Good evening Rawkers. I'll need your indulgence to wax worshipful about what may be the very best band -- pound for pound, song for song, voice for voice, man for man -- to ever lay sounds on vinyl. One word: Eagles.
The musicianship and songwriting is just spectacular. Absolutely gorgeous songs. And the voices.... Ah, the voices..... Best harmonies in rock.
My favorite iteration of the band was the 1975 "One Of These Nights" unit: Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Randy Meisner, Bernie Leadon, and Don Felder. I would list Joe Walsh in the "top" line up, but he didn't come into the picture until Leadon quit after the album. I like Walsh MUCH better than Leadon as a guitarist, but One Of These Nights is my favorite album of their's and I have to give props where they are due).
The original incarnation was certainly GOOD (with Frey, Henley, Randy Meisner and Bernie Leadon), but had it's share of problems and just was never...GREAT. The vocals hadn't yet fully matured and it was a tad too, well, country. It wasn't until they began to rock it up a bit for the "On The Border" and "One Of These Nights" albums (1974 and 1975 respectively) that they came into their own. Adding Felder made a huge difference. And clearly, Henley and Frey were imposing their vision with more dramatic force.
Regarding the current iteration, I LOVE what Timothy B. Schmit's bass/vocal contribution brought to the band when Randy Meisner quit in '77. The Eagles continued to be a GREAT band without missing a step. But my preference is for the aforementioned line up.
Fave tracks:
Bitter Creek
Lyin' Eyes
Too Many Hands
One of These Nights
Wasted Time
Victim of Love
Hotel California
Life in the Fast Lane (LOVE the guitar intro!!)
Just a bunch of brilliant stuff, people. Agree or disagree?
Go in peace....
G.O.T.
Had the pleasure of seeing them live for their "Long Run" tour back around '81.
ReplyDeleteThe Eagles never gets old.
Nuff said.
My all time favorite song (believe it or not it is not a Manilow song) is Desperado. Thanks Ken for this post. Reminds me to dust off my CD (love "Hell freezes over") and play it. Karen
ReplyDeleteDesperado is not a Manilow song.
ReplyDeleteThe Eagles can make me laugh, cry, sing ridiculously loud when no one is around, and marvel at the talent of this band. Hands down favorite one of my 2 favorite bands. If stuck on an island, my Eagles music could keep me going a long time.
ReplyDelete'No More Cloudy Days' made me believe again.
Always in style, always cool, always amazing.
npa
Everyone is right on this one. The Eagles are truly one of the most amazing bands ever- all line-ups. Although I personally prefer the Joe Walsh days. Hotel Cal will always be one of the best albums ever. In a way this band could be put in with the southern rock bands even though they are wrong coast Cali boys.
ReplyDeleteOh yea, I forgot, Don Henley is a good ole Texas boy.
ReplyDelete