Eagles

Albums Reviewed

Desperado (1973)
On The Border (1974)
One Of These Nights (1975)
Hotel California (1976)
The Long Run (1979)
One More Song (1980)
Actual Miles: Henley's Greatest Hits (1995)
The Best Of (Glenn Frey) (2000)

Eagles

(1972)
I used to own a cassette copy of this, but I gave it to the Church fair. I really didn't enjoy it particularly, as it had too much country tweeness for my liking. From my perspective, the standout tracks are the edgiest; 'Witchy Woman' has a definite nasty streak, while Randy Meisner gives an early indication of his brilliance (which apparently only I can recognise) with 'Take The Devil' (which is anti-devil, rather than pro-devil; they'd sound like a Christian band if they called it "Take The Devil From Your Heart"). I also enjoy the single 'Take It Easy', but I didn't find much else here to my liking, but I'm probably more open to country than I was then, so I might like it more then. The song 'Train Leaves Here This Morning' turns up on Gene Clark's awesome No Other (which, with all due respect, is stronger than anything the Eagles ever put together); Clark originally cowrote it. A reader has submitted a full review of this album; I stuck it at the bottom of the page as it's pretty darn long.

Desperado

(1973)
The Eagles were still very democratic at the time of their second album: there's a song ('Saturday Night') that everyone contributed to, while everyone has a turn at singing lead. The first indications of the Don Henley-Glenn Frey axis that would later dominate the group are given by 'Tequila Sunrise' and the title track, songs which the pair composed in their first afternoon of writing together. Desperado possesses a commendable degree of thematic consistency, as every song both moralises and sparkles with the romance of the outlaws of the Old West. The redneck 'Twenty One' is inarguably the tritest moment in the Eagle's catalogue, quite an achievement against stiff competition like 'Chug All Night', 'James Dean' and 'The Disco Strangler'. The Eagles' attempt to rock out in 'Out of Control' is worringly amateurish and beset by tackiness; later they'd gain stronger electric guitarists (Frey and Leadon are more inclined towards acoustic textures) and their rhythm section would rock together better. Where Desperado excels is its ballads; the title track and 'Tequila Sunrise' are deservedly Eagles standards, while 'Saturday Night' and 'Bitter Creek' are similarly beautiful. The album is tied together nicely by the closing reprise of 'Doolin'-Dalton' and 'Desperado'. While Desperado is somewhat disappointing in its inconsistency, it contains enough worthwhile music to be worth picking up.


On The Border

(1974)
The Eagles used to be my favourite band in the entire world. While I have since expanded my tastes, they still hold a special place in my heart. Their back-catalogue is hardly flawless; they progress from a cheesy country rock band on their first album to a sterile lame rock band on The Long Run. In the transition between these two extremes they managed to strike an interesting balance, demonstrated on On The Border and One of These Nights, and to a lesser extent on Hotel California. The addition of guitarist Don Felder enabled the Eagles to achieve a more convincing rock sound, while they retain a countryish edge with harmonies and Leadon's array of traditional stringed instruments. The encapsulation of what made their transitional period interesting is found in 'Midnight Flyer', a country song given a rock arrangement. On The Border is almost spectacularly patchy but when it works the hooks are inspired, such as the funky coda in the title track, and the big chorus in the cover of Tom Waits' 'Ol' 55'. Counteracting this there are a lot of missteps; 'My Man' is beautiful but is let down by occasional careless lyrics, as is the bridge of the title track. Unlike their later albums, the Eagles seem to be enjoying themselves here, so that even Randy Meisner's insubstantial 'Is It True?' becomes enthralling. The group work hard to make an entertaining album, and the entertainment factor makes the tasteless aspects of On The Border forgivable. The best known track is the closer 'The Best of My Love', which is easily the best written song here. On The Border is not as well, or as professionally, constructed as other highish scoring albums at the Fyfeopedia, but is so entertaining that it thoroughly earns every star. This time the theme is nonconformity; tributes to deceased rebels James Dean and Gram Parsons are among the material.


