Eagles Soar Once More

Don Henley announces peaceful, easy-rocking '70s supergroup will release first studio album in nearly three decades this spring

By Gina Serpe Feb 01, 2007 9:37 PMTags

Take it easy, Eagles fans. The Hotel California will soon be open for business again.

During a private concert in Las Vegas Saturday, former frontman Don Henley broke the news that, barring any last-minute implosions, the Eagles will, within the next three months, release its first studio album in nearly three decades.

The adult-contempo lovers at the Las Vegas Review-Journal first reported on the recording news after Henley spilled the news during a gig at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

"It's coming out in 60 to 90 days, if we don't kill each other first," Henley told the crowd.

The forthcoming album will mark the oft-battling band's first collection of new material since 1979, when The Long Run soared to the top of the Billboard charts and earned the band a number one hit and a Grammy for "Heartache Tonight."

Three years later, the group called it quits and turned down lucrative offers to reunite throughout the whole of the '80s, with the individual members instead opting to pursue solo careers with varying degrees of success.

In 1994, the band reformed with a lineup of Henley, Glenn Frey, Don Felder, Joe Walsh and Timothy Schmidt, but without longtime members Randy Meisner and Bernie Leadon. The fivesome released Hell Freezes Over, a live album that included a few new tracks interspersed among their greatest hits. The disc's title was a nod to Henley's estimation when the band would reunite.

All seven musicians reconvened in 1998 to perform at the band's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction. During the band's last reunion tour in 2006, the roster was down to Henley, Frey, Walsh and Schmidt.

It remains unclear what combination of band members are playing on the forthcoming disc, which doesn't have an official title but is rumored to be named The Long Road to Eden.

Whatever the final roll call is, Henley hinted that the band would follow up the release with another road trip, ending Saturday night's concert by telling his fans, "I'll see you this summer."