Eagles back with more of the same 28 years on

LONDON (Reuters) - The Eagles are back with their first studio album in 28 years, and, for better or worse, it appears the legendary U.S. rockers have barely changed.

Most early reviews of "Long Road Out of Eden," released internationally on Monday and in the United States on Tuesday, stressed how familiar the music sounded, although the subject matter, most notably the war in Iraq, is clearly of its time.

"Good news: The Eagles haven't changed a bit. Bad news: The Eagles haven't changed a bit," was how the Christian Science Monitor opened its critique of a double album that reportedly took the band six years to complete.

Opinion among critics has been sharply divided.

Rolling Stone magazine wrote of the "potent restraint" of the title track, which has grabbed early attention for its attack on the U.S. invasion of Iraq and American consumerism.

Overall it argued that "Long Road Out of Eden" was worth its $11.88 online retail price, calling it "a bargain even with the misfires -- and worth it for the title song alone."

But others, including the Guardian in Britain, were left cold by the Eagles' comeback.

"Self-importance is a given in the world of soft rock, but the Eagles' double-disc comeback propels musical smugness to previously inconceivable proportions," it said.

The band will be hoping the old magic still works. Its 1976 hits collection is the best-selling U.S. album of all time, and the Eagles have sold around 120 million albums worldwide.

SONGS ON WAR, CONSUMERISM

The Eagles, featuring Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Joe Walsh and Timothy Schmit, mix love ballads with political and social commentary, attacking everything from U.S. consumerism, "junk" culture, foreign policy and journalism.

"Long Road Out of Eden" describes soldiers in Iraq before moving to the United States: "Weaving down the American highway/Through the litter and the wreckage and the cultural junk/Bloated with entitlement/Loaded on propaganda."

"Frail Grasp on the Big Picture" refers to old men at the bar, adding: "Even if one of them was to read a newspaper cover to cover/That ain't what's going on/Journalism's dead and gone."

Henley criticized the media for giving equal weight to stories about celebrity trivia and the war in Iraq.

"The coverage of this war has been, for the most part, nonexistent, except what the military wants us to hear and what the White House wants us to hear and see," he told Billboard.

He also felt uneasy about doing a deal with retail giant Wal-Mart, which is distributing the album in the United States along with Sam's Club and the band Web site www.eaglesband.com. Record label Universal is distributing it outside North America.

"I am not thrilled with everything Wal-Mart has done," Henley said, referring to criticism of the company's pay practices and environmental record.

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