''Hell Freezes Over'' is the second live album by the

Eagles Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just ...

, released in 1994. The album is the first to be released after the Eagles had reformed following a fourteen-year-long break up. The band's lineup was that of the ''

Long Run In economics, the long-run is a theoretical concept in which all markets are in equilibrium, and all prices and quantities have fully adjusted and are in equilibrium. The long-run contrasts with the short-run, in which there are some constraints an ...

'' era:

Glenn Frey Glenn Lewis Frey (; November 6, 1948 – January 18, 2016) was an American singer, guitarist and a founding member of the rock band Eagles. Frey was the co-lead singer and frontman for the Eagles, roles he came to share with fellow member Don ...

Don Henley Donald Hugh Henley (born July 22, 1947) is an American musician and a founding member of the rock band Eagles. He is the drummer and one of the lead singers for the Eagles. Henley sang the lead vocals on Eagles hits such as "Witchy Woman", "Despe ...

Don Felder Donald William Felder (born September 21, 1947) is an American musician who was the lead guitarist of the rock band Eagles from 1974 until his termination from the band in 2001. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998 with th ...

Joe Walsh Joseph Fidler Walsh (born November 20, 1947) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. In a career spanning over five decades, he has been a member of three successful rock bands: the James Gang, Eagles, and Ringo Starr & His All-Starr B ...

, and

Timothy B. Schmit Timothy Bruce Schmit (born October 30, 1947) is an American musician, singer, and songwriter. He has performed as the bassist and vocalist for Poco and the Eagles (band), Eagles, having replaced bassist and vocalist Randy Meisner in both cases ...

. It contains four new studio tracks and eleven tracks recorded live in April 1994 for an

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

special. Two Top 40 Mainstream singles, "Get Over It" and "Love Will Keep Us Alive", were released from the album. It also features an acoustic version of "

Hotel California "Hotel California" is the title track from the Eagles' album of the same name and was released as a single in February 1977. Writing credits for the song are shared by Don Felder (music), Don Henley, and Glenn Frey (lyrics). Joe Walsh came ...

". The four new studio recordings are the last to feature Don Felder, who was fired from the band in 2001. The album went to No. 1 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' album chart upon its release where it stayed for two weeks. The album has sold over 9 million copies in the United States. ''Hell Freezes Over'' was also released in

video Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving visual media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, which were quickly replaced by cathode-ray tube (CRT) syste ...

form on VHS,

LaserDisc The LaserDisc (LD) is a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium, initially licensed, sold and marketed as DiscoVision, MCA DiscoVision (also known simply as "DiscoVision") in the United States in 1978. Its diam ...

and

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

. Before the album was released, the Eagles also started a tour, which would last from 1994 to 1996 and became one of the most successful tours in music history.

Background

The album name is in reference to a quote by Don Henley after the band's breakup in 1980. Henley was asked in an interview about when the band would play together again, to which he responded "when Hell freezes over". Glenn Frey also said in 1982 on the break-up: "I just rule out the possibility of putting the Eagles back together for a Lost Youth and Greed tour." In 1993, an Eagles tribute album, '' Common Thread: The Songs of the Eagles'', was recorded by several country artists.

Travis Tritt James Travis Tritt (born February 9, 1963) is an American country music singer and songwriter. He signed to Warner Bros. Records in 1989, releasing seven studio albums and a greatest hits package for the label between then and 1999. In the 20 ...

, who covered "

Take It Easy "Take It Easy" is the debut single by the American rock band Eagles, written by Jackson Browne and Eagles band member Glenn Frey, who also provides lead vocals. It was released on May 1, 1972, and peaked at No. 12 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 10 ...

" in the album, asked the band to appear in his video for the song. The former Eagles band members agreed, and it would be the first time the group had appeared together in 13 years. Two months later, Glenn Frey and Henley had lunch with their management and decided to reunite. The band members performed live for the first time in April 1994 at

Warner Bros. Studios Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

Burbank, California Burbank is a city in the southeastern end of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located northwest of downtown Los Angeles, Burbank has a population of 107,337. The city was named after David Burbank, w ...

for an MTV special. The recording sessions produced 11 tracks for the ''Hell Freezes Over'' album, including a new arrangement of "Hotel California" that features an extended acoustic guitar and percussion opening. At the beginning of the concert, Frey joked to the audience: "For the record, we never broke up; we just took a 14-year vacation". The tour began on May 27, and the ''Hell Freezes Over'' album was released on November 8, 1994. The album is the band's second live album, after their live album in 1980. A new song " Get Over It" became a modest hit and another new song, "

Love Will Keep Us Alive "Love Will Keep Us Alive" is a song written by Jim Capaldi, Paul Carrack, and Peter Vale and produced by the Eagles, Elliot Scheiner, and Rob Jacobs. It was first performed by the Eagles in 1994, during their ''Hell Freezes Over'' reunion tour, ...

