Fun fact about “Hotel California”.
I mentioned Steve Hoffman’s re-mastered versions of Linda’s albums with the best sonics.
Steve also re-mastered the Eagles, “Hotel California”. Due to the poor tape used during that period, Steve literally had to bake the tapes to get them to playback properly...and then it was only a temporary “fix”.
Steve has been a very kind friend and gifted me with many, many CDRs burned direct from the raw studio master tapes...including unreleased studio demos of Beatles from their White Album daze. Amazing sonics (pre-reverb) and so cool to hear studio chatter.
When I left Seattle I sold four open reel decks and all my tapes (a few hundred). I was done with the format because of “tape sheding”. Interestingly, it really only affected the later formulas created partly for “environmental friendliness”. It was usually the premium tapes.
And the cure is to bake them. But it only holds for a few days - long enough to copy. You have to REALLY want what is on that tape to bother. Sounds like these tapes were worth it. :-)
I have the re-masterd "Hotel California" on CD. It's like listening to it for the first time. I always try to buy re-mastered versions when buying older artists. I'll check out the liner notes and see if it mentions your friend.
Holy cow! Lucky you!