The Very Best Of (Eagles album)

For the 1994 compilation, see The Very Best of the Eagles.

The Very Best Of
Greatest hits album by Eagles
Released	October 21, 2003
Recorded	1972–2003
Genre	Rock
Length	144:54
Label	Warner Strategic Marketing
Producer	Glyn Johns, Bill Szymczyk, Eagles, Elliot Scheiner and Rob Jacobs
Eagles chronology
Selected Works: 1972–1999 (2000) The Very Best Of (2003) Eagles (2005)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
Rolling Stone	[2]

The Very Best Of (released as The Complete Greatest Hits in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand) is a two-disc compilation album by the Eagles, released in 2003.[3] This album combines all tracks that appeared on the two previously released Eagles greatest hits albums (Their Greatest Hits (1971–1975) and Eagles Greatest Hits, Vol. 2), along with other singles not included on the first two compilations, album tracks, and the new track "Hole in the World".

The accompanying booklet to The Very Best Of features commentaries on all of the songs from Glenn Frey and Don Henley, as compiled by Cameron Crowe.

The Very Best Of was also released as a limited-edition three-disc set with the third disc being a bonus DVD containing the video for the new song "Hole in the World", as well as a making of the video featurette and "Backstage Pass to Farewell 1."

Artwork

The artwork for the cover, a horse skull with feathers, is by Boyd Elder. Elder also produced the skull artwork for the Eagles' 1975 album One of These Nights and their compilation album Their Greatest Hits (1971–1975).[4]

Commercial performance

The album debuted on the Billboard 200 on November 8, 2003, at number 3, with 162,000 copies sold. It spent 62 weeks on the chart. The album was certified and awarded gold, platinum, and double platinum records by the RIAA on December 17, 2003, and on December 13, 2004, it achieved triple platinum status. The album has sold over 5 million units in the United States.[5]

As of December 2007, it has spent over 325 weeks in the Irish Album Charts, effectively not having left the chart since its release. In the UK the album (as The Complete Greatest Hits) entered the charts on November 1, 2003, at its initial number 27 peak position, the album did however re-enter the charts in June 2006 when it peaked at number 9 on the UK Albums Chart.

Track listing

Disc one

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Take It Easy"	Jackson Browne, Glenn Frey	3:29
2.	"Witchy Woman"	Don Henley, Bernie Leadon	4:10
3.	"Peaceful Easy Feeling"	Jack Tempchin	4:16
4.	"Desperado"	Henley, Frey	3:33
5.	"Tequila Sunrise"	Henley, Frey	2:52
6.	"Doolin-Dalton"	Browne, Frey, Henley, JD Souther	3:26
7.	"Already Gone"	Tempchin, Robb Strandlund	4:13
8.	"Best of My Love"	Henley, Frey, Souther	4:35
9.	"James Dean"	Browne, Frey, Souther, Henley	3:36
10.	"Ol' '55"	Tom Waits	4:22
11.	"Midnight Flyer"	Paul Craft	3:58
12.	"On the Border"	Henley, Leadon, Frey	4:28
13.	"Lyin' Eyes"	Henley, Frey	6:21
14.	"One of These Nights"	Henley, Frey	4:51
15.	"Take It to the Limit"	Randy Meisner, Henley, Frey	4:48
16.	"After the Thrill Is Gone"	Henley, Frey	3:56
17.	"Hotel California"	Don Felder, Henley, Frey	6:30
Total length:			1:13:24

• Tracks 1–3 from Eagles (1972)
• Tracks 4–6 from Desperado (1973)
• Tracks 7–12 from On the Border (1974)
• Tracks 13–16 from One of These Nights (1975)
• Track 17 from Hotel California (1976)

