Photo Archive: Eagles, 1976
Photographer: David Alexander
Photos
Photo Archive: Eagles, 1976
Photographer: David Alexander
Photo Archive: Eagles, 1976
Photographer: David Alexander
Photo Archive: Eagles, June 24th, 1976
Photographer: David Alexander
Location: Miami, Florida
These shots were taken in Miami while the Eagles were recording Hotel California at Criteria Studios. The photos are dated by the June 24th, 1976 issue of the Miami Herald Don Henley is reading in one of the photos. The images convey a typical day on the road for the band: hanging out at the hotel, waiting around in the lobby with Randy and Glenn Frey looking intently at their watches and Joe Walsh looking at postcards, sitting in a restaurant having a late breakfast (with several glasses of milk, perhaps a hangover cure), then off to the venue. However, the band did not perform during the month of June 1976, so the photos were likely staged. They were later used in the 1977 tour book for Hotel California, as well as the Hotel California Song Book.
The page Henley is reading from the Miami Herald, June 24, 1976
The car mirror photo shows the faces going the wrong direction. Here is the flipped version.
Note that Randy is wearing Fred Perry Etonic tennis shoes, named for the famous tennis player.
Photo Archive: Eagles, 1976
Photographer: David Alexander
Photos from this session were distributed heavily for publicity for the Hotel California album and tour, including the individual shots of the band (the photo of Don Felder was taken in 1975 by Norman Seeff).
Photos
Photo Archive: Eagles, HOTEL CALIFORNIA Cover, 1976
Photographers: David Alexander/Norman Seeff
The cover photos of the Beverly Hills Hotel at sunset, taken at Will Rodgers Memorial Park, and the back cover and gatefold, taken in the lobby of the Lido Apartments in Los Angeles, were taken by David Alexander (read more here)
. The cover was designed by Kosh and Don Henley.
A poster insert was included with first issues of the album. It showed the band posed on a bed. According to photographer, Norman Seeff, this photo was a composite (multiple photos combined to create one image).
“Soon after commencing this session, the band walked out. I had no idea why at the time. A week later, I showed them a poster design I had created by combining a number of individual shots. They loved it and all was forgiven. It became a poster insert for the HOTEL CALIFORNIA album.”
Norman Seeff
Below are outtakes from this session.
Photo Archive: Eagles, c.December 1975
Photographer: David Alexander
Location: Calabasas, CA
First photos featuring new member, Joe Walsh, who had joined the band in late 1975 following the departure of original member, Bernie Leadon. One photo from this shoot was used to advertise the first American show, with their new lineup, in the Honolulu Advertiser, January 24, 1976. This early advertisement helped date the photos to at least December 1975 because Randy still had long hair. When the band appeared in Australia in January 1976, Randy had cut his hair short.
Don Felder recalled in his autobiography that this photo session took place at a ranch in Calabasas, “with old wagon wheels in the yard,” while the band was in the early stages of working on their forthcoming album, Hotel California.
Photos
