When the Eagles went on their elongated hiatus, Glenn Frey chose Jack Tempchin, who penned Eagles classics “Already Gone” and “Peaceful Easy Feeling,” as his main collaborator. Sometimes all it takes is some sloppy dancing and vomit on the floor to lighten things up. This thumping, refreshingly silly two-minute slab of garage rock about the tawdry side of academia steers clear of all that. As for the material on it, much of it betrays the strain and effort it took to bring it to fruition. The Long Run was the Eagles’ Let It Be, the album that began with high ambition, but eventually exposed the fissures between group members. The good-time vibes Walsh put forth in his solo career are backgrounded here in favor of some very Eagles-y introspection.ħ. ![]() But this track, written (with Joe Vitale) and performed with deep feeling by new group member Joe Walsh, could stand some more recognition. Even after you consider the hit singles, “Victim Of Love,” “Wasted Time” and “The Last Resort” have become classics in their own right. Hotel California is as well-known a rock album as there is in the world, so suggesting that any of the nine songs are underheard might be a stretch. Henley gives one of his effortlessly soulful performances on this lovely, empathetic character sketch. ![]() Tom Leadon, of Mudcrutch fame, got a co-writing credit on this one, while his brother Bernies carries a lot of the musical load on pedal steel and mandolin. Nobody in rock and roll did three-quarter time quite as smoothly as The Eagles, in part because the waltz lends itself to a kind of wistfulness that was always one of the band’s strong suits. The band nails a kind of rock-funk hybrid thanks to Henley’s drumming, and the vocal interplay keeps it light and fun. Although it’s a little difficult to spot the influence of Watergate on this track as the band claimed (besides Frey’s closing utterance of “Say goodnight, Dick”), there is definitely a sense of the narrator being aware of bigger forces hemming in his every move. The band slowly began to look out at the modern world on On the Border, and the title track is subtle evidence of that. When those harmonies fill up that bittersweet chorus, you might just feel like Parsons’ “Hickory Wind” is at your back. Bernie Leadon’s finest moment as an Eagle is also featured on this album, as he penned and sung this tribute to his former bandmate Gram Parsons. It didn’t have as many hits as its follow-up ( One of These Nights) or the concept trappings of its predecessor ( Desperado), but the variety is impressive and each stylistic turn is handled adeptly. On the Border is the most underrated of Eagles albums. It shows on this beauty of a waltz, sung to the hilt by Don Henley and gilded by Bernie Leadon’s mandolin work. What is fair to say is that this was a point in their career where the band was far more sure-footed on the slow ones than on the uptempo material. To be fair, in 1973 that soon-to-be-cliche’ wasn’t quite as played out as it would eventually become. It’s an early test run for the magic Meisner would one day bring to “Take It to the Limit.”Ĭritics get on the Eagles for playing “rock stars as Old West outlaws,” which the band perpetrated on Desperado. On this melancholy beauty written by Glenn Frey, Randy Meisner takes the lead and wrings every last bit of feeling from the downbeat melody. In the beginning, the Eagles were blessed with four lead singers, something that you could certainly call an “uptown problem.” It would eventually cause some rancor when there weren’t enough lead microphones to go around, but, on the self-titled album, they divvied up the material nicely. They probably could have been hits, had they only been given the chance. Nonetheless, the hits are so beloved that it’s quite possible that even people who think they know the Eagles don’t quite know the Eagles, especially the following ten lesser-known songs. Not to mention the fact that they only released seven albums in their time together, mostly due to a protracted separation that cost them the entirety of the 1980s. You’re probably thinking, “How is it possible there are some Eagles songs that I haven’t heard?” This is a band that sold albums in record-setting numbers before they even released what most consider their masterpiece, 1976’s Hotel California.
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