EAGLES (1972)
Key Tracks: "Take it Easy," "Witchy Woman," "Peaceful Easy Feeling"
Quick Take: Bringing together several strains of lily-white Sixties Southern California pop — the Beach Boys' harmonies, the Byrds and Buffalo Springfield's folk-rock, Poco and the Flying Burrito Brothers' mix of rural country and back-to-nature hippie music — the Eagles fashioned a sound on their debut that was so doggone easy to listen to, there was absolutely no reason not to like it. Breezy...

Two hours before showtime at the 02, London's state-of-the-art big venue for music, Don Henley is answering e-mail in his dressing room on a laptop and watching political talk shows from America on his other computer, which is hooked up to a large HD television screen. Sweating off an attack of bronchitis, he is wearing a fat woolen hat pulled down to his eyebrows, a long woolen trench coat, sweatpants and battered work boots....

• Photos: Behind the scenes at the cover shoot

• The Hills Universe: A guide to who's who on TV's hottest show

It's a chilly spring night in Los Angeles when I arrive at Don Antonio's Mexican restaurant to join the End of Western Civilization for nachos and chicken enchiladas. The EOWC, of course, is Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt, a.k.a. Speidi, the fabulously toxic power couple...

And yet, after some LPs focused more on popcraft than adrenaline, there's...