As the Eagles continue on their “Long Goodbye” tour, Goldmine takes a look at their vinyl footprint, which, contrary to popular belief, is much deeper than you’d think. Sure, the Eagles’ records can be found throughout record shops worldwide. And yes, there’s no shortage of the SoCal classic rockers’ tasty slabs to be found online, too. But let’s say you’re the type of collector who wants to dig deeper than the well-loved Hotel California.
Maybe, just maybe, you’re looking to scour the depths of the collector’s market and begin your journey toward amassing the best of what Joe Walsh, Glenn Frey, Don Felder, Randy Meisner, Bernie Leadon, Don Henley, Timothy B. Schmit have had to offer. And so, if you are looking to take the journey, step one is understanding the market, right? Correct.
And so, while the Eagles may be taking their final lap, that doesn’t mean the fun stops. Oh no; it’s just the beginning, vinyl lovers. To that end, Goldmine researched recent sales and auctions to get the latest update on the market for valuable Eagles LPs and 45s. And, boy, the results were pretty revealing, if not entirely astonishing, given the generally modest pricing tacked onto run-of-the-mill pressings found at your mom-and-pop record shops.
We kick this thing off on the audiophile side with the Ultradisc One-Step Mobile Fidelity version of the Eagles’ 1972 self-titled debut record. To be sure, you’ve seen the Eagles’ first slab in shops, and if you’re a classic rock lover, the odds are that you own it, too. And yeah, the ’70s Asylum pressings sound nice, if not slightly hampered by the oil crisis that transformed records from heavy weapons of mass destruction to hyper-light Frisbees. But make no mistake — the 2021 Mobile Fidelity [UDS1S 2-024] version is the tastiest.
It could be the uber-quiet soundstage, the perfectly mastered 45 rpm disc lovingly pressed to SuperVinyl or perhaps the gorgeous packaging. Regardless, this is the edition to have—but it will cost you. According to Popsike, the Mobile Fidelity version of was listed at $600 and sold for just over $200 via eBay in October 2021. But if we swing over to Discogs, thankfully, the situation has gotten a bit better for this limited settling in at around $129 hard-earned American dollars.
