MOTEL 6 CALIFORNIA: Are the Eagles planning...

MOTEL 6 CALIFORNIA: Are the Eagles planning a 1991 reunion, despite all those loud denials we heard earlier this year? It’s no secret that the core of the band (in other words, the members still speaking to each other--Don Henley, Glenn Frey and Timothy Schmidt) have performed together twice in recent months, most recently at a surprise show at the recent Radio & Records convention (where they left the stage with a “see you next year”-style farewell). Insiders say talk of a reunion tour has heated up in the past months. But why would Henley, who has been dubbed the “F. Scott Fitzgerald of pop” and established himself as a serious solo artist, jeopardize his hard-won career advances simply for the financial windfall of a cobwebby Eagles tour?

Neither the band’s former manager Irving Azoff, nor Henley or Frey, would comment. But industry insiders say Henley and Frey are planning an August attempt to write several new songs, which could make a long-awaited Eagles greatest-hits collection. Will a tour follow? It depends on several big ‘ifs.’ If all goes well with the Henley-Frey collaboration, the hits package could be out by spring or summer 1991, which be the perfect time for a big U.S. tour. If Henley and Frey patch up their differences with ex-Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh, he would be an important musical cog in the tour lineup. And if older Eagles fans are still willing to venture out to big concert halls, the tour could be a major summer attraction. As one observer put it: “Never underestimate the power of nostalgia. If people will go to a Doobie Brothers reunion, you’d have to think they’d kill to see the Eagles.”