The End of the Innocence by Don Henley (CD, Jun-1989, Geffen)

This CD is masterful, and an instant classic. How many non - "greatest hits" CD's are there, in which 8 of 10 tracks are good to excellent? At least 4 of the 10 tracks are so good that they are classics. How many albums can say that 50% of their songs become instant classics, and 3 others are really good? Only a tiny minority can. As good as the rockers are on this album, very strong material with a fairly strong blues influence and a pretty strong edge, the truly legendary and most memorable songs here are the ballads - end of the innocence, the last worthless evening, new york minute, and the heart of the matter, all very substantive songs that are lyrically and powerfully poignant. To boot, they represent diverse and varied themes. Henley's voice is distinctive and strong and unmistakable, and serves him extremely well whether he's rocking or lamenting. The emotional impact of the lyrics and the way they are sung is rarely found. Thematically, in end of the innocence Henley laments political and other corruption, the last worthless evening is a sweet and very effective "wooing" song, new york minute is a complex song about disillusionment, and the heart of the matter, an extremely powerful and poignant song, is both a mournful lament of lost love and a hopeful and optimistic ballad about the power and import of conciliation and forgiveness of a lover who has moved on, and accepting that as closure. Pretty heady stuff. The rockers are not only edgy, but kind of bluesy and fun, both musically and lyrically. I particularly like "If Dirt Were Dollars", for its humor and sarcasm, and there are some under-recognized lyric lines in some of the rockers that are downright clever ("You would walk on your lips through busted glass, just to get next to that.." and the story of the homeless man with delusions of grandeur in "If Dirt..") This album is possibly even the equal of the sensational "Building The Perfect Beast", but it isn't more of the same in any way - it's got it's own themes musically and lyrically and thematically. IMO, both are instant classics and both easily outshine Henley's other two solo efforts. And this may be controversial, but if you gather all the best songs from End Of The Innocence and Building The Perfect Beast, and throw in Dirty Laundry and Johnny Can't Read from his first solo album, you would have a body of work that is as impressive as The Eagles Greatest Hits..it's not really that surprising though, when you think about it. The Eagles' best rockers are clearly Hotel California and Life In The Fast Lane - both written by Don Henley. The Eagles' best ballad is almost certainly "Desperado", also by Don Henley. When I saw Henley on his "Beast" tour, he sang all his great solo material from the first two albums, plus 3-4 of his best Eagles songs - it was arguably the equal or better than any other concert I've ever seen. This guy is incredible. In fact, and this may offend some, but IMO he's better as a solo concert act than the combined Eagles are. Dirty Laundry, Johnny Can't Read, Building The Perfect Beast, All She Wants To Do Is Dance, Sunset Grill, Driving With Your Eyes Closed, Boys Of Summer, plus all of the great "End Of the Innocence" songs I mentioned? AND his Eagles penned songs that I mentioned? That is very, very difficult to top for any act out there.. Thios album is superb and I highly recommend it.

I am a huge Eagles fan, and when Don Henley put out this album, I had to have it and I was hugely impressed by it. He has a distinct voice and fantastic lyrics. In my opinion this album and "Building the Perfect Beast" are must have albums if you enjoy Don Henley songs.

Tracks:

The End Of The Innocence
How Bad Do You Want It?
I Will Not Go Quietly
The Last Worthless Evening
New York Minute
Shangri-La
Little Tin God
Gimme What You Got
If Dirt Were Dollars
The Heart Of The Matter

Great CD if you like end of the innocence also it has heart of the matter and last worthless evening on it other then that the faster songs well they are hard to get into great CD to cut the ones you want and burn them into a collection

there is not a bad song on this album. a masterpiece in my opinion... if your a eagle's fan, or don henley fan, or a fan of good music; you'll love this album! good mood music for the bedroom,-wink, wink... just good music, good lyrics, and great vocals by mr. henley... I travel the road, and this is great driving music. you can't go wrong with this album! buy it now!!!

This Don Henley CD is worth buying for 2 EXCELLENT songs: "The End of the Innocence" and "Forgiveness." I listen to these songs over and over and never find them boring.
The other cuts are okay; they are, after all, done by Don Henley. However, I do not find the other songs nearly as appealing as the 2 songs mentioned above.