On The Border

Performer: Eagles
Engineer: Bill Szymcyzk; Glyn Johns
Producer: Bill Szymcyzk; Glyn Johns
Distributor: WEA (Distributor)

Notes: Eagles: Bernie Leadon (vocals, guitar, steel guitar, banjo); Glenn Frey (vocals, guitar, piano); Randy Meisner (vocals, bass instrument); Don Henley (vocals, drums); Don Felder (electric guitar). The Eagles began recording their third album in England with producer Glyn Johns, as they had their first two albums, but abandoned the sessions after completing two acceptable tracks. Johns, it is said, tended to emphasize the group's country elements and its harmonies, while the band, in particular Glenn Frey and Don Henley, wanted to take more of a hard rock direction. They reconvened with a new producer, Bill Szymczyk, who had produced artists like B.B. King and, more significantly, Joe Walsh. But the resulting album is not an outright rock effort by any means. Certainly, Frey and Henley got what they wanted with "Already Gone," the lead-off track, which introduces new bandmember Don Felder as one part of the twin guitar solo that recalls the Allman Brothers Band; "James Dean," a rock & roll song on the order of "Your Mama Don't Dance," and "Good Day in Hell," which is strongly reminiscent of Joe Walsh songs like "Rocky Mountain Way." But the album also features the usual mixture of styles typical of an Eagles album. For example, "Midnight Flyer," sung by Randy Meisner, is modern bluegrass; "My Man" is Bernie Leadon's country-rock tribute to the recently deceased Gram Parsons; and "Ol' 55" is one of the group's well-done covers of a tune by a singer/songwriter labelmate, in this case Tom Waits. The title track, meanwhile, points the band in a new R&B direction that was later pursued more fully. Like most successful groups, the Eagles combined many different elements, and their third album, which looked back to their earlier work and anticipated their later work, was a transitional effort that combined even more styles than most of their records did. ~ William Ruhlmann ON THE BORDER marked a point of transition for the Eagles, a halfway point between their original country-rock sound and the slick pop-rock they would later embrace. The arrival of guitarist Don Felder helped eventuate this shift, even as founding member/multi-instrumentalist Bernie Leadon found himself increasingly alienated by the move away from his rootsier orientation. "Midnight Flyer," the smash hit "Already Gone," and Leadon's "My Man," an elegy to Eagles influence Gram Parsons, are the remaining traces of the band's old sound. The title track finds the band flirting with the disco-funk sound they would pursue further on their subsequent album ONE OF THESE NIGHTS. "The Best of My Love" is the kind of flawlessly constructed '70s radio staple for which the term soft-rock was invented. The band's cover version of the Tom Waits ballad "Ol' 55" was perhaps the furthest from its origins any Waits composition would get until Rod Stewart took on "Downtown Train" many years later. In all, ON THE BORDER effectively represents the eclectic but expertly blended mix of styles that pushed the Eagles to the top of the '70s rock heap.

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