makes sense when you hear the music but I think lots of people are kinda shocked at how unrevelatory their music is. Lebowski just boiled that feeling down to a perfect movie scene.

I don’t think anyone truly hates the Eagles, I just think most people aren’t blown away by them either…well most people under 60 at least.
 
Local yard sale. Along with hundreds of other records, two plastic bins full of MoFi's, many of them sealed. Only problem (for me!) is that, understandably, he's asking current discogs high-end prices. His reason for trying to raise money is cool and laudable, but more personal than I'm comfortable sharing. Went through what was available to look at (inside his house and in his driveway) and bought a few things (Babe Ruth's First Base, Lou Reed's Street Hassle, Eno's Here Come the Warm Jets and a couple of others), and didn't see any MoFi's I wanted badly enough to pay his prices. But VERY COOL nonetheless, and this guy is a died-in-the-wool Deadhead from way back. In fact he's also selling a bunch of Dead (and related) concert posters, also pricey, but beautiful.

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Russ I said:
Local yard sale. Along with hundreds of other records, two plastic bins full of MoFi's, many of them sealed. Only problem (for me!) is that, understandably, he's asking current discogs high-end prices. His reason for trying to raise money is cool and laudable, but more personal than I'm comfortable sharing. Went through what was available to look at (inside his house and in his driveway) and bought a few things (Babe Ruth's First Base, Lou Reed's Street Hassle, Eno's Here Come the Warm Jets and a couple of others), and didn't see any MoFi's I wanted badly enough to pay his prices. But VERY COOL nonetheless, and this guy is a died-in-the-wool Deadhead from way back. In fact he's also selling a bunch of Dead (and related) concert posters, also pricey, but beautiful.

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Oh man that looks like a fun dig nonetheless and would be tempted on a lot
 
TenderLovingKiller® said:
The Eagles are fine, it’s fun to shit on them because they are an easy target. If they were held in the same esteem as Loggins & Messina or Poco or Jackson Brown (kinda where they should be) I don’t think many people would care. I think Hotel California and their Greatest Hits albums became Michael Jackson or Pink Floyd level huge is hard to wrap our collective generational heads around that level of popularity. Usually when an album is that big, it makes sense when you hear the music but I think lots of people are kinda shocked at how unrevelatory their music is. Lebowski just boiled that feeling down to a perfect movie scene.

I don’t think anyone truly hates the Eagles, I just think most people aren’t blown away by them either…well most people under 60 at least.
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But they certainly don't get more respect than artists Jackson Browne? I'm not saying they should. They get way less than that for some reason, even though they have some incredible pop songs and they're certainly inoffensive. I get them being overplayed, and I guess resenting their success-to-talent ratio or whatever, but the constant shitting on them is baffling to me.
 
BjorgenFjorgen said:
But they certainly don't get more respect than artists Jackson Browne? I'm not saying they should. They get way less than that for some reason, even though they have some incredible pop songs and they're certainly inoffensive. I get them being overplayed, and I guess resenting their success-to-talent ratio or whatever, but the constant shitting on them is baffling to me.
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Sorry, that was kinda my point, it’s not the critical acclaim that makes them easy targets as much as their overall popularity. Most of their contemporaries within that late 70s LA country rock scene were popular but nowhere near Eagles level of popularity. It’s kinda like Kenny G. He is the best selling Jazz artist OF ALL TIME!?!! In what world does that make any sense? He isn’t bad necessarily but he is nowhere near the greatest Jazz artists of all time. The Eagles have two of the top 20 best selling albums of all time. The only other artist with 2 releases in the top 20 is Michael Jackson. That is nuts. As good as those records are it boggles the mind they have TWO in the top 20. That is two more than Bruce Springsteen, Elton John, U2, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, and The Rolling Stones combined.
 
Joe Mac said:
Dunno talk to the boomers and in his later career he’s become their generations Mozart and Shakespeare combined. I suppose every generation gets the artists they deserve…
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He’s fine . His level of popularity makes sense to me. everyone knows “Running On Empty” Jackson Brown does not have any album in his catalog that has outsold Sgt. Pepper. The Eagles have Two.
 
Russ I said:
That's a brilliant take. It was actually in his early career that he spoke to his generation, just as they deserved, I suppose.
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i mean it’s fine, it’s all just so bloody fine. Part of me thinks that’s worse than being shit. At least shit provokes an emotion.

Another part of it is hearing it every bloody time I’m around my dad or his friends. Again it’s fine but repetition doesn’t reveal the genius they see just more fineness.

I think with the eagles it’s not that they’re bad and they did have some singles. It’s more that they were one of the more aggressively mediocre of the Laurel Canyon acts, they were the ones that went stratospheric and that success kinda destroyed the scene. Also they’re hardly sympathetic characters.
 
