HENLEY, Don; Don Felder; Randy Meisner; Glenn Frey; Joe Walsh. [The Eagles].
The Eagles Band-Signed Test Pressing of Hotel California.
Los Angeles, California: Asylum Records, 1976.
$12,800.00
In Stock
Item Number: RRB-152399
+$500
"One of the best-selling and most acclaimed albums in the history of American rock": Rare Columbia Record Productions Test Pressing of the Eagles' Hotel California; Signed by All Five Members of The Eagles
Rare Columbia Record Productions test pressing of Hotel California, the Eagles’ landmark fifth studio album, boldly signed by all five members of the band. Signed on the plain album sleeve in blue felt tip by Don Henley, Don Felder, Randy Meisner, Glenn Frey, and Joe Walsh. With an additional contemporary inscription in an unknown hand, “Mark, Thanks,” and annotation in the upper left, “7E-1084 A/B,” the matrix number for both sides of the album. The test pressing itself is present, bearing the plain “Columbia Record Productions, Santa Maria, Test Pressing” label to both sides, the runouts stamped with the matrix numbers “7E 1084 A-2 RE CSM, ‘IS IT 6 O’CLOCK YET?,’ A1 STERLING LH 1S” and “7E 1084 B-4 RE CSM, ‘V.O.L. IS FIVE PIECE LIVE,’ A STERLING LH 1S.” In fine condition, with light scuffing and edgewear to the sleeve. Accompanied by full letters of authenticity from PSA/DNA and JSA. A scarce and highly desirable band-signed pre-release pressing of one of the best-selling and most acclaimed albums in the history of American rock.
Released in December 1976, Hotel California was the Eagles’ fifth studio album and the summit of their commercial and critical success, capturing the seductive glamour and unease of 1970s California in songs that have become touchstones of American popular music. The album held the top of the Billboard charts for a total of eight weeks and won Grammy Awards for the title track “Hotel California,” named Record of the Year, and for “New Kid in Town,” honored for Best Arrangement for Voices. The cryptic “secret messages” engraved in the record’s run-out grooves were present on the original commercial release; the second of them, “V.O.L. is five piece live,” refers to the album’s sixth track, “Victim of Love,” which the band recorded live in the studio in a single take with no overdubbing. Test pressings such as this were produced in tiny numbers ahead of commercial release for the band and label to review, making an example signed by the complete Hotel California lineup of Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Don Felder, Joe Walsh, and Randy Meisner exceptionally rare.
The Eagles Band-Signed Test Pressing of Hotel California.
$12,800.00
In Stock