Don Henley

Heartache and outrage aren't the most obvious bookends for a songwriter's work, but those two emotions are clearly important touchstones for Don Henley. That was true when he was in the Eagles -- he, after all, was the voice of both "Desperado" and "Life in the Fast Lane" -- and it became even more the case with his solo career, where he scored hits with both the sneering rage of "Dirty Laundry" and the itchy longing of "The Boys of Summer." But while heartache can be timeless and eternal, outrage tends to sour if not leavened with wit or humor, and as such, Henley ultimately went from angry young man to surly old crank -- and took his solo career with him.

Of course, he was fairly cranky when he started. His first big solo hit was "Dirty Laundry," a nastily infectious diatribe against media exploitation of personal tragedy. (Presumably Henley, who was arrested in 1980 after a 16-year-old girl was found over-dosed in his Los Angeles home, knew whereof he sang.) There's more where that came from on I Can't Stand Still, from the schools-are-going-to-hell rant of "Johnny Can't Read" to the anti- Cold War rocker "Them and Us." Trouble is, those issues now seem as dated as the new-wavey keyboard sounds littering the arrangements, and apart from the deliciously melancholy "Talking to the Moon," the ballads don't really work.

Building the Perfect Beast finds a better balance, thanks in no small part to "The Boys of Summer," which expands Henley's romantic longing to near-cinematic grandeur. Both "Sunset Grill" and "Not Enough Love in the World" also manage a certain emotional frisson, but "All She Wants to Do Is Dance" marries a pallid update of the "Dirty Laundry" groove to a muddled Ugly American story, while the title track is undermined by Henley's strained falsetto.

With "The End of the Innocence," Henley's writing achieves something close to perfection, framing his political commentary with a melody that makes the most of his dry, yearning delivery. While the rest of The End of the Innocence rarely matches that apotheosis, neither does it fall much short, thanks to the vividly written and artfully sung "New York Minute," "Heart of the Matter," and "I Will Not Go Quietly."

Assembled largely to fulfill his contractual obligations to Geffen Records, Actual Miles augments Henley's hit singles with three new songs, one of which is a cover. Had it also included his duets with Stevie Nicks ("Leather and Lace") and Patty Smyth ("Sometimes Love Just Ain't Enough"), it would have been a much better buy. It would be another five years, however, before Henley delivered an entire album of new material, and Inside Job was barely worth the wait. Apart from a sprinkling of ballads -- among them the genuinely moving "Annabel" -- the album is a nonstop gripefest, with Henley railing against corporate greed ("Goodbye to a River"), rampant consumerism ("Workin' It"), boorish Americans ("Nobody Else in the World but You"), and those punks on MTV ("Damn It, Rose"). (J.D. CONSIDINE)

From 2004's The New Rolling Stone Album Guide