Disco de Eagles: “Eagles”

As it happens, the Eagles rise to the top began with this first album. Shortly after a successful run as the backing band for the ultra-talented Linda Ronstadt (who went on to have not too bad of a career herself), this fearsome foursome of Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Randy Meisner, and Bernie Leadon made this groundbreaking disc and thus legitimized the Los Angeles country-rock sound.

Everyone knows about "Take It Easy", "Peaceful Easy Feeling", and "Witchy Woman." But there are other cuts here that are just as impressive, including the predominantly acoustic "Train Leaves Here This Morning" and Frey's gutsy rocker "Chug All Night." The instrumental work here is superb, with Leadon's bluegrass instincts and his Clarence White-style country-rock guitar breaks particularly impressive. Just like Linda, the Eagles would often be imitated but their success would never be duplicated.

As rumors abound of the first all-new Eagles album since 1979, I got to wondering if the original six albums by one of my favorite bands from high school are still as good as I remember them. After listening to the debut album again, I am reminded that it wasn't among my favorites back then, but if anything, I appreciate it more now.

I have always heard Glen Frey and Don Henley were not very fond of this album, due to its being "too mellow." To my ear, though, it's only a bit more mellow than most of the other albums. "Chug All Night," "Tryin'," and "Nightingale" rock just as assuredly as anything else in their catalog, and they also lack the polish that rubbed a lot of critics the wrong way on some of their more famous songs. "Take the Devil" also has its moments.

It is true that there are several mellower moments here as well, most notably "Train Leaves Here This Morning," but that is true to varying degrees of all their albums. If there is a fundamental difference from the later albums, it is that their brand of country-rock is heavier on the country than the rock here. "Earlybird" is one of their most countrified tracks ever. That one might be a bit much if you only like their last couple of albums, but fans of "Lyin' Eyes" and "Already Gone" will love it. Last but not least, this set includes their first three hits, "Take it Easy," "Witchy Woman," and "Peaceful Easy Feeling." I don't address these only because odds are you've heard them all on the radio hundreds of times. They do fit in well with the less famous songs here.

Not a bad first effort at all.

This is one of the most enjoyable (if not the most) EAGLES studio albums they ever made. There's no filler on this baby! I promise! "Take it easy" and "Witchy Woman" are definitely top notched songs, but everything on this release is in my opinion a 10/10 rating. I used to do a lot of drinking listening to "Chug all night". Just a killer drinking song! "Take the Devil" is also one of my all time favorite EAGLES songs. When people talk about the great debut albums I don't usually hear many talk about this one, but in my eyes it's definitely one of the greatest. Just buy this great album. Get ready for a real treat.

Eagles, with their west coast approach to country rock have never been able to release such a strong album as their debut. Even 'tho their first 3 albums all were great, this is the finest. By this time, Eagles had an edge that later got lost from time to time in the bands sickly-sweet efforts like "One of these nights" and "Tequila sunrise". There's no doubt that each and every member was very talented, which is best shown in the outstanding melodic "Take it easy" and the slower but groovy "Witchy woman", On "Take the devil", Eagles showing a heavier side, and "Early bird", "Nightingale" and "Train leaves here this morning" are all examples of how great this band was in the beginning. Compilations like "The very best of the Eagles" are unable to really capture the band's early excellence, shown primary on this and the two following albums.

In 1972, in England, a friend introduced me to an album by an as-then-unknown-in-UK American band, the Eagles. For someone who listened ONLY to British rock (Cream, Gallagher, Zepplin, Purple, Sabbath, oh alright, occasionally J.Winter) this was really not acceptable. It was much too much like country music. However, after a couple of plays I had to admit I quite liked it, and after several plays I was hooked. Feel-good songs with beautiful melodies, and girls liked it too so it was very effective during seduction attempts. Like the rest of the country's youth I grew to be a great fan of the Eagles but this always will stand out for me as their best album.

I'm surprised no-one else has reviewed this brilliant album!