One of These Nights

(1975)
One of These Nights is more polished than its predecessor but is also more monotonous, particularly the overlong single 'Lyin' Eyes'. The two most upbeat songs, the funky title track and Randy Meisner's wonderful 'Too Many Hands', are unwisely placed at the beginning of the album leaving the rest of the album to drag. The star of One of These Nights is bassist Randy Meisner, who contributes the two best songs, the creepy 'Too Many Hands' and the inspiring 'Take It To The Limit'. Meisner's memorable instrumental, 'The Journey of Sorcerer', was later used as the theme music for Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy', while the countrified 'Hollywood Waltz' is well written. The entire album is enjoyable, most of the lyrics are profound by Eagles' standards and the melodies are strong, but One of These Nights isn't sequenced well, so that the whole becomes less than the sum of its parts. This time the theme is relationships, most of which are twisted and decadent.


Hotel California

(1977)
This time the theme is the dark underside of fame and L.A. ("they stab it with their steely knives, but they just can't kill the beast"). The Eagles have made a concerted effort to create an album that isn't beset with amateur efforts, which is a two edged sword. There are no trite efforts like 'Twenty One' but Hotel California is overly grandiose and pompous, losing the rustic charm of the earlier records. Without Meisner's bright 'Try and Love Again', it would be easy to forget that the Eagles were once a country band. Most of the songs are too long, the rocker 'Victim of Love' is too slow, while the orchestral reprise of 'Wasted Time' is dangerously close to pretension. The songwriting is so strong that Hotel California manages to overcome most of its inherent weaknesses; the title track deserves its place in the classic rock canon, while new guitarist Joe Walsh scores with 'Pretty Maids All In A Row'. My personal highlight of the album is after the last chorus of 'New Kid in Town', when the group launch into some beautiful harmonies. While the Eagles manage to salvage Hotel California with some solid songs, its over precision is a clear prelude to its lifeless successor The Long Run.

Feedback: from GeorgiaSlop
I agree - randy meisner was a great singer, lead and especially his high harmony, great bassist, and occasionally a great songwriter. also seemed to be a really nice guy, something the eagles never had an abundance of. it's too bad he left (actually booted by the frey/henley axis) because i think they lost an essential part of their sound, and i happen to like timothy b. schmit (also known to be a "nice" guy). when i listen to hotel ca now (the album not the song) try and love again seems to be one of my favorites. it's a nice break (along with walsh's pretty maids) from henley's vocals, which are great but tend to cause "listener fatigue" when he handles too many of the vocals. check out the eagles videos at this site http://www.eaglesfans.com/downloads/video/ for a great version of meisner singing certain kind of fool (from desperado) on the bbc circa ''73, plus lots of others. it's introduced by frey with a (somewhat stoned?) explanation of the song. also, get the dvd-audio of hotel ca if possible. great sound.

The Long Run

(1977)
While the Eagles' previous albums weren't necessarily first-degree classics, they produced a good number of strong radio hits and a smattering of interesting album tracks. It wasn't until The Long Run, an album that sold by the truckload on prior reputation, that they sealed their position as a lame seventies dinosaur band. With Meisner and Leadon gone, the last vestiges of country have completely disappeared, robbing the group of much of its character. The transition to slick rock was apparent throughout the Eagles' career and fully manifests itself here, complimented by a dose of new wave to show the boys were keeping abreast of modern trends. The problem is that the group chose the worst aspects of the two styles to blend; the pomposity and slickness of Hotel California is mixed with the textural and compositional simplicity of new wave.

Most of the songs range from inoffensively bland to obnoxiously banal; there's only really a couple of salvageable efforts. The title track is overly slick, but it's still a healthy composition with the memorable line "all the debutantes in Houston, baby/couldn't hold a candle to you." Joe Walsh's 'In The City' is the only time anyone sounds like they're having any fun; it's a lyrically shallow, by the numbers rock song, and its status as the best song on the album is an indictment of how bad The Long Run actually is. Elsewhere we have a soppy Schmitt ballad, which demonstrates how much Meisner's unique talents are missed, an unmelodic but atmospheric Henley/Frey duet which alternates between two chords for an entire six and a half minutes, and an insipid closing ballad. In the obnoxiously banal category we have the incredibly irritating 'Heartache Tonight' (it's no coincidence it's co-written by Bob 'worst classic rock star ever' Seger), which is increduously topped by the even worse singalong styles of 'The Greeks Don't Want No Freaks' featuring Jimmy Buffett (who was hilariously parodied on Ween's 'Bananas And Blow'). 'Those Shoes' unwisely breaks out the talk box (a la Peter Frampton; how many lame seventies soft-rock stars can we reference in one paragraph?), while 'Teenage Jail' is played painfully slowly, a trait shared by most of the songs of the album. The worst song in the entire Eagles' catalogue may well be 'The Disco Strangler'; repeat obnoxious riff ad infinitum, while Henley (who has way too many lead vocals, and isn't supported by nearly enough harmonies) dead mouths bad party lyrics. It was definitely a prudent time for the Eagles to break up, never to reform until "hell freezes over" or at least until Glenn Frey needed cash to fund repairs for his cocaine ravaged nose.


