On The Road Again: Eagles "Eagles"

martes, 31 de marzo de 2020

Eagles "Eagles"

Eagles is the debut studio album by the rock band the Eagles. The album was recorded at London's Olympic Studios with producer Glyn Johns and released in 1972. The album was an immediate success for the young band, reaching No. 22 on the charts and going platinum. Three singles were released from the album, each reaching the Top 40: "Take It Easy" (number 12), "Witchy Woman" (number 9), and "Peaceful Easy Feeling" (number 22). The band, starting with this album, played a major role in popularizing the country rock sound.

The album was ranked number 368 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time published in 2012. The single "Take It Easy" is part of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame "500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll". This album was slated for Quadraphonic release and even given a Quadraphonic catalog number but it was never released in that format.

In 1971, the band had just been formed and signed by David Geffen, who then sent them to Aspen, Colorado, to develop as a band. For their first album, Glenn Frey wanted Glyn Johns to be the producer as they liked a number of rock albums produced by Johns, including albums by The Rolling Stones, The Who and Led Zeppelin. Johns was invited by Geffen to see the band perform at a club called Tulagi in Boulder, Colorado in December 1971. Johns, however, was not impressed by the band's live performance, thinking that the band was confused and lacking in cohesion—Frey wanted it to be a rock & roll band while Bernie Leadon wanted a country feel—so Johns declined to produce the album. Johns was persuaded by Geffen to have a second listen in a rehearsal setting in Los Angeles, but Johns did not change his opinion of the band until all four started singing harmonies with acoustic guitar on a ballad written by Meisner, "Take The Devil". Johns was impressed by their harmony singing, and later said: "There it was, the sound. Extraordinary blend of voices, wonderful harmony sound, just stunning." In the albums he produced for the Eagles, Johns emphasized the vocal blend of the band, and he has been credited with shaping the band into "the country-rock band with those high-flyin' harmonies".

The band went to London where they spent two weeks recording the album at the Olympic Studios. The album cost $125,000 to produce. Johns tried to introduce a more acoustic sound in the recording, and concentrated on the vocal blend and arrangements. There were however frequent disagreements over the sound of the band between the producer and Frey and Don Henley during the making of the album. Frey and Henley wanted a rougher rock and roll sound, while Johns was interested in using Bernie Leadon's banjo and Randy Meisner's bass to create a more country sound. Frey later admitted: "[Johns] was the key to our success in a lot of ways", but added: "We just didn’t want to make another limp-wristed L.A. country-rock record." Johns also instituted a no-drug and no-alcohol rule that Frey, but not Henley, was unhappy about.

Three of the songs recorded in London feature Frey on lead vocals, another three with Meisner and two with Leadon. The chirping sound at the start of the song by Leadon and Meisner, "Earlybird", was taken from a sound-effect library. On "Take It Easy", Johns convinced Leadon to play double-time banjo on the song, a little touch that Johns felt made the song different.

Originally, Henley only had one song on the album, namely "Witchy Woman". Later, a further track, "Nightingale", was recorded in Los Angeles after Geffen and manager Elliot Roberts listened to the tape of the album and decided that it needed another song with Henley on lead vocals. Johns had previously recorded a few takes of the song in London, but abandoned it as he felt it did not work. Geffen tried to get the song recorded with another production team, and Johns, angered by the attempt to record "Nightingale" behind his back, then re-recorded the song with the band at Wally Heider's Studio 3 in Hollywood. Even though Johns judged this recording unsatisfactory, it was included in the album.

The album artwork was created by album cover artist Gary Burden with photography by Henry Diltz. The album was initially designed as a gatefold album that would further open up into a poster; however Geffen thought it would be confusing, and glued it together so that it would not open, and the gatefold image of the band members at Joshua Tree then became orientated the wrong side up. In the documentary History of the Eagles, Glenn Frey revealed that the band were all on peyote when the gatefold picture of the band members was shot in Joshua Tree National Park.

Track listing

Side one