By Ray Waddell NASHVILLE (Billboard) - "I've been biding time with crows and sparrows while peacocks prance and strut upon the stage," Don Henley sings on "Waiting in the Weeds," one of several powerful set pieces from the Eagles' new "Long Road out of Eden," the band's first studio album since 1979. The line is pretty descriptive of the Eagles, Henley believes. "We're a band that knows how to bide its time .
.. how to wait," he says.
"We've just been sort of waiting for some of this bad music to die down, for certain trends to go away, so we can get out there on the dancefloor again." Henley takes Billboard through the making of "Eden," due October 30 exclusively via Wal-Mart stores. BILLBOARD: IT'S GREAT TO SEE ALL THOSE HENLEY/GLENN FREY CO-WRITTEN SONGS ON THE NEW RECORD.
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT HOW THE SONGWRITING AND RECORDING PROCESSES HAVE CHANGED? The songwriting process hasn't really changed that much. The thing that has changed somewhat is the recording process, and that's because of technology.
We've recorded a few songs here and there since the turn of the century, but we haven't done a whole album, and the changes in the technology are amazing. BILLBOARD: CLEARLY, THERE IS STILL A WAY TO CAPTURE THE CHEMISTRY, EVEN WITH TECHNOLOGY. We still play instruments and sing.
There are still some of the processes that remain organic, and that's the way we want it. But things like editing are a whole lot easier, and you can arrange a song on ProTools if you want to, add an extra verse or change the structure of the song. But what the computer still won't do is write lyrics for you.
That still has to come by the sweat of the brow. BILLBOARD: THERE IS A LOT OF SOCIAL COMMENTARY ON THIS RECORD, BUT THERE IS ALSO A FOCUS ON PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS AND THE HUMAN CONDITION, AS WELL. We've always had love songs and we've always had social commentary.
I think we've gotten a little bit better at both ends of the spectrum. In fact, I think our love songs have matured a little bit and the social commentary has matured, as well, and gotten maybe a little bolder. But, it's an Eagles album, it's all over the map, both musically and subject-wise.
I guess there are more love songs on it than anything else. The last two songs on the record in particular are both messages from Glenn and I to our children. BILLBOARD: THOSE ARE MORE ABOUT "BIG PICTURE LOVE" THAN "I LOVE YOU TONIGHT.
" It's not just a boy/girl thing. We both have young children. We are both trying really hard to be good parents.
That's one reason it took so long to make an album, because we are so busy trying to be good parents.
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