Disc two

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Life in the Fast Lane"	Joe Walsh, Henley, Frey	4:46
2.	"Wasted Time"	Henley, Frey	4:55
3.	"Victim of Love"	Felder, Souther, Henley, Frey	4:11
4.	"The Last Resort"	Henley, Frey	7:25
5.	"New Kid in Town"	Souther, Henley, Frey	5:04
6.	"Please Come Home for Christmas"	Charles Brown, Gene Redd	2:58
7.	"Heartache Tonight"	Henley, Frey, Bob Seger, Souther	4:26
8.	"The Sad Café"	Henley, Frey, Walsh, Souther	5:35
9.	"I Can't Tell You Why"	Timothy B. Schmit, Henley, Frey	4:56
10.	"The Long Run"	Henley, Frey	3:42
11.	"In the City"	Walsh, Barry De Vorzon	3:46
12.	"Those Shoes"	Felder, Henley, Frey	4:56
13.	"Seven Bridges Road" (Live)	Steve Young	3:02
14.	"Love Will Keep Us Alive"	Pete Vale, Jim Capaldi, Paul Carrack	4:00
15.	"Get Over It"	Henley, Frey	3:29
16.	"Hole in the World"	Henley, Frey	4:19
Total length:			1:11:30

• Tracks 1–5 from Hotel California (1976)
• Track 6 was a non-album single (1978)
• Tracks 7–12 from The Long Run (1979)
• Track 13 from Eagles Live (1980)
• Tracks 14 and 15 from Hell Freezes Over (1994)
• Track 16 is a new track (2003)

Personnel

• Glenn Frey – guitars, slide guitar, piano, keyboards, percussion, vocals
• Don Henley – drums, percussion, guitars, vocals
• Randy Meisner – bass guitar, guitars, guitarrone, vocals (disc one and songs 1–5 on disc two)
• Bernie Leadon – guitars, slide guitar, banjo, mandolin, pedal steel guitar, vocals (songs 1–16 on disc one)
• Don Felder – guitars, slide guitar, steel guitar, keyboards, synthesizers, vocals (songs 7, 13–17 on disc one and songs 1–15 on disc two)
• Joe Walsh – guitars, slide guitar, keyboards, organ, synthesizer, vocals (song 17 on disc one and all of disc two)
• Timothy B. Schmit – bass guitar, vocals (songs 6–16 on disc two), lead vocals (songs 9 and 14 on disc two)

Additional personnel

• Steuart Smith – guitars (song 16 on disc two)
• Scott Crago – drums, percussion (songs 14–16 on disc two)
• Will Hollis – piano (songs 14–16 on disc two)
• Jim Ed Norman – piano, string arrangements (songs 4, 13, 15 on disc one and songs 2, 4 on disc two)
• Jay Oliver – keyboards
• David Sanborn – alto saxophone (song 8 on disc two)
• Al Perkins – pedal steel guitar (song 10 on disc one)
• Sid Sharp – comcertmaster

Production

• Producers: Glyn Johns, Bill Szymczyk, Eagles, Elliot Scheiner and Rob Jacobs
• Engineers: Allan Blazek, Michael Braunstein, Glyn Johns, Ed Mashal, Bill Szymczyk, Michael Verdick, Ken Villeneuve, and Don Wood
• Assistant engineers: Allan Blazek, Howard Kilgour, Tom Trafalski,
• Remastering: Ted Jensen
• String arrangements: Jim Ed Norman

[6]

Charts

Weekly charts Chart (2003) Peak position Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[7] 43 Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[8] 29 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[9] 56 Italian Albums (FIMI)[10] 34 Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[11] 29 Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[12] 8 Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[13] 71 US Billboard 200[14] 3 Chart (2006) Peak position UK Albums (OCC)[15] 9 Chart (2007) Peak position New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[16] 5 US Top Catalog Albums (Billboard)[17] 1 Chart (2016) Peak position Australian Albums (ARIA)[18] 10 Chart (2022) Peak position Irish Albums (OCC)[19] 11

Year-end charts Chart (2004) Position US Billboard 200[20] 72 Chart (2006) Position UK Albums (OCC)[21] 159

