Eagles

Warner Strategic Marketing's 2005 box set Eagles is a limited-edition, numbered box set that contains CDs of all of the Eagles' Elektra/Asylum albums from 1972 to 1980 (including the double-live Eagles Live from '80), plus the 1978 seasonal single "Please Come Home for Christmas"/"Funky New Year," all packaged as mini-LPs with reproductions of the original artwork. That's it. No extra liner notes, no rarities (granted, there really aren't many rarities, but 2000's box Selected Works did have a handful of late-'70s oddities, none of which are here), none of their comeback hits from the '90s, so this can't be called a "complete recorded works." Even the remasters here are about five years old, dating from the early 2000s when remasters were snuck onto the market without much fanfare. All this means that the one reason to get this box is the packaging, which indeed is pretty impressive -- not only is the artwork faithfully reproduced, right down to the inserts, but On the Border has a textured cover, Hotel California has the gatefold, Eagles Live has raised type. It's nice, but it's something that only hardcore fans will truly find a bargain at a list price of $129.98. If they're willing to put down that kind of change for albums they've bought two or three times before, they will get a nice package, but most listeners will likely be content with the copies they already have in their collection. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide