Song #80: "Wasted Time/Reprise"--Eagles (1976)

We haven't heard from the Eagles in about four months, but they return today with the fourth of five entries in the Top 500 with a suite that, when you went to Gary's or the Album Den, or Woolco, to buy it in 1976, you'd find it separated.

That's because "Wasted Time" was the final song of Side A. When you flipped the vinyl to Side B, you began with the "Reprise", then launch into one of the more underrated sides of a rock album in history, to be honest. Every song is very strong, from "Victim Of Love" and "Pretty Maids All In A Row" to "The Last Resort".

All three of those songs made the "B" side of the three singles released from "Hotel California", and most of us don't remember that, when the album came out, it was "New Kid In Town", and not the title track, that was first to hit the radio. In early 1977, when "Hotel California", the song, hit the airwaves, the popularity of the Eagles went from stardom to super-stardom.

But my favorite song from the iconic album is a beautifully penned piece sung absolutely perfectly by Don Henley, a lament about a couple ending their relationship, and based on a real-life break-up between Henley and his girlfriend shortly before the recording for "Hotel California" began.

You can tell by his performance that it was heartfelt and experiential. Rolling Stone readers made this the ninth best song in Eagles history in a poll conducted back in 2015.

It's number two in my poll. They'll be back once more, and, with the exception of my brother, I don't believe anyone can guess what that song will be.  :)

I'm posting both the song and the reprise, because frankly, I don't want to hear one without the other.