Don Henley - The Very Best of Don Henley Review

The Very Best of Don Henley arrived nearly 15 years after Actual Miles: Henley’s Greatest Hits. In the interim, he released exactly one record, 2000’s Inside Job, which was itself his first new album since 1989’s The End of the Innocence. That was his third album of the 1980s – which by Henley’s solo standards was his most workaholic decade – and his second major hit, following 1984’s Building the Perfect Beast.

There’s something shameless and corporate about a greatest-hits disc that copies an earlier incarnation of the same concept, which is what this one does. The Very Best, for its first ten tracks, is an exact replica of Actual Miles (also sharing a cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Everybody Knows”), and only differentiates itself by substituting three cuts from Inside Job for the two then-new songs on the earlier collection. It’s a more-than-fair trade: “For My Wedding” may be too sweet for some tastes, but it’s also the most understated thing here; “Everything Is Different Now” is comparable to the better ballads from The End of the Innocence; and “Taking You Home”, which was deservedly a hit, closes the album with a demonstration of Henley’s undiminished vocal ability. He doesn’t sound noticeably different than he did on the first Eagles album almost 40 years ago....full text The Very Best of Don Henley arrived nearly 15 years after Actual Miles: Henley’s Greatest Hits . In the interim, he released exactly one record, 2000’s Inside Job , which was itself his first new album since 1989’s The End of the Innocence . That was his third album of the 1980s – which by Henley’s solo standards was his most workaholic decade – and his second major hit, following 1984’s Building the Perfect Beast . There’s something shameless......full text Fourteen years separate 2009's The Very Best of Don Henley and Henley's first compilation, Actual Miles: Henley's Greatest Hits. During that near decade-and-a-half, Henley only released one new album, 2000's Inside Job, a record that generated a couple of minor hit singles highlighted by "Taking You Home," which reached number 58 on Billboard's Hot 100 and number 12 on their Adult Top 40 chart. This means that this 2009 compilation doesn't have anything major that's not on the 1995 disc — even the cover of Leonard Cohen's "Everybody Knows," which debuted on Actual Miles, has been carried over to The Very Best — so there's not much reason to swap hits discs, but anybody in the market for a Don Henley compilation will find this satisfying, as it has all the big hits from Building the Perfect Beast and The End of the Innocence....full text