By JAY ROBERTS

The Cassette Chronicles is a continuing series of mini reviews and reflections on albums from the 1980’s and 1990’s. The aim of this series is to highlight both known and underappreciated albums from rock, pop and metal genres from this time period through the cassette editions of their releases. Some of the albums I have known about and loved for years, while others are new to me and were music I’ve always wanted to hear. There will be some review analysis and my own personal stories about my connection with various albums. These opinions are strictly my own and do not reflect the views of anyone else at Limelight Magazine.

DON HENLEY – THE END OF THE INNOCENCE (1989)

It has been nearly 3 1/2 years since I first wrote about a Don Henley solo album for The Cassette Chronicles series. That first article was about his first solo album I Can’t Stand Still and while there were some great songs on the album, I was not overly thrilled with some of the other material that release had to offer.

Such is not the case with Don Henley’s third solo album (I’m skipping over solo album #2 Building The Perfect Beast for now) The End of the Innocence. But before I dig into the album and each of the songs on it, there’s some housekeeping to take care of regarding my fandom for Don Henley.

See, I’m not exactly sure when it began. Yes, I’m a big fan of his solo albums and his work with the Eagles. But I can’t remember if I had heard the Eagles music before his solo work or the other way round. I know the song “Dirty Laundry” from that first solo disc is the one I remember as my earliest confirmed memory but I’m not sure if my mind is blanking out previously hearing anything from the Eagles. It’s rather annoying that I can’t be sure of this.

Regardless of that lapse in memory, what I can say is that I loved the album when I first heard it and I still love it to this day.

The album opens with the title track and much like with I Can’t Stand Still, Henley doesn’t shy away from embracing more topical concerns with the lyrics. “The End of the Innocence” is unsparingly political in nature but it is somewhat easy to forget about that when you wrap yourself in the music. It’s got an almost pastoral sound in the opening with the piano playing a giant role in the song. Henley manages to be directly on point without being strident about things. The juxtaposition of pointed lyrics with a gentle music score really works here and since it went to #8 on the singles chart, plenty of others seemed to agree at the time.

Next up came the song “How Bad Do You Want It?” which forgoes that more sedate style of the title track and instead opens up with a nice solid drum beat in the intro and a far more uptempo pace the the track overall. Your foot will be tapping with this one.

The song “I Will Not Go Quietly” is a pretty rocking song in its own right, with Don Henley’s vocals fitting together with the music rather perfectly. But what makes this song stand out that much more is the fact that Guns ‘N Roses singer Axl Rose provides harmony vocals for the track as well. And given the difference in the way the two singers sound, it makes for an interesting point-counterpoint style when their vocals become intertwined with each other. I like the gritty/dirty sound from the guitar track on the song as well.

I’ve always liked the song “The Last Worthless Evening”, but for all that enjoyment, I never knew the origins of the song until doing a little research for the article. It was apparently inspired by Henley meeting actress Michelle Pfeiffer at a party and things not exactly going well. It’s not quite a ballad because despite having a slightly softer delivery, it still moves along at a decent clip. Of course, it makes me wonder how this song resonates with Don Henley more than three decades later.

With “New York Minute”, you get a killer opening that seems to set the stage for any kind of dramatic presentation you could want. That intro is incredible all by itself because you can almost picture the opening shot of movie or something. And as is the case with a lot of the songs on The End of the Innocence, you’ve got some incredible lyrical lines. The song’s main portions are more softly delivered while the chorus amps up the music. It’s not really a ballad but you can probably see how it might be mistaken for that. Of course, once you listen to the lyrics, the “story” conveyed there brings all that dramatic tension forth for sure.

On the second side of the album, you get the song “Shangri-La” as the opening track. It’s got a very spare opening but once the music kicks in, there’s this uptempo kind of funky feel to it. At first listen back in the day, I wasn’t quite sure what I thought of the song but as I listened to it a number of times, I really dug how this song was put together and that opinion remains in place nowadays too.

On the song “Little Tin God”, Henley delves back into more topical lyrics but as is usually the case when he does this, the message doesn’t overwhelm the song itself. Plus, as Henley puts fake religious people on blast, he does it with a lyrical panache that makes you able to hum along to the song. And oddly enough, this song is still pretty relevant in the here and now if you pay even the least little bit of attention to real world stuff.

The song “Gimme What You Got” is a nicely paced rocker. The guitar work (from album co-producer Danny Kortchmar) is fantastic and with lines like “Cause a man with a briefcase can steal more money / than any man with a gun”, you can’t help but appreciate the cynical tone of the song throughout.

The materialistic nature of today’s society is the focus of “If Dirt Were Dollars” might seem like it could put people off with the somewhat nihilistic outlook. But you’ve got a bouncy musical score and the way Henley has with the lyrics here are just GREAT! “She should’ve have the Oscar, she must have been miscast / her 15 minutes went by so fast” is such a killer line (among many).

The album closes with the song “The Heart of the Matter” and it is a killer pop ballad. “The more I know, the less I understand”… man that is such a great line. The song went to #21 on the singles chart which kind of surprises me because I think I still here this one on the radio every so often. I would’ve thought it had charted higher. It’s sweet and reflective without being cloying, which isn’t easy to do given how many ballads don’t hold up thirty years later. But this one certainly does.

As you can see, I don’t think there is a bad song on this album. From first track to last with the varied song styles and a sharp set of incisive lyrics, The End of the Innocence album proves to be a standout release in every conceivable way.

NOTES OF INTEREST: The End of the Innocence album ended up selling six million copies in the US and peaked at #8 on the Billboard album chart. Don Henley ended up winning the Grammy for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance for this album.

Though the album featured three Top 40 singles, it actually had a total of five singles released from it. However, the songs “How Bad Do You Want it?” and “New York Minute” did not chart. The latter song does have an interesting second life beyond the album though. It has been used on three different TV shows: Friends, Black Monday and The West Wing, where a line from the song was used as the episode’s title.

Besides the previously mentioned Axl Rose guest appearance, the album was packed with a number of other notable guest musicians including Bruce Hornsby, Toto’s David Paich and Jeff Porcaro, Mike Campbell and Stan Lynch from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Melissa Etheridge, Sheryl Crow, Patty Smyth and Edie Brickell plus more than a few others as well.

When I saw Don Henley on tour for the album back in 1989, it was Edie Brickell & New Bohemians that opened up the show for him.