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TenderLovingKiller® said:
Sorry, that was kinda my point, it’s not the critical acclaim that makes them easy targets as much as their overall popularity. Most of their contemporaries within that late 70s LA country rock scene were popular but nowhere near Eagles level of popularity. It’s kinda like Kenny G. He is the best selling Jazz artist OF ALL TIME!?!! In what world does that make any sense? He isn’t bad necessarily but he is nowhere near the greatest Jazz artists of all time. The Eagles have two of the top 20 best selling albums of all time. The only other artist with 2 releases in the top 20 is Michael Jackson. That is nuts. As good as those records are it boggles the mind they have TWO in the top 20. That is two more than Bruce Springsteen, Elton John, U2, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, and The Rolling Stones combined.
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I think that's probably always been the case, and always will be. Mass appeal and critical acclaim rarely cross over perfectly. Some artists that are huge in their lifetimes sell a shit ton, but they rarely last for successive generations. I think, for example, more people will be listening to Bob Dylan than the Eagles in another generation, when the boomers who grew up with the Eagles aren't directly imprinting what was popular in their youth to their kids anymore (or when that effect is finished).

I'm surprised about the Kenny G fact, though. I bet after the 400th reissue of Kind of Blue, which audiophiles will inexplicably buy their 12th different version of, Miles Davis will eventually top him.
 
Joe Mac said:
Dunno talk to the boomers and in his later career he’s become their generations Mozart and Shakespeare combined. I suppose every generation gets the artists they deserve…
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They all fall into this odd middle of the road thing for someone growing up in the 70-80s. It was bar music if that makes sense, not to take away from their talent, and I love a lot of each one of these people/groups work, but, for me at least, there was much more interesting music to listen to.
 
Joe Mac said:
i mean it’s fine, it’s all just so bloody fine. Part of me thinks that’s worse than being shit. A least shit provokes an emotion.

Another part of it is hearing it every bloody time I’m around my dad or his friends. Again it’s fine but repetition doesn’t reveal the genius they see just more fineness.

I think with the eagles it’s not that they’re bad and they did have some singles. It’s more that they were one of the more aggressively mediocre of the Laurel Canyon acts, they were the ones that went stratospheric and that success kinda destroyed the scene. Also they’re hardly sympathetic characters.
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Exactly. The vitriol is a backlash to their unrelenting popularity. Like my dad (along with many others) had Eagles Greatest Hits, he thought they were okay. He also had Chicago and The Doobie Brothers, they were okay too. If The Eagles were at the same level of popularity as those bands very few would have a problem with them but they were so much bigger than that.
 
Yeah I don’t get reissuing 6 Eagles records as one steps. I bought every one of their albums at one point about ten years for $0.25 in great condition and I’m sure you can still get every single one for under $10 nowadays. They all sounded pretty good if I remember correctly, especially Hotel California, but I’ve since gotten rid of that shit.
 
BjorgenFjorgen said:
I think that's probably always been the case, and always will be. Mass appeal and critical acclaim rarely cross over perfectly. Some artists that are huge in their lifetimes sell a shit ton, but they rarely last for successive generations. I think, for example, more people will be listening to Bob Dylan than the Eagles in another generation, when the boomers who grew up with the Eagles aren't directly imprinting what was popular in their youth to their kids anymore (or when that effect is finished).

I'm surprised about the Kenny G fact, though. I bet after the 400th reissue of Kind of Blue, which audiophiles will inexplicably buy their 12th different version of, Miles Davis will eventually top him.
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I agree, popularity and critical acclaim don’t usually align but in the most special of circumstances but even in those circumstances where something it way more popular than critically acclaimed they still kinda make sense. Like a Celine Dion Album or BeeGees Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack those still make sense but the Eagles greatest hits album is the 2nd best selling album of all time Hotel California is the 15th best selling album of all time. That just doesn’t compute even when accounting for popularity/critical acclaim.
 
TenderLovingKiller® said:
I agree, popularity and critical acclaim don’t usually align but in the most special of circumstances but even in those circumstances where something it way more popular than critically acclaimed they still kinda make sense. Like a Celine Dion Album or BeeGees Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack those still make sense but the Eagles greatest hits album is the 2nd best selling album of all time Hotel California is the 15th best selling album of all time. That just doesn’t compute even when accounting for popularity/critical acclaim.
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I don't claim to understand it, and I agree it makes no sense, but I think the Eagles may somehow manage to span multiple genres of music. I know people who are into Country music that just love the Eagles and have attended many of their concerts. And then there are the genres that would be more obvious. It can't just be a boomer thing, though most definitely there's a lot of buying power there over the years, so I think appeal across groups that don't often agree on music may be part of it.
 
mitchwagz said:
Yeah I don’t get reissuing 6 Eagles records as one steps. I bought every one of their albums at one point about ten years for $0.25 in great condition and I’m sure you can still get every single one for under $10 nowadays. They all sounded pretty good if I remember correctly, especially Hotel California, but I’ve since gotten rid of that shit.
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They still have a pretty large following especially in the main demographic that is shelling out $125 for an album. Based on the reactions I have seen on a lot of MoFi groups/pages, I'm guessing these (especially Hotel California) will sell out pretty quickly. A lot of us are guilty of trying to chase the best sounding pressing of something (myself included), so when it's such a popular band in terms of sales, I don't doubt that people will be trying to chase the best sound of these albums.
 
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