Randy Meisner:

One More Song

(1980)
Randy Meisner was generally the twitchiest Eagle, so I was expecting a reasonable solo career out of him. The paranoid rock of 'Too Many Hands' or 'Take The Devil', the torch song 'Take It To The Limit' and the sweet bittersweet country of 'Try And Love Again' all suggested interesting avenues for Meisner's solo career, while the psychotic inner sleeve photo was a good sign, but Meisner cops out with formulaic country pop. Disappointingly, Meisner isn't even playing bass, but uses an uninteresting backing band named The Silverados as support and enlists a professional songwriter to help out. The overall effect is relatively similar to Jackson Browne, without the thought provoking lyrics, although several stylistic elements are clearly derived from their 1980 context; when else would a generally straightforward country album require a full time percussionist or intrusive synthesisers? While this criticism applies to a lot of pop albums, the lyrics are totally pointless here; all the songs are about relationships (apart from the title track, a cynical attempt to recreate 'Take It To The Limit', which is a kiss off to the Eagles), but there's absolutely no thematic consistency which makes it impossible to take any lyrics seriously. In the first track, Randy's fallin' in lust; second, Randy's leavin'; third, Randy's tryin' to renew an old relationship; fourth, Randy's been dumped; fifth, Randy's in love; seventh, Randy's readin' signs of an impending breakup; eighth, Randy's on the prowl; and ninth, Randy's leavin' again. With the lyrics and instrumentation ruled out as sources of entertainment, the salvage of One More Song is left to Randy's vocals (which also sound reminiscent of Browne when he's singing laid back material, although his trademark screech is given a vehicle in the high notes of 'Gotta Get Away' and Kim Carnes duet 'Deep Inside My Heart') and some relatively pleasant melodies. I'm not too enamoured about any of the material, but the most interesting songs are the opening pair of 'Hearts On Fire' (easily the set's most rocking tune) and 'Gotta Get Away', which seem to have the best musical ideas, and the nice organ driven cover of Poco's 'Anyway Bye Bye' which closes the album. The title track is also of mild interest because it features Frey and Henley on backing vocals. Low spots are the turgid 'I Need You Bad', with a turgid saxophone solo, and the tasteless and insipid keyboard/percussion domination of 'Come On Back To Me' and 'Trouble Ahead'. From what I've read, One More Song is apparently one of Meisner's better efforts, so his solo career seems disappointingly dispensable.


Don Henley:

Actual Miles: Henley's Greatest Hits

(1995)
Against the science of probability, one of the Eagles actually managed a perfectly respectable solo career. Henley's solo work is just as adult contemporary as Frey's (if not more so), but it's underpinned by a greater intelligence. While Frey songs like 'Sexy Girl' are overtly commercial and grasping into thin air for subject material, most of Henley's material is actually purposeful and thoughtful, whether he's continuing the attack on celebrity indulgence of the later period Eagles or writing personal and heartfelt relationship songs. He's also adept at harnessing guest cameos to add personality, and Axl Rose, Sheryl Crow and Bruce Hornsby all make important contributions, while Heartbreaker Mike Campbell is a frequent musical collaborator. In fact, I'd take this compilation over any Eagles' studio recording; drawn from three eighties studio albums and three new tracks, it's more consistent, and although most of these tracks could do with a trim, few of these songs are completely disposable.

