My Favorite Records:Eagles – Desperado

This is the another installment in my series of favorite records.

Any of the Eagles’ first five records could make a good argument for this list. Their California influenced country rock sound further defined the genre founded by the Byrds and Dillard and Clark. Great records all, but my clear favorite is 1973’s Desperado.

Desperado is a concept album about old west outlaws, but the songs themselves run the gamit from a country waltz (Saturday Night), to semi-bluegrass (Twenty-one), to acoustic county rock (Tequila Sunrise). But the masterpieces on the record are Bernie Leadon’s Bitter Creek, Don Henley’s title track (which has some of the most beautiful lyrics of any song you’ll ever hear) and the three versions of Doolin’-Dalton.

The record has been mildly criticized by some as being too much Don Henley and too little everyone else. I’m a huge fan of Bernie Leadon’s contributions to the Eagles’ catalog (Train Leaves Here this Morning, from their first record, being perhaps my favorite Eagles song, with Journey of the Sorcerer not far behind), but I can find very little to criticize about this record.

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