Eagles

(Translated from my original Italian text by ChatGPT and Piero Scaruffi)

The Eagles were founded in 1971 by Randy Meisner, one of the many defectors from Poco, Bernie Leadon, one of the many defectors from the Flying Burrito Brothers, and singer-songwriters Don Henley and Glenn Frey, who had just met while playing in Linda Ronstadt�s backing band. The idea behind Eagles (Asylum, 1972) was to offer a country-rock sound that leaned more toward rock (and pop) than country, essentially adapting Gram Parsons�s invention to the hard-rock era. The result was the dreamy atmospheres of Witchy Woman and Take It Easy, centered on Crosby Stills & Nash-style vocal harmonies that were fashionable that year.

Their rhythmically soft, calm, and stoic style reached its peak on the concept album Desperado (1972). Drawing on the epic and nostalgic charm of the Western saga�which perfectly represented the retreat from the communal ideals of the hippies toward the reactionary individualism of country-rock�the Eagles composed a cycle of evocative ballads dedicated to the pioneers and outlaws who are the central figures of American folklore, arranging them with a sound that was understated yet pictorial, subtle yet delicate, restrained yet melancholic, more suited to the sun-drenched villages of the California desert than to the rural Appalachians.
The ballads on this album represent the pinnacle of authorial country-rock. The martial and melancholy Desperado and Doolin' Dalton (both by John David Souther) and the more easy-listening Tequila Sunrise and Bitter Creek are interspersed with the breathtaking country & western banjo and mandolin of Twentyone, the driving boogie of Out Of Control and Outlaw Man, and the Tex-Mex serenade of Saturday Night.

Starting with On The Border (1974), the core of the band became the duo Don Henley and Glenn Frey, who wrote The Best Of My Love, along with Already Gone (by Souther), the best track on the album, and later One Of These Nights and Lyin Eyes on One Of These Nights (1975).

Their Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975 became the best-selling album of all time (26 million copies sold by 1999).

Leadon was replaced by heavy-metal guitarist Joe Walsh for their second concept album, Hotel California (1976), a bicentennial celebration that achieved no less stratospheric success (15 million copies sold). Hotel California and New Kid In Town were the hits from the album, and Pretty Maids All in a Row was called by Dylan �one of the best songs ever� (for the lyrics, certainly not for the music, a rather tedious litany). Walsh�s influence is most evident in the hard-rock of Life in the Fast Lane.

Walsh also brought success with the self-parodic reggae-paced Life's Been Good (1978).

Without banjo, dobro, and mandolin (and without Meisner), the Eagles achieved another huge success with The Long Run (1979), which includes King Of Hollywood, Heartache Tonight, and especially In The City (the title track is instead a copy of Otis Clay�s Trying To Live My Life Without You). Walsh, Frey, and Henley were also active as songwriters. Frey had only two modest hits, The Heat Is On (1985) and You Belong to The City (1985), both for soundtracks (the latter written by him personally), despite the ambitious ballads on Strange Weather (1992), such as Part Of Me Part Of You, I've Got Mine, River Of Dreams, and Brave New World.