History of the Eagles

Most of History of the Eagles is rich in detail and bemused reflection, perhaps because sobriety has worked wonders on some of the band members’ sense of recall. Frey, Walsh and Don Henley are wonderful storytellers.

Plenty of ground goes unplowed, both personal (there is almost no discussion of wives or family), and business (including the era of exorbitant ticket pricing they helped to usher in), but there’s enough here to give Eagles fans a captivating History lesson.

There's a lot of good footage early on of '70s L.A., the folk-rock singer-songwriter scene, and how Don Henley, Glenn Frey, and the rest created a hit sound.

It does fine when it sticks to the music and the basic story, then stutter-steps a little when it starts to suggest that, say, the Eagles defined a memorable era.