How big of a Don Henley fan am I?

Well, there was that time a few years ago in 2005 that I drove 3+ hours to Detroit to see Henley, on tour that summer for a limited run of dates with Stevie Nicks. I bought a ticket for 100 bucks in the parking lot, watched Henley play his 80 minute opening set with Nicks guesting on a few tunes, and then hit the parking lot to drive back to Cleveland.

Nugget of the night? Henley, who wasn’t promoting anything new, pulled out “The Genie” from Inside Job, his most recent solo release to date. Actually, Henley OPENED with “The Genie.” Blew my mind. It was a good night, and well worth the 100 bucks.

I really liked Inside Job, and as big of a fan as I was of that album, Henley could have walked onstage that night, played “The Genie,” and walked right off, and I would have been satisfied. But we all got our money’s worth on that evening with a crowd pleaser of a setlist featuring all of the hits, including (of course) “The Boys of Summer,” which is probably my favorite from his 80’s solo career – one of those ones that when it comes on the radio or Ipod, I never turn it off.

Henley is allegedly starting to formulate plans for his next solo CD, and until that one comes out, you can look forward to the June 16th release of The Very Best of Don Henley on CD.

A deluxe CD/DVD edition of the title will follow a week later on June 23rd. Let’s get the obvious out of the way: I know that Henley has only released one CD (the previously mentioned Inside Job) since the release of his first collection Actual Miles in 1995.

And you’re going to need to hang on to that one, because the “new” material on Actual Miles isn’t carried over to the new collection.

Oh yeah, some Henley fans are going to be pissed off about this one….

But as you can probably guess, there is some value-added material on the CD/DVD version designed especially to suck you and I in as music fans to buy the new collection, even though we already have Actual Miles.

For me, this comes in the form of “Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ The Boat,” which Henley covered for the 1992 Steve Martin flick Leap of Faith.

That one, and three other soundtrack tunes are tacked on to the bonus DVD included with the deluxe edition, although they are audio tracks only on the DVD, not included on the CD version.

Here’s where I see the prime opportunity to put Henley’s MTV Unplugged performance from 1990 onto the DVD.

And it’s an opportunity that is unfortunately missed. Perhaps that one will be part of the now-inevitable Don Henley box set that will be released in another 15 years.

And where is the video for “The End Of The Innocence?”

Here’s the whole press release for your reading enjoyment!

THE VERY BEST OF DON HENLEY
FEATURES HENLEY’S BEST-LOVED SOLO SONGS

CD+DVD Version Adds Music Videos And
Soundtrack Recordings

“Dirty Laundry,” “The Boys Of Summer,” and “The End Of The Innocence” are some of the most popular, powerful, and critically acclaimed songs of our time. Now those songs and more, digitally re-mastered from the original recordings, are being made available on The Very Best Of Don Henley – the first career-to-date collection spanning Don Henley’s tenures on Asylum, Geffen, and Warner Bros. The Very Best Of Don Henley, is being offered in CD and deluxe CD+DVD versions. The 14-track CD is being released on June 16th and the 24-track CD/DVD is being released on June 23rd through Geffen/UMe.

The Very Best Of Don Henley DVD features six iconic music videos including “The Boys Of Summer,” “All She Wants To Do Is Dance,” “The Heart Of The Matter,” “The Last Worthless Evening,” “Everything is Different Now” and “For My Wedding” as well as four bonus audio recordings from soundtrack releases: “Love Rules” (Fast Times At Ridgemont High), “Who Owns This Place? ” (The Color Of Money), “Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ The Boat” (Leap Of Faith) and “Through Your Hands” (Michael).

The 14-selection The Very Best Of Don Henley CD kicks off with “Dirty Laundry” from his solo 1982 debut album, the gold I Can’t Stand Still. Henley followed with 1984’s triple platinum Building The Perfect Beast with “The Boys Of Summer” (GRAMMY-winner for Best Rock Vocal), the Top 10 hit “All She Wants To Do Is Dance” as well as “Sunset Grill” and “Not Enough Love In The World.”

Culled from 1989’s six times platinum The End Of The Innocence (the 1989 album that remained on the Billboard Top 200 chart for 148 weeks), are the title track – another Grammy Rock Vocal winner – and the hit singles “The Last Worthless Evening,” “The Heart Of The Matter,” “I Will Not Go Quietly” and “New York Minute.”

From his first solo collection, 1995’s platinum Actual Miles: Henley’s Greatest Hits, The Very Best Of Don Henley features Henley’s cover of Leonard Cohen’s classic “Everybody Knows.” Y2K’s platinum Inside Job, his first solo album since 1989, was an intensely personal rumination on love and romance and included the #1 Adult Contemporary hit “Taking You Home,” “Everything Is Different Now” and “For My Wedding,” the first Don Henley single to land on the Country music charts.

The Very Best Of Don Henley (single disc version) (pre-order from Amazon)

TRACK LISTING:

1. DIRTY LAUNDRY
2. THE BOYS OF SUMMER
3. ALL SHE WANTS TO DO IS DANCE
4. NOT ENOUGH LOVE IN THE WORLD
5. SUNSET GRILL
6. THE END OF THE INNOCENCE
7. THE LAST WORTHLESS EVENING
8. NEW YORK MINUTE
9. I WILL NOT GO QUIETLY
10. THE HEART OF THE MATTER
11. EVERYBODY KNOWS
12. FOR MY WEDDING
13. EVERYTHING IS DIFFERENT NOW
14. TAKING YOU HOME

The Very Best Of Don Henley (CD + DVD version) (pre-order from Amazon)

TRACK LISTING:
CD

1. DIRTY LAUNDRY
2. THE BOYS OF SUMMER
3. ALL SHE WANTS TO DO IS DANCE
4. NOT ENOUGH LOVE IN THE WORLD
5. SUNSET GRILL
6. THE END OF THE INNOCENCE
7. THE LAST WORTHLESS EVENING
8. NEW YORK MINUTE
9. I WILL NOT GO QUIETLY
10. THE HEART OF THE MATTER
11. EVERYBODY KNOWS
12. FOR MY WEDDING
13. EVERYTHING IS DIFFERENT NOW
14. TAKING YOU HOME

DVD
VIDEOS

1. THE BOYS OF SUMMER
2. All SHE WANTS TO DO IS DANCE
3. THE LAST WORTHLESS EVENING
4. THE HEART OF THE MATTER
5. EVERYTHING IS DIFFERENT NOW
6. FOR MY WEDDING

BONUS AUDIO

5. LOVE RULES
6. WHO OWNS THIS PLACE?
7. SIT DOWN, YOU’RE ROCKIN’ THE BOAT
8. THROUGH YOUR HANDS