Hell Freezes Over

Background

The album name is in reference to a quote by Don Henley after the band's breakup in 1980; he commented that the band would play together again "when Hell freezes over." Henley said in 1982 on the break-up: "I just rule out the possibility of putting the Eagles back together for a Lost Youth and Greed tour." In 1993, an Eagles tribute album, Common Thread: The Songs of the Eagles, was recorded by several country artists. Travis Tritt, who covered "Take It Easy" in the album, asked the band to appear in his video for the song. The former Eagles band members agreed, and it would be the first time the group had appeared together in 13 years. Two months later, Frey and Henley had lunch with their management and decided to reunite.

The band members performed live for the first time in April 1994 at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California for an MTV special. The recording sessions produced 11 tracks for the Hell Freezes Over album, including a new arrangement of "Hotel California" that features an extended acoustic guitar and percussion opening. At the beginning of the concert, Glenn Frey joked to the audience: "For the record, we never broke up; we just took a 14-year vacation." The tour began in May 27 and the Hell Freezes Over album was released on November 8, 1994. The album is the band's second live album, behind their live album in 1980.

The new song "Get Over It" became a modest hit, and another new song, "Love Will Keep Us Alive", reached No. 1 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart.

The DVD is one of the first music releases to feature a DTS format soundtrack in addition to a PCM stereo soundtrack. The DVD also featured the song "Seven Bridges Road" in DTS audio only. The DVD has since been re-released with an additional Dolby Digital soundtrack. The album has also been released as DTS CD in 1997.

Track listing

1. "Get Over It" (Don Henley, Glenn Frey) – 3:31
2. "Love Will Keep Us Alive" (Pete Vale, Jim Capaldi, Paul Carrack) – 4:03
3. "The Girl from Yesterday" (Frey, Jack Tempchin) – 3:23
4. "Learn to Be Still" (Henley, Stan Lynch) – 4:28
5. "Tequila Sunrise" (Henley, Frey) – 3:28
6. "Hotel California" (Don Felder, Henley, Frey) – 7:12
7. "Wasted Time" (Henley, Frey) – 5:19
8. "Pretty Maids All in a Row" (Joe Walsh, Joe Vitale) – 4:26
9. "I Can't Tell You Why" (Henley, Frey, Timothy B. Schmit) – 5:11
10. "New York Minute" (Henley, Danny "Kootch" Kortchmar, Jai Winding) – 6:37
11. "The Last Resort" (Henley, Frey) – 7:24
12. "Take It Easy" (Jackson Browne, Frey) – 4:36
13. "In the City" (Walsh, Barry De Vorzon) – 4:07
14. "Life in the Fast Lane" (Henley, Frey, Walsh) – 6:01
15. "Desperado" (Henley, Frey) – 4:17

All new songs were released as studio recordings on the album, but can be seen live on the VHS and DVD versions.

DVD-only tracks

1. "Help Me Through the Night" (Walsh) 21.44
2. "The Heart of the Matter" (Henley, Mike Campbell, J.D. Souther)
3. "Seven Bridges Road" (Steve Young) – DTS – A remastered version of the recording featured on Eagles Live, with a clearer separation of the four vocal parts to exploit the full potential of a 5.1 speaker set-up: Timothy B. Schmit is on the front-left, Glenn Frey on the front-right, Don Henley on the rear-left and Joe Walsh on the rear-right. Frey, as the singer of the song's main melody, is also featured on the front-center channel.

Personnel

Compiled from Hell Freezes Over liner notes.