Having reversed the trend of country-rock bands making likeable – in some cases brilliant – albums that failed to sell with the huge success of their 1972 self-titled debut set, it was, perhaps, no surprise the Eagles should build on such a platform to become by 1975 the most successful home-grown act in America.
Three years on from coming to prominence and with a trio of agreeable, big-selling albums to their name, if a mix of country and rock had distinguished their first couple of LP releases, at times as separate entities, then the third ‘On the Border‘ (1974) was notable for a change of emphasis. By now the country overtones were becoming diluted by a light-rock, heavy vocal harmony approach – a sound rapidly becoming identified with the Eagles strategic home (despite none of the band being Californians) of Los Angeles.
Formed initially as backing band for golden-voiced songstress Linda Ronstadt, when the formative line-up of Glenn Frey (gtr/piano/vocals), Randy Meisner (bass/vocals), Don Henley (drums/vocals) and Bernie Leadon (gtr/banjo, vocals), decided to strike out on their own toward the end of 1971 they did so as the Eagles. With the blessing of Ronstadt and help of friend Jackson Browne, the songwriting genius in waiting having a word in the right ear, the Eagles subsequently joined Browne on Asylum, a label recently launched by David Geffen, already a key figure on the LA music scene.
Indeed, Browne would remain a significant figure as their career unfolded through its early years. Aside from his own LP releases, which like those of the Eagles arrived in 1972, 1973 and 1974, Browne also co-wrote ‘Take it Easy‘ with Frey, a song that earned the band their breakthrough hit, contributed ‘Nightingale‘ to the debut album and received a credit, along with Henley, Frey and fellow L.A. song-smith JD Souther for songs that appeared on ‘Desperado‘ (1973) and ‘On the Border.’
The changing complexion of Eagles records were in no small way down to the song-writing axis of Henley and Frey that had begun to prevail from the second album onward, their mix of mid-paced rockers and plaintive ballads each taking them further from the country background of Leadon. For two albums a country-rock pioneer alongside former Byrds Gram Parsons and Chris Hillman in the Flying Burrito Bros, from having input into three songs on the Eagles debut record, Leadon wrote one less for the ‘Desperado‘ and saw that number go down again with ‘On the Border‘ – his sole writing credit being ‘My Man‘ a touching tribute to Parsons who had died of a drug overdose in September 1973.
With Henley and Frey as a duo becoming increasingly responsible for songs populating Eagles albums, changes were also afoot with regard to how the material was performed and presented.
After recording the first two in London with renowned English producer Glyn Johns, sessions for the third were halted with just two songs committed to tape, Frey in particular, forming the opinion Johns and the Eagles were no longer compatible.
On returning to Los Angeles in the autumn of 1973, the group extended their line-up by adding expressive guitarist Don Felder to their ranks in reaching for the tougher sound aspired to by Frey and Henley – while at the controls was installed the James Gang and Joe Walsh (destined to become an Eagle in the none-too distant future) production maestro Bill Szymczyk, as they sought to complete ‘On the Border.’
When the melancholic acoustic guitar ballad ‘Best of My Love‘ (ironically one of the two tracks recorded by Johns), gave the Eagles their first US number one hit single it signaled their arrival as mainstream big-hitters – a status reflected in healthy worldwide sales of the parent album while creating eager anticipation of the next.
When fourth album ‘ONE OF THESE NIGHTS‘ arrived in May 1975 it emphasised not only how much the internal dynamics of the band had changed and with it their continuing evolvement as writers and performers – but also the increasing isolation of Leadon within the unit, a state of affairs that would lead to his departure before the year was out.
Of the nine tracks Henley and Frey had a hand in writing five, six in the case of Henley who co-wrote ‘Visions‘ with Felder on which the guitarist gives the only lead vocal performance of his Eagles career. There is input from bassist Meisner on two songs and while Leadon receives a credit on three one is in conjunction with Henley and Frey, his pair of self-written compositions revealing his detached status within the band – ‘I Wish You Peace‘ and darkly atmospheric instrumental ‘Journey of the Sorcerer‘ virtually solo offerings under an Eagles banner.
Despite increasing their number to five each member receives at least one lead vocal opportunity, drummer Henley who had already established himself as an affecting and distinguished singer on the ‘Desperado‘ title-song and ‘Best of My Love‘ leading the way with three – his the first voice to be heard in delivering the R&B flavoured title-track that opens the record.