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[22]	4× Platinum	280,000^^
Canada (Music Canada)[23]	2× Platinum	200,000^^
Italy (FIMI)[24] sales since 2009	Gold	25,000^*
Netherlands (NVPI)[25]	Platinum	80,000^^
New Zealand (RMNZ)[26]	2× Platinum	30,000^^
Spain (PROMUSICAE)[27]	Gold	50,000^^
United Kingdom (BPI)[28]	3× Platinum	900,000^‡
United States (RIAA)[29]	5× Platinum	5,000,000^^
Summaries
Europe (IFPI)[30]	2× Platinum	2,000,000^*
^* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ^‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

See also

• List of best-selling albums in Australia

References

1. "Eagles: The Very Best Of". AllMusic.
2. Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian David (2004). Eagles. Simon and Schuster. Archived from the original on February 28, 2013. Retrieved August 26, 2012.
3. "Eagles – The Very Best Of (2003)". AllMusic.
4. Butcher, Sterry (February 2018). "Boyd Elder Is the Most Famous Artist You've Never Heard Of". Texas Monthly. Retrieved June 11, 2019.
5. Thompson, Gayle (May 27, 2015). "21 Years Ago: The Eagles Reunite for Hell Freezes Over Tour". The Boot.
6. "The Very Best of [2003] – Eagles | Credits | AllMusic". AllMusic.
7. "Austriancharts.at – Eagles – The Complete Greatest Hits" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved July 5, 2021.
8. "Dutchcharts.nl – Eagles – The Complete Greatest Hits" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved July 5, 2021.
9. "Offiziellecharts.de – Eagles – The Complete Greatest Hits" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved July 5, 2021.
10. "Italiancharts.com – Eagles – The Complete Greatest Hits". Hung Medien. Retrieved July 5, 2021.
11. "Norwegiancharts.com – Eagles – The Complete Greatest Hits". Hung Medien. Retrieved July 5, 2021.
12. "Swedishcharts.com – Eagles – The Complete Greatest Hits". Hung Medien. Retrieved July 5, 2021.
13. "Swisscharts.com – Eagles – The Complete Greatest Hits". Hung Medien. Retrieved July 5, 2021.
14. "Eagles Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved July 5, 2021.
15. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved July 5, 2021.
16. "Charts.nz – Eagles – The Complete Greatest Hits". Hung Medien. Retrieved July 5, 2021.
17. "Eagles Chart History (Top Catalog Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved July 5, 2021.
18. "Australiancharts.com – Eagles – The Complete Greatest Hits". Hung Medien. Retrieved July 5, 2021.
19. "Official Irish Albums Chart Top 50". Official Charts Company. Retrieved July 1, 2022.
20. "Top Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 2004". Billboard. Archived from the original on January 1, 2015. Retrieved July 5, 2021.
21. "2006 UK Albums Chart" (PDF). ChartsPlus. Retrieved July 5, 2021.
22. "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2016 Albums" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved December 28, 2021.
23. "Canadian album certifications – Eagles – The Very Best Of". Music Canada.
24. "Italian album certifications – Eagles – The Very Best of Eagles" (in Italian). Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana. Retrieved December 8, 2020. Select "2014" in the "Anno" drop-down menu. Type "The Very Best of Eagles" in the "Filtra" field. Select "Album e Compilation" under "Sezione".
25. "Dutch album certifications – Eagles – The Very Best Of" (in Dutch). Nederlandse Vereniging van Producenten en Importeurs van beeld- en geluidsdragers. Retrieved January 10, 2020. Enter The Very Best Of in the "Artiest of titel" box. Select 2005 in the drop-down menu saying "Alle jaargangen".
26. "New Zealand album certifications – Eagles – The Complete Greatest Hits". Recorded Music NZ. Retrieved 2024-11-20.
27. Sólo Éxitos 1959–2002 Año A Año: Certificados 1979–1990 (in Spanish). Iberautor Promociones Culturales. ISBN 8480486392.
28. "British album certifications – Eagles – The Complete Greatest Hits". British Phonographic Industry.
29. "American album certifications – Eagles – The Very Best Of". Recording Industry Association of America.
30. "IFPI Platinum Europe Awards – 2003". International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. Retrieved February 2, 2020.