Top tier songs include the 1984 hit 'The Boys of Summer', with a haunting Mike Campbell guitar figure, and the Bruce Hornsby collaboration 'The End of the Innocence', which is an extremely eloquent social critique ("They're beating plowshares into swords/For this tired old man that we elected king") underpinned by Hornsby's gorgeous piano work. New song 'The Garden of Allah' is almost a flat out winner; it's perhaps the most ambitious piece Henley has ever attempted, and he carries it off well. Based around the scenario of the devil visiting a city and finding that modern life and materialism has made him redundant, it's lengthy, hard rocking and punctuated by the devil's spoken monologue ("No shame, no solution, no remorse, no retribution/Just people selling t-shirts") and Sheryl Crow's mantra like refrain of "in the garden of Allah." 'Dirty Laundry' is an effective indictment of celebrity muck-raking, although admittedly it's dated less gracefully than everything else here, while 'The Last Worthless Evening' and 'Heart of the Matter' are sappy but effective ballads. The other two new songs, the vitriolic 'You Don't Know Me At All' and the Leonard Cohen cover 'Everybody Knows', are among the lesser songs but they still fit in fine. Lord knows what the brain dead 'All She Wants To Do Is Dance' is doing on here, but it's the one dampener on this otherwise impressive collection. If eighties adult contemporary doesn't send you straight to the sick bay, most of Actual Miles is worthwhile.


Glenn Frey:

The Best Of (The Millennium Collection)

(2000)
I always held the impression that Glenn Frey supplied the bulk of the Eagle's limited country authenticity, but it turns out that his solo career is eighties corporate mush. The worst thing about Glenn Frey's solo recordings are his belligerent use of the saxophone, reiterating the melody line in a condescending and intolerable manner. The saxophones aren't the only source of musical blandness, as Frey liberally throws in drum machines, female backing vocals and percussionists to perfectly meet the specifications for 1980s corporate soft-rock. The live 'The One You Love' features three guitarists, two keyboardists, two percussionists and a horn section, while 'Love in the 21st Century' blatantly steals the riff from Creedence Clearwater Revival's 'Fortunate Son'. The only time that Frey ventures near country rock, on 'Part Of Me, Part Of You', is fully enjoyable. The second to worst thing about Glenn Frey's solo recordings are the lyrics; while there are occasional attempts at social commentary, these are nullified with braindead efforts like 'True Love' and 'The One You Love', and obliterated by 'Sexy Girl' and 'The Allnighter'. If lyrics like "I know you're just a woman, I'm just a man/Let's be true to each other, do the best we can" are below the intellectual level of a boy band, "She moved in next door to me/and she showed me her world/what a neighbor/thanks for the favor/she's a very sexy girl" and "She needs a love from a real exciter/she needs the allnighter" are off the scale. The Best Of is saved from total worthlessness with some gorgeous vocals ('The One You Love'), and the occasional interesting song (the relatively compelling 'You Belong to the City', or the countryish 'Part Of Me, Part Of You'). But The Best Of is a compelling case for Don Henley possessing most of the intelligence behind the Eagles. In his solo spotlight Frey merely displays occasional charm and occasional melodic flair. Apparently this compilation is actually successful at collecting the best material from Frey's solo albums, so I wouldn't be touching them with a bargepole.

