In their new Hotel California their professional standards are pretty high, and the result is a satisfying, well-turned album. Try not to get too hung up on how middle-class their backgrounds may be, or whether there's any real sagebrush sticking to their spurs the Eagles are pros and they try to represent themselves honestly. Charley Walters, Rolling Stone, 2/24/77. What does work is the elegant fullness of "The Last Resort," whose concluding words sum up Hotel California: "You call some place Paradise.kiss it goodbye." "Pretty Maids All in a Row" employs glistening, high-pitched string synthesizer to good effect, adding a reserved tension to the slowly paced arrangement but the approach fails on "Wasted Time," an overarranged wash embodying the worst of rock-cum-Hollywood sensibilities. The frequent orchestration, however, doesn't always fit. "Life in the Fast Lane," propelled by Walsh's guitar and Glenn Frey's clavinet, rocks like it really means it "Victim of Love" works similarly, though at a slower tempo. The title cut, for example, incorporates a pinch of reggae so smoothly that it's more felt than heard. Walsh's exact effect isn't always obvious, but his record does have subtleties and edges that have sometimes eluded the group. Bernie Leadon departed and Joe Walsh arrived the Eagles have abandoned most of their bluegrass and country & western claims in favor of a more overt rock stance. Yet the record's firm musical bases cannot be overlooked.
Don Henley, handling five of the eight vocal tracks, expresses well the weary disgust of a victim (or observer) of the region's luxurious excess.
"Baja is flip flop funky… Todos Santos… lined with artisans shops, and it is here that you will find The Hotel California.”ĭuring the 1960s and 1970s, the precise details of the hotel’s history are a bit “hazy” – not uncommon for the culture of that particular era in general… There are numerous stories. It’s future was to become even more intriguing. This was just the beginning of the hotel’s colorful story. This of course made him quite popular and ironically he opened a general store named “La Popular.” He then opened the first gas station in Todos Santos directly next door to the hotel further establishing his reputation as a visionary. In the 1950’s, “El Chino” brought ice from La Paz to Todos Santos for the first time ever, and the Hotel California’s restaurant and bar served the only cold beer in town. Wong changed his name to Don Antonio Tabasco which didn’t work as well as he had planned since he soon became known as “El Chino,” meaning “The Chinese Man” rather than Don Antonio Tabasco. Wanting the locals to believe he was Mexican, Mr. Wong lived in the 16 room hotel with his wife and seven daughters.
Wong, after three years of construction, it opened on February 5, 1950. The Hotel California was founded in, 1948, by a Chinese immigrant named Mr.