", reached No. 1 on the ''Billboard'' Adult Contemporary chart. The DVD is one of the first music releases to feature a DTS format soundtrack in addition to a PCM stereo soundtrack. The DVD also featured the song "Seven Bridges Road" in DTS audio only. The DVD has since been re-released with an additional

Dolby Digital Dolby Digital, originally synonymous with Dolby AC-3, is the name for what has now become a family of audio compression technologies developed by Dolby Laboratories. Formerly named Dolby Stereo Digital until 1995, the audio compression is lossy ...

soundtrack. The album was also released as a DTS CD in 1997.

Track listing

*All new songs were released as studio recordings on the album, but can be seen live on the VHS and DVD versions. *"Seven Bridges Road" – DTS – A remastered version of the recording featured on ''Eagles Live'', with a clearer separation of the five vocal parts to exploit the full potential of a 5.1 speaker set-up: Timothy B. Schmit is on the rear-right, Glenn Frey as the singer of the song's main melody on the front-right, Don Henley on the front-left and Joe Walsh on the rear-left. Don Felder is on the front-center channel.

Personnel

Compiled from ''Hell Freezes Over'' liner notes. Eagles *

– drums, acoustic guitar, percussion, vocals *

– bass guitar, vocals *

– electric and acoustic guitar, piano, keyboards, vocals *

– electric guitar, acoustic guitar,

pedal steel guitar The pedal steel guitar is a Console steel guitar, console-type of steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings to enable playing more varied and complex music than any previous steel guitar design. Like all s ...

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

, vocals *

– electric, acoustic, and

slide guitar Slide guitar is a technique for playing the guitar that is often used in blues music. It involves playing a guitar while holding a hard object (a slide) against the strings, creating the opportunity for glissando effects and deep vibratos tha ...

, organ, vocals Additional personnel * John Corey – piano *

Scott Crago Scott Francis Crago (born July 26, 1963) is an American session drummer, songwriter, and producer. He has worked with the Eagles as their backup and touring drummer since 1994. Other artists he has played with include Venice, Sheryl Crow, Bo ...

– percussion, drums *

Timothy Drury Timothy Drury (born July 5, 1961) is an American composer, keyboardist, guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and visual artist. His big breakthrough came in 1989 when Don Henley invited him to join The End of the Innocence tour as his pianist, keybo ...

– keyboards, vocals *

Stan Lynch Stanley Joseph "Stan" Lynch (born May 21, 1955) is an American musician, songwriter and record producer. He was the original drummer for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers for 18 years until his departure in 1994. Early years Lynch was born in ...

– percussion * Jay Oliver – organ, keyboards, piano * Paulinho Da Costa – percussion * Gary Grimm – percussion * Brian Matthews – Electro-Theremin * Al Garth –

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

on "New York Minute" * Burbank Philharmonic Orchestra – backup on tracks 7-11, 15 (CD); tracks 7-12, 17 (DVD) Production * Eagles –

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

(all tracks) * Elliot Scheiner – production (all tracks except "Learn to Be Still") * Rob Jacobs – production (all tracks) * Stan Lynch – production ("Learn to Be Still" only) * Joel Stillerman – executive producer * Carol Donovan – program producer * Beth McCarthy – program director * Audrey Johns – program line producer * Rob Jacobs, Elliot Scheiner –

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

s * Charlie Bouis, Carl Glanville, Barry Goldberg, Andy Grassi, Tom Trafalski,Ken Villeneuve, Tom Winslow – second engineers * Todd Bowie and Chris Buttleman –

guitar technician A guitar technician (or 'guitar tech') is a member of a music ensemble's road crew who maintains and sets up the musical equipment for one or more guitarists. Depending on the type and size of band, the guitar tech may be responsible for stringin ...

Ted Jensen Ted Jensen (born September 19, 1954) is an American mastering engineer, known for having mastered many recordings, including the Eagles' ''Hotel California'', Green Day's '' American Idiot'' and Norah Jones' ''Come Away with Me''. Biography Ted ...

– mastering * Rob Jacobs, Dave Kob, Dave Reynolds, Elliot Scheiner – mixing * Adam Armstrong – vocal technician *

– editing * Don Davis, The Eagles, Jay Oliver –

horn Horn most often refers to: *Horn (acoustic), a conical or bell shaped aperture used to guide sound ** Horn (instrument), collective name for tube-shaped wind musical instruments *Horn (anatomy), a pointed, bony projection on the head of various ...

and string

arrangement In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orches ...

s * David Hewitt – live recording coordinator * John Halpern, David Skernick – photography *

Keith Raywood Keith Ian Raywood is an American production designer best known as ''Saturday Night Live'' (SNL) Art Director since 1985 and its Production Designer since 1990. He has designed music videos and live performances for major recording artists, interna ...

– production design * Robin Sloane, Janet Wolsborn – art direction * Dwaine "The Peachin' Trucker" Wise – road manager * Andrew Lopez – head driver

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

Video/DVD

Certifications

Album

Video/DVD

References

{{Authority control Live video albums 1994 live albums 1994 video albums Geffen Records live albums Geffen Records video albums Eagles (band) live albums Eagles (band) video albums Albums recorded at A&M Studios