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  • Eagles - Dark Desert Highway

  • How America’s Dream Band Turned into a Nightmare
  • By: Mick Wall
  • Narrated by: Jeff Harding
  • Length: 11 hrs and 23 mins
  • 4.1 out of 5 stars (19 ratings)

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Eagles - Dark Desert Highway

By: Mick Wall
Narrated by: Jeff Harding
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Summary

'This could be heaven or this could be hell...'

So sings Don Henley on their biggest hit, 'Hotel California', and it is true that the Eagles story was one that blurred the ultimate Hollywood highs and subterranean LA lows beyond recognition.

The band that embodied the American dream with globe-straddling success, impossibly luxurious lives, almost supernatural talent also descended into nightmare with bloodletting betrayal, hate-filled hubris, the skeletons of perceived enemies, brutally discarded lovers and former band mates left unburied on the road behind them. The story of the Eagles is a truly gothic American fable: one of ultimate power and rivers of money; of sex and drugs at a time when both were the lingua-franca of sophisticated So-Cal living; of a band who sang of peaceful easy feelings in public while threatening to kill each other in private.

Now, for the first time, esteemed music biographer Mick Wall will provide the definitive insight into America's bestselling band of all time, a band who have sold more records than Led Zeppelin and The Rolling Stones combined, exploring their meteoric rise to fame and the hedonistic days of the 70s music scene in LA, when American music was taking over the world.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2023 Mick Wall (P)2023 Orion Publishing Group Limited
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What listeners say about Eagles - Dark Desert Highway

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

.....ahhhh

...as an american in the uk and an old hippie from the music era of the 60's and 70's...and not doing my usual read up of the author first, now I get it! I am married to a brit so not prejudiced. Always into music as a blah average one, I am, I thought the author was an American ex-hippie, too, and the writing style struck me as a bit of a frustrated and maybe envious person....BUT MR. WALL IS BRITISH AND WRITING ABOUT MY AMERICAN ROOTS!!!! ahhhhhhhh...that explained it totally. Not being mean but the sarcasm bugged me at times, thus the 4 stars. But it is a very informative book of the times and once used to the style of writing, I am glad I listened. Maybe the narrator is a British wanna be....thanks for all the history!!!

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

A good story well told

I liked the author’s knowing, cynical snark, Frankly it suits this rather sordid tale perfectly. Interesting insightful stories made me want to revisit a bit of the magic.
But Cocaine and Hugh Bris will always be a downer however high you fly.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Entertaining listen

The first Eagles track I remember was One of These Nights, which came out when I was 10 or 11. I wasn't into glam rock and actually thought that it was this band from the States that was properly glamorous. I used to chuckle at the snootiness and pretentiousness that passed for music 'journalism' back in the day. If only they could light up a joint and relax to the mellow sounds of the Eagles they would have been far less uptight thought I. Probably not a massive amount of new material here but it's more about the ride, which Jeff Harding narrates with gusto. F*ck yeah!🤣

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Mick Wall for President

Thoroughly entertaining romp through the Eagles backstory.
Initially I was a little miffed, not to hear Mick reading this himself, in his inimitable style but in actualitae, it soars even higher when given an American accent.
A loquacious tour de force…🙂

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Good

It was a good story but the narrator Jeff Hardling was, crap, but the the story....

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Grating and Inaccurate

WAY too many 'mans' and 'babies'. Grates beyond belief. Wall is a horrible writer. However, I was curious to hear something that wasn't fawning and to be fair, the balance is reasonable. Credit where due and sarcastic derision everywhere else. Henley and Frey never fare well. Frey was a hideously selfish, obnoxious and mediocre article as evidenced by his solo output - garbage. Henley always just struck me as grumpy but his solo stuff is great. Surrounded himself with the right talent, let's be honest. If it weren't for his voice he'd never have gone beyond Shiloh. Dreadful drummer.
Three inaccuracies stick with me. Joe Walsh's Life's Been Good credited by Wall as Life's Been Good to Me and Henley's The End of the Innocence retitled by Wall as The End of Innocence. He also reinvents Buckingham and that goose farting in the fog Nicks introduction to FM. It was Buckingham who they wanted and he insisted upon Nicks joining too. Not the other way around. Thanks for that Lindsey. Jeez.... Maybe trifling wrong 'uns but if he can't even get song titles right, how much of this garbage is actually true?
Then there's the narrator. Horrid. Man. Maybe best to read the old fashioned book.
And I like the Eagles. Mostly. Imagine if I hated them!!! 🤣

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Awful narration

Only managed to last just over halfway due to the incredibly irritating narator

If you have a penchant for no story, statacco over emphasis of 100's of statements all ending with that dreadful inflection then this is the book for you !!

Real shame as I'm sure the storyline when presented by a Stephen Fry type individual would be engaging and entertaining

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