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5 of 5 found the following review helpful:
 Fine, straight covers of some classic tunes Sep 03, 2004
By Andrew S. Rogers
Unlike some of the reviewers here, I don't consider the cover tracks on this album better than, or even quite as good as, the Eagles' originals. But most of them are, no question, good performances of some great original tunes.
For all their California rock/pop-ness, the Eagles always had strong country influences in their sound (Don Henley himself has made reference to the band's "satanic-country-rock period" during the era of the "One of These Nights" album), and so adapting their songs to the vocal stylings of country singers isn't that big a stretch. The tracks on this tribute CD are pretty straightforward covers of some of their classics: in most cases, the track-length is within seconds of the Eagles' originals. Some of the versions have been "countried-up" a little, but even then they're pretty faithful to the originals.
Personally, I think I was most impressed by Clint Black's "Desperado," Tanya Tucker's "Already Gone," and Travis Tritt's "Take it Easy." Suzy Bogguss did a fine job with "Take It to the Limit," but I missed the Eagles' tight harmonies on this one. For all Suzy's talent, I just don't think it sounds as good as a solo. And I wish they would have found someone to cover "Witchy Woman" or even "Hotel California." But you can't have everything.
7 of 8 found the following review helpful:
 A long term hold for any cd portfolio Aug 16, 1999
By Pete Heitkamp (p.j.heitkamp@worldnet.att.net
If you like country music and the Eagles, you got to have this cd. It demonstrates how far ahead the Eagles really were ahead of their time. Each country artist brings an unique quality and interpretation of the Eagle's early songs. A long term hold for any cd portfolio
4 of 4 found the following review helpful:
Charity album succeeded beyond expectations Oct 14, 2003
By Peter Durward Harris
"Pete the music fan"
This was something new in country music - a tribute album to which each invited star recorded one song, with the results going to charity. A lot of country singers of the nineties were fans of the Eagles and they enthusiastically joined in. The resulting album contains plenty of covers of their famous songs - indeed, nearly all the original versions of these songs can be found on greatest hits compilations by the Eagles. I've met people who listen to this more frequently than the originals.So the song selection is mostly obvious with only Billy Dean doing something different, Saturday night being his choice, but all the performances are inspired. It seems that the singers and songs are well matched. My favorite here is Take it to the limit (Suzy Bogguss) but not by much. Every track is a real gem. I only know of one previous cover of an Eagles song by any of the featured singers here, that being Tanya Tucker's version of Best of my love, which she recorded in the early seventies. Here she covers Already gone, leaving Best of my love to be covered this time by Brooks and Dunn. This album was far more successful than anybody ever imagined possible, so tribute albums by various artists became a regular feature of country music, but this was the first of its kind and is still among the best.
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
A very good listening experience. Jul 14, 2000
By Archie Mercer
"Archie"
This was an interesting CD when it first came out. Released in 1993, at the height of the "new" country popularity, this CD has many various country stars (and superstars) re-recording classic Eagles hits. Nothing wrong with that. I keep pulling this out every so often and it is still enjoyable (in a mellow sort-of-way) to listen to. The problem here is that this collection could have been SO much better. Not by including different songs, but by showing some creativity when recording. With the exception of Tanya Tucker's cover of "Already Gone" every song here is recorded exactly as the Eagles recorded them. Same harmonies, same guitar riffs (well, Travis Tritt does stray a little on "Take It Easy", but not much), and same beat. With the talent included here, and with some the hottest country musicians backing them up, the songs should have been more than just covered. Again, this does not make this a bad collection, just a little disappointing. Highlights here include "Desperado" by Clint Black and "Take It To The Limit" by Suzy Bogguss. It's also interesting to note that most of these songs were from the early days of the Eagles, before they re-invented themselves and went mainstream rock. I would recommend this to almost any country fan, and also to fans of the original Eagles line-up. If you're an Eagles fan who thinks "Hotel California" was their best album (and it probably was) you may not enjoy this too much.
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
Great country versions of hit songs Aug 02, 2004
By Bruce P. Barten
I like these songs. In 1993 these versions of songs by the Eagles were released as a benefit for the preservation of land around Walden Pond. Country singers are usually good at picking up enough of the way a song should be done to do it right. Almost all of these songs are so familiar that most audiences would know if a rendition started to fall apart, but all these performances are so polished that anyone would be thrilled to hear them. I only know the greatest hits and songs The Eagles do in concert, but the final song, "The Sad Cafe" is the only selection on this CD that I have not heard often enough to know how it really goes, and all the songs sound right on.
I'm inclined to pay more attention to female vocalists than the other kind, and I'm glad some ladies got to do the longer songs on this CD, `Take It To the Limit,' (4:32) `New Kid In Town,' (5:07) `Already Gone,' (5:00) and `The Sad Cafe' (4:45). Four of the songs the guys sing are less than 3 or 4 minutes, but the longest song `Lyin' Eyes' (6:30) by Diamond Rio looks like a bunch of guys in the picture: Lead Vocals: Marty Roe, with Gene Johnson and Dana Williams on Background Vocals.
There are some great lines in the Eagles' songs that I like, and when I could not remember the final verse of one of those songs, today, this CD was the obvious pick to listen to because these singers are not afraid to be clearer than the originals. My mind digresses too much when listening to songs that everyone has heard millions of times, especially by the time a song gets to the guitar solo, and having a singer giving some country character to these songs makes the words stand out more than ever. If you ever appreciated the songs by the Eagles but got tired of listening to the original versions, this CD will give you 13 great songs with all the variety that mainstream country music fans expect.
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