Eagles

Performer: Eagles
Engineer: Glyn Johns
Producer: Glyn Johns
Distributor: WEA (Distributor)

Notes: Audio Remasterer: Ted Jensen. Balance is the key element of the Eagles' self-titled debut album, a collection that contains elements of rock & roll, folk, and country, overlaid by vocal harmonies alternately suggestive of doo wop, the Beach Boys, and the Everly Brothers. If the group kicks up its heels on rockers like "Chug All Night," "Nightingale," and "Tryin'," it is equally convincing on ballads like "Most of Us Are Sad" and "Train Leaves Here This Morning." The album is also balanced among its members, who trade off on lead vocal chores and divide the songwriting such that Glenn Frey, Bernie Leadon, and Randy Meisner all get three writing or co-writing credits. (Fourth member Don Henley, with only one co-writing credit and two lead vocals, falls a little behind, while Jackson Browne, Gene Clark, and Jack Tempchin also figure in the writing credits.) The album's overall balance is worth keeping in mind because it produced three Top 40 hit singles (all of which turned up on the massively popular Eagles: Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975) that do not reflect that balance. "Take It Easy" and "Peaceful Easy Feeling" are similar-sounding mid-tempo folk-rock tunes sung by Frey that express the same sort of laid-back philosophy, as indicated by the word "easy" in both titles, while "Witchy Woman," a Henley vocal and co-composition, initiates the band's career-long examination of supernaturally evil females. These are the songs one remembers from Eagles, and they look forward to the eventual dominance of the band by Frey and Henley. But the complete album from which they come belongs as much to Leadon's country-steeped playing and singing and to Meisner's melodic rock & roll feel, which, on the release date, made it seem a more varied and consistent effort than it did later, when the singles had become overly familiar. ~ William Ruhlmann The Eagles' least commercially successful record still retains qualities that make it one of their best. Building on the harmony-heavy folk-rock sound of the Byrds and Crosby, Stills & Nash, and the edgier country-rock of the Flying Burrito Brothers, the Eagles brought to the recipe a penchant for radio-friendly hooks and a lush production, bolstered by superb musicianship. These qualities can be heard here on some of the band's most memorable early hits. Their classic reading of Jackson Browne and Glen Frey's "Take It Easy," for example--with its picking, crying guitars, breezy tempo, and gorgeous, high-flown harmonies--is a case study in California country-rock with a pop twist. Don Henley's slinky, eerie "Witchy Woman" is another highlight, as is the languid, lovely "Peaceful, Easy Feeling" (both tracks appeared on THEIR GREATEST HITS 1971-1975, along with "Take It Easy"). But there are other gems tucked away here too, like the Bernie Leadon/Gene Clark-penned "Train Leaves Here This Morning." EAGLES is a varied, smartly composed and totally pleasurable debut; it defined the sound of one of the 1970s' most popular bands.

Rolling Stone (6/22/72, p.54) - "...they'll stand proudly right next to the best recordings of the Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, Burrito Brothers, and the other premier Los Angeles groups..."

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