After beginning on a series of brooding bass lines, Felder cuts in with some fluid guitar work, the combination of which create the backdrop for Henley (who co-wrote the piece with Frey) to explore pleasures existing in the twilight zone. Meisner also makes a significant contribution with eerie, high harmony background vocals, Henley by the second verse lamenting his excursion into the shadowlands:
‘I’ve been searching for the daughter of the devil himself, I’ve been searching for an angel in white/I’ve been waiting for a woman who’s a little of both/And I can feel her but she’s nowhere in sight.‘
With Felder contributing an edgy, distinctive guitar solo over a mix of soul and soft-rock overtones, ‘One of These Nights‘ can lay claim to being the first authentic Eagles song – no longer an accessible version of Poco or aspiring to sound like Jackson Browne, this resounding, superbly crafted track is the work of a band forging their own identity, confident in the way they sound and direction being taken.
Yet for all the undoubted merit of the title-song, it does offer up an anomaly attached to several songs on this generally fine record – namely, how few of the songs contain a third verse.
The next track ‘Too Many Hands‘ (written by Meisner and Felder) is a case in point. With a strangely middle eastern feel emanating from the mesh of acoustic and electric guitars – Henley generating percussion from tablas – Meisner does a good job with the vocal even if the lyric fails to say very much, thus reinforcing the notion the Eagles were never less than competent, but at their best when Henley took responsibility for the words.
One of four writers accredited on ‘Hollywood Waltz‘ (the other three being Frey, Leadon and Bernie’s brother Tom, who had once been in a high-school band named Mudcrutch with fellow Floridian Tom Petty), Henley performs lead vocal duties on this country-themed waltz. With similarities to ‘Saturday Night‘ from ‘Desperado‘ and sounding closer still to ‘Only Love Can Break Your Heart‘ by Neil Young, Eagle Leadon throws mandolin and steel guitar into the pot, these country inflections a backward glance at territory the Eagles were quickly leaving behind.
Through the two verses a degree of compassion is shown for the woman at the centre of the story, (accusations of writing misogynistic lyrics would be a constant theme in Eagles criticism down the years), but sexist or not, this feels the most obvious example of where a third verse would have made for a more rounded story.
There is not, however, a single word uttered on ‘Journey of the Sorcerer‘ the dense, giddy instrumental that ends side one. With banjo, fiddle and a string section to the fore, Leadon appears to have free reign in decorating his work, the result sounding what may have happened had a section of ‘Tubular Bells‘ been recorded in the desert.
While something of an oddity in the Eagles roster, the piece has developed a life beyond the band, turning up repeatedly on film and television drama soundtracks, most notably in the late-70s BBC adaptation of ‘A Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.’
Contained within the six and a half minutes there are some stirring passages, but like most instrumentals in the rock medium it would have been more effective with a good set of lyrics – and while Henley and Frey voiced reservations about including it on the record, they were even less enthused by ‘I Wish You Peace‘ the other offering from Leadon (credited to him and girlfriend Patti Davis, daughter of Californian governor of the time, Ronald Reagan).
Henley in particular was scathing about the wistful guitar-based lament that closes the album, dismissing it as ‘smarmy cocktail music and certainly not something the Eagles are proud of,’ his disparagement extending to Davis receiving a co-write credit and quality control being sacrificed to pacify an increasingly disgruntled member of the troupe:
‘Nobody else wanted the song included. We didn’t feel it was up to the band’s standards, but we put it on anyway as a gesture to keep the band together.’
True, it is not the most memorable few minutes of Eagles music although they had previously recorded songs of equal paucity (and would again on ‘The Long Run‘ in 1979). For years the track was perceived as Leadon saying farewell to the band knowing his exit was imminent, the sentiments in his cheerio song coming to mind on hearing Rod Stewart sing the 50s standard ‘I Wish You Love‘ on one of his ‘Great American Songbook‘ albums.
Side two also contains the two-verse Felder/Henley collaboration ‘Visions‘ an engaging if somewhat lightweight rocker, remarkable only for more impressive guitar work from Felder whose lead vocal is often buried, perhaps intentionally, beneath the stronger voices of Henley and Frey – who can be heard to much clearer effect trading verses on their own composition ‘After the Thrill is Gone.’
At times sounding an Eagles romantic break-up ballad based on Jackson Browne’s ‘Late for the Sky‘ if the words cannot compete the performance wants for nothing, two excellent vocal takes and more great playing by Felder captured in stellar fashion by producer Szymczyk.