Feedback: Vivian Williams writes:
the eagles first album in my opinion is really the only balanced Eagles album among all the members especially Randy Meisner and Bernie Leadon. I say he was the unofficial leader especially when on stage it is obvious if you can get the entire version of their performance at the BBC on one had both Bernie Leadon songs are cut out on the other version on ebay they are great the Bernie Leadon sung and wrote train leaves here this morning 1st song on the dvd and 'Earlybird' sung and written by Bernie Leadon and Randy Meisner the 5th song on the bbc dvd this is one of the best songs the eagles ever wrote and it was written by the two most well rounded with creative genius Randy Meisner and Bernie Leadon whom in my opinion based on banjo solos rare footage i have seen and heard on internet and seen on dvd and albums of early Bernie sings earlybird and you saw how in the beginning the eagles were more of an equality for each other band Don Henley wrote like one song but it was a top ten co write with Bernie Leadon eagles 1st top ten hit also done at thee bbc Don Henley was drumming like a real drummer instead of how he did at the rock n roll hall of fame and hell freezes over when he went solo i think he almost quit playing cause in the reunions he doesn't hit very hard or was scared about how rusty he was and didn't mike his drums properly but the first album is very country music and I think like with most musicians the best album their first. Randy sings a Glennn Frey song called most of us are sad which has a guitar like Sheryl Crow plays in all i want too do is have some fun mostly in train leaVES HERE THIS MORNING AND A little in most of us are sad Bernie Leadon was so much better than Joe Walsh it was like losing two guitarists when they lost Leadon after one of these night 4th and 3rd to last album and in my opinion the 2nd best but really a tie for 2nd with the 3rd album on the border one of these night is a much more expensive and the sgt peppers by the eagles even though more would make that comparion to hotel california and Joe Walsh hardly replaced Leadon the harmonies were gone as far as being as great and beautiful with the four original and until one of these nights Joe wasn't used to doing harmonies and even though he had a good voice Don Felder didn't know harmonies either it seemed on hotel they would get several background vocals in three different pitches from Meisner and use Frey and Henley alone to mimick the Leadon eagles sound I believe this was why Randy Meisner left after hotel california the performances began to be more low quality more drugs partying and Meisner and Leadon were christian men. the eagles self titled should be a five star except that take it easy is the best song it was good on the album but they sounded much looser and vocals were sloppier except for songs where Walsh sang and freed up the harmony section and even only put one Randy Meisner song on hotel california and they had the nerve to pimp Joes james gang songs in which Joe Walsh was much better than the eagles they were smashing and his chemistry was better with the james gang than the eagles. On the album version of take it easy there is banjo which was never really ever done ive unless with Leadon on night tour of border tour or desperado tour but the first album is great and all until the long run are great long run shows that the relationship had grown stale and unintentionally a live album became their swan song and after Henley was fronted 10 million by a record company for a certain number of albums Henley new he had to get the Eagles too bad he didn't get the original 4 with Felder the farewell tour that just happened i don''t consider a real farewell until the eagles lose Walsh and timothy shmidt and get back Bernie Leadon and Randy Meisner along with Don felder play basically all Leadon and Meisners song and a nice amount of the rest of the eagles songs because in japan and europe and australians are much bigger fans of Randy Meisner and Bernie Leadon and the origonal eagles but Leadon did release an album which was international Meisner only released his new album in europe mainly germany holland poland that area and nordic area along with china and japan were crazy about Meisner but all who read if interested in the eagles start with the first album i didn''t nut after hearing all else first i hard it it was beautiful and when i heard they ditched glyn johns as their producer and sysmysyck took over he did good thing but tore a band apart to where johns seemed to nurture the bands relationship and the self titled debut even though it has a twangy sound it is one of the greatest rock n roll bands ever and were the beatles of the 70''s by that i mean Leadon, Meisner,Frey Henley and felder because he did quicken the eagles a step but the real rock is on the first and second the second album not nearly as rockin but it does rock with a more country atitude without the sound this was a folk rock except for certain kinda fool and out of control are two great rock songs but out of control is the track that shows the eagles die hard attitude and chemistry kinda like earlybird left you wanting to hear it again on the fist album ths was written by Frey/Henley which is one of the few songs by them that i really enjoy.the eagles first album is five stars but not because of peaceful easy feeling and take it easy. earlybird,take the devil,train leaves here this morning,most of us are sad , and tryin and witchy woman make the best song on the self titled debut a classic all will love unlees your brain is fried you are a fan of the new destroy your souls backbone wit h shockwave decibels and singers who scream so much they won't have a voice in five years or you are listening to rap the only type of music which is almost nothing but borrowed beats and don't play instruments save for a few. but get the eagles 1st album self titled,3rd album on the border,4th album one of these nights. but if you like true grit music from the heart and that is fun chug all night, early bird, take the devil, most of us are sad ,witchy woman,train leaves here this morning, tryin these songs and the 1st album a must have for someone who still believes in the art of musicianship, loves great music and wants significant and supergroups from time periods that became giants this album is before they turned from great to too big for thir hat as a band. hope my review isgood god bless ou and if you are an eagles fan check out Randy Meisner''s 2nd and 3rd solo album, and Bernie Leadons solo work he also worked with linda rondstant michael georgennes and his solo career . the eagles self titled debut warm fun what the world needs my review vivian williama

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