Hell Freezes Over
Hell Freezes Over is the second live album by the Eagles, released in 1994. The album is the first to be released after the Eagles had reformed following a fourteen-year-long break up. The band's lineup was that of the Long Run era: Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Don Felder, Joe Walsh, and Timothy B. Schmit. It contains four new studio tracks and eleven tracks recorded live in April 1994 for an MTV special. Two Top 40 Mainstream singles, "Get Over It" and "Love Will Keep Us Alive", were released from the album. It also features an acoustic version of "Hotel California". The four new studio recordings are the last to feature Don Felder, who was fired from the band in 2001.
The album went to No. 1 on the Billboard album chart upon its release where it stayed for two weeks. The album has sold over 9 million copies in the United States.
Hell Freezes Over was also released in video form on VHS, LaserDisc and DVD. Before the album was released, the Eagles also started a tour, which would last from 1994 to 1996 and became one of the most successful tours in music history.
Background
The album name is in reference to a quote by Don Henley after the band's breakup in 1980. Henley was asked in an interview about when the band would play together again, to which he responded "when Hell freezes over". Henley also said in 1982 on the break-up: "I just rule out the possibility of putting the Eagles back together for a Lost Youth and Greed tour".In 1993, an Eagles tribute album, , was recorded by several country artists. Travis Tritt, who covered "Take It Easy" in the album, asked the band to appear in his video for the song. The former Eagles band members agreed, and it would be the first time the group had appeared together in 13 years. Two months later, Glenn Frey and Henley had lunch with their management and decided to reunite.
The band members performed live for the first time in April 1994 at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California for an MTV special. The recording sessions produced 11 tracks for the Hell Freezes Over album, including a new arrangement of "Hotel California" that features an extended acoustic guitar and percussion opening. At the beginning of the concert, Frey joked to the audience: "For the record, we never broke up; we just took a 14-year vacation". The tour began on May 27, and the Hell Freezes Over album was released on November 8, 1994. The album is the band's second live album, after their live album in 1980.
A new song "Get Over It" became a modest hit and another new song, "Love Will Keep Us Alive", reached No. 1 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart.
The DVD is one of the first music releases to feature a DTS format soundtrack in addition to a PCM stereo soundtrack. The DVD also featured the song "Seven Bridges Road" in DTS audio only. The DVD has since been re-released with an additional Dolby Digital soundtrack. The album was also released as a DTS CD in 1997.
Track listing
- All new songs, which were released as studio recordings on the album, but can be seen live on the VHS and DVD versions.
- "Seven Bridges Road" – DTS – A remastered version of the recording featured on Eagles Live, with a clearer separation of the five vocal parts to exploit the full potential of a 5.1 speaker set-up: Timothy B. Schmit is on the rear-right, Glenn Frey as the singer of the song's main melody on the front-right, Don Henley on the front-left and Joe Walsh on the rear-left. Don Felder is on the front-center channel.
Personnel
Eagles
- Don Felder – electric guitar, acoustic guitar, pedal steel guitar, mandolin, vocals
- Glenn Frey – electric and acoustic guitar, piano, keyboards, vocals
- Don Henley – drums, acoustic guitar, percussion, vocals
- Timothy B. Schmit – bass guitar, vocals
- Joe Walsh – electric, acoustic, and slide guitar, organ, vocals
- John Corey – piano
- Scott Crago – percussion, drums
- Timothy Drury – keyboards, vocals
- Stan Lynch – percussion
- Jay Oliver – organ, keyboards, piano
- Paulinho Da Costa – percussion
- Gary Grimm – percussion
- Brian Matthews – Electro-Theremin
- Al Garth – trumpet on "New York Minute"
- Burbank Philharmonic Orchestra – backup on "New York Minute"
- Eagles – production
- Elliot Scheiner – production
- Rob Jacobs – production
- Stan Lynch – production
- Joel Stillerman – executive producer
- Carol Donovan – program producer
- Beth McCarthy – program director
- Audrey Johns – program line producer
- Rob Jacobs, Elliot Scheiner – engineers
- Charlie Bouis, Carl Glanville, Barry Goldberg, Andy Grassi, Tom Trafalski, Tom Winslow – second engineers
- Todd Bowie and Chris Buttleman – guitar technician
- Ted Jensen – mastering
- Rob Jacobs, Dave Kob, Dave Reynolds, Elliot Scheiner – mixing
- Adam Armstrong – vocal technician
- Ted Jensen – editing
- Don Davis, The Eagles, Jay Oliver – horn and string arrangements
- David Hewitt – live recording coordinator
- John Halpern, David Skernick – photography
- Keith Raywood – production design
- Robin Sloane, Janet Wolsborn – art direction
- Dwaine "The Peachin' Trucker" Wise – road manager
- Andrew Lopez – head driver
Charts
Weekly charts
| Chart | Peak position |
| Austrian Top 75 Albums | 24 |
| New Zealand Top 50 Albums | 13 |
| Norwegian Top 40 Albums | 3 |
| Chart | Peak position |
| US Catalog Albums | 6 |
| Chart | Peak position |
Decade-end charts
Video/DVD
| Chart | Peak position |
| Netherlands Top 30 Music DVDs | 3 |
| Swedish Top 20 DVDs | 1 |