It is, however, the two songs, ‘Lyin’ Eyes‘ and ‘Take it To the Limit‘ that begin the second side which brought ‘One of These Nights‘ (along with the title-track) its renown, each one taking the Eagles to the upper reaches of the US singles charts.
Written in basic form by Meisner – who also sings lead – and then fleshed out by Henley and Frey, the latter is an orchestrated piano ballad adhering to the two verse format, the first of which finds the narrator with a weary world view (‘But the dreams I’ve seen lately/Keep on turning out and burning out/And turning out the same‘), yet by the end of the second, taking things to their limit amounts to not being deterred, no matter what the portents say:
‘When there’s nothing to believe in/Still you’re coming back, you’re running back/You’re coming back for more.’
Supported by pristine background vocals, Meisner displays his impressive range by hitting a succession of high notes and even if the exact meaning of ‘You can spend all your love making time‘ is hard to fathom, it still sounds great surrounded by that soaring bank of voices the Eagles were able to call upon – Henley giving reminder of his other role in the band with a number of weighty drum rolls as the song flows to its conclusion.
Prior to ‘Take it To the Limit‘ is the nigh-on six and a half minutes of ‘Lyin’ Eyes‘ that opens side two. If the strong pulse and stinging guitar lines of ‘One of These Nights‘ offer insight into where the Eagles were heading, ‘Lyin’ Eyes‘ is culmination of what they set out to achieve – and from the band who had become its most successful exponents, the ultimate country-rock achievement.
Which is not to say that in the eight years or so since it had been recognised as a genre ‘Lyin’ Eyes‘ is the finest country-rock track ever written. But in their tale of a young woman betraying her older husband with a younger lover, Henley and Frey pick up all the nuances developed by The Byrds and Flying Burrito Bros, writing a rueful story with beginning, middle and end – the song underpinned by chiming acoustic guitars, vibrant vocals and understated electric guitar lines to forge the country/rock crossover.
By the end excitement in her clandestine affair has been replaced by a mixture of self-loathing and self-pity, lead vocalist Frey portraying the female protagonist as a confused, if calculating character:
‘My, oh my, you sure know how to arrange things, You set it up so well, so carefully/Ain’t it funny how your new life didn’t change things, You’re still the same old girl you used to be.’
For many ‘Lyin’ Eyes‘ was distillation of what made the Eagles such an attractive proposition, vivid but straightforward lyrics attached to smooth, glistening melodies. Yet to their detractors it was too slick and superficial to matter, contrived, mid-decade country pop lacking any shred of the authenticity that made Gram Parsons such a revered, if unsung figure – Parsons biographer David N. Meyer citing ‘Lyin’ Eyes‘ when lambasting the Eagles three decades later for creating music that was ‘soulless, over-rehearsed and insincere.’
Back in the summer of 1975 ‘One of These Nights’ appeared to largely positive reviews, although in praising the ensemble playing, Rolling Stone reviewer Stephen Holden bemoaned their lack of an outstanding singer, a somewhat spurious claim given that Henley and Frey were both first rate vocalists with Meisner able to offer admirable support.
Such criticisms had little effect on its impact, the album racing to number one on the US charts and in time earned the Eagles a Grammy nomination for ‘Album of the Year‘ although unsurprisingly it lost out to the Stevie Wonder masterpiece ‘Songs in the Key of Life.’
Not even the departure of Leadon could interrupt their by now unstoppable momentum, the exit of a founder member causing barely a hiccup as ace guitar thrasher/hotel room trasher Joe Walsh quickly joined the fold.
If ‘One of These Nights‘ was the last example of the Eagles doing what was expected of them only to a more accomplished level, their next step would be a move of epic proportion – dueling guitars, sublime arrangements, great allegorical songs, the true emergence of Henley as a supreme lyricist.
The waft of great achievement stemming from the warm smell of colitas……………..
EAGLES – ‘ONE OF THESE NIGHTS‘ (Released June 10 1975)
One of These Nights/Too Many Hands/Hollywood Waltz/Journey of the Sorcerer/Lyin’Eyes/Take It to the Limit/Visions/After the Thrill Is Gone/I Wish You Peace;
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NEIL SAMBROOK is the author of ‘MONTY’S DOUBLE‘ – an acclaimed thriller now available in paperback and as an Amazon Kindle book.