The Eagles Over The Years!
These three shots show the various stages of the band’s career – of course we know about some members leaving, new members joining, but what we always have is the music, and I have posted about each album individually, so now I wanted to look at each one in a different way:
The Eagles “Album By Album” Album Tracks!
Some of you know that I’ve written individual posts on each Eagles album, with trivia and videos of each song if available…now I want to highlight one “album track” from each one – a song that I love but wasn’t a hit single, therefore isn’t one of the “most played” songs like “Take It Easy”, “One Of These Nights”, “Hotel California”…you get what I’m doing here, so lets go.
Eagles – “Earlybird”
Along with the hit singles “Take It Easy” and “Witchy Woman”, the band’s debut album has a number of country ballads and folk rockers, and I love the high energy, great harmonies and bar-band country jam vibe that makes this a great album track for me…and I found a live performance by the band on the BBC in 1973! Listen to Bernie Leadon’s great lead vocals and banjo playing!
Of course, the first album was a big hit and resulted in this iconic statue in a small town in Arizona – read about this great debut and Winslow Arizona here:
Their second album was a surprising failure, but not for lack of great music:
Desperado – “Saturday Night”
I posted about the “Desperado Debacle” – the album didn’t sell well at the time, although it has continued to grow in stature over the years. It had two singles that weren’t as popular as you think: “Desperado” wasn’t even released as a single and “Tequila Sunrise” peaked at #64!
Once again, a great live performance from the BBC, with Glenn and Don seated on stools with Bernie, and incredible live harmonies:
The band opened their “History Of The Eagles” tour in 2013 with Don and Glenn singing this together the same way- just the two of them sitting in chairs, to open the show…and then they invited Bernie out to join them…magical. I was lucky enough to see this concert, and here is a more indepth look with some videos of that night as well:
https://johnrieber.com/2013/09/21/history-of-the-eagles-amazing-concert-old-friends-return/
The band came roaring back with this huge hit:
Sure, they had to fire Producer Gynn Johns early on, but with Guitarist Don Felder joining the band, they hit the ground rocking with “Already Gone”, and had their first #1 hit with “Best Of My Love.”
As for the album track, “You Never Cry Like A Lover” is amazing as is the title track, but I love this ode to a car:
On The Border – “Ol’ 55”
Gorgeous harmonies and a country vibe – here is the first night of the 2018 tour, with Vince Gill singing lead on the song:
As I said, the band got rid of their Producer and added a muscular guitar to the lineup – here is a look at the entire album:
The band stayed strong with their next release as well:
One Of These Nights – “I Wish You Peace”
Well, this was their first #1 album…they delivered a superstar album with the massively popular title track as well as “Lyin’ Eyes” and “Take It To The Limit.”
However, Henley has said that he was NOT a fan of the last song not he album, Bernie Leadon’s “I Wish You Peace”, written with Patti Reagan, Ronald Reagan’s daughters! Here is an audio only version:
Leaden left the band shortly after – not to emerge again until the “History” tour when he joined the band onstage to play the signature songs…
What was next? Their masterpiece!
Hotel California – “Pretty Maids All In A Row”
Hard to find ANYTHING on this album that hasn’t been heard to death, like the title track, “Victim Of Love”, “Life In The Fast Lane” or “New Kid In Town”, but new band member Joe Walsh arrived with a hauntingly beautiful ballad that was soft, reflective and powerful…
Here is the band performing it in 2013:
I love so many things about his album, but especially the Steely Dan shoutout – here’s how that came to be:
Some fans don’t love their last album of the 70’s, but I do:
The Long Run – “King Of Hollywood”
The last album was almost two years in the making, and after original member Randy Meisner left, new arrival Timothy B. Schmidt brought the ballad “I Can’t Tell You Why”…and Glenn and Don wrote a scathing indictment of Hollywood, prescient in this #MeToo era.
Here is an audio only live version from 1980:
Here is a more indepth look at the song “King Of Hollywood”, including the lyrics, which speak to the #MeToo movement today:
Well, 14 years went by before the band reunited for the hilariously titled:
Hell Freezes Over – “The Girl From Yesterday”
This 1994 live album was something most fans, including the band, never expected: a reunion concert with new songs as well – it contains four new studio tracks and eleven tracks recorded live in April 1994 for an MTV special. Two Top 40 Mainstream singles, “Get Over It” and “Love Will Keep Us Alive”, were released from the album.
However, I enjoy this song, a nice ballad sung by Glenn Frey:
“The Girl From Yesterday was written by Glenn Frey and Jack Tempchin, and it reminds me of the first, more country-influenced album…finally, one last album that was stuffed with great songs…
Long Road Out Of Eden – “Waiting In The Weeds”
Their long, long, LONG awaited album came as a double CD, packed with new music. The hits “How Long” and “Busy Being Fabulous” were classic Eagles songs, but this beautiful song sticks in my head from Don Henley and here is a unique post from YouTube, with the song covered with shots of the band over the years:
A great song, and just one of many classics on the albums, which you can read more about here:
https://johnrieber.com/2016/04/01/the-eagles-swan-song-long-road-out-of-eden-glenn-freys-farewell/
There you go, let me know your favorite album tracks as well!
Categories: 70's Music, Art, Awards, Books / Media, Classic Rock, documentary films, Hollywood, Los Angeles, Memoirs, Music, Obscure Music, Pop Culture, Talent/Celebrities, TV Show
johnrieber 
A fine tribute, John. I really appreciated their album covers. I sure miss the artwork that went into them.
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Cindy, agree totally. The concept of album cover artwork is sadly missing these days
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As a fan of the Eagles I enjoyed reading this, thankyou.
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Thank you, I appreciate the comment! There were SO many songs I could have chosen, but wanted to use ones that had videos…because for example “Nightingale” is such a great song off the first album but no video of any kind!
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Yes it is and they do have so many great songs.
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A terrific tribute to an iconic band, John. Great work!
Best wishes, Pete.
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Thanks Pete! I belong to several Facebook groups that are fans, and it’s fun to share this stuff with them!
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