389 - Don Henley - The End of the Innocence

[csberry]

I didn't have high expectations about loving this album, but I expected to like it more than I did. My primary struggle to listening to the non-singles is how 80's the album sounds with the sometimes awkward sounding synths, guitar solos where ever you can fit them, and the use of black background singers to try to make the lead vocalist sound more soulful.

The title track sounds just as mature and well developed as it always has. "How Bad Do You Want It?" isn't quite as likable, but is still a fun pop song. It is when the warbling guitars kick in on "I Will Not Go Quietly" that things start sounding cheap to me. Don's half-singing, half-speaking during the verses don't help out at all. Axl Rose's vocal presence in the chorus is too low in the mix to be of any real effect. After that, we're back to a couple of hits - "The Last Worthless Evening" and "New York Minute." Okay, 4 of the 5 songs on the first half were bona fide good songs with the bad apple in the middle. The second half pushes the other two singles to the end. A listener has to trudge his or her way through the dull "Shangri-La," the cheesy keyboard stylings of "Little Tin God," and the plodding "Gimme What You Got" before getting to "If Dirt Were Dollars" (a decent rehash of "Dirty Laundry") and "The Heart of the Matter."

Songs I knew I liked: "The End of the Innocence," "The Last Worthless Evening," and "The Heart of the Matter"

Songs I didn't know but now like: No new discoveries on this.

Songs I can go the rest of my life without hearing again: "I Will Not Go Quietly," "Shangri-La," "Little Tin God," and "Gimme What You Got"