Eagles
This is a direct excerpt from UNCLE JOE'S RECORD GUIDE - AMERICANS, Volume One, Copyright (c) 1989 by J. Benson Unlimited. All rights reserved. Printed in the USA. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic means including information storage and retrieval systems without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.
Just as the Beatles, Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin had done, the Eagles wrote music that defined a generation. In the process, they also sold more records than any other American rock & roll band.
Bassist Randy Meisner had been a founding member of Poco, guitarist Bernie Leadon had been in the Flying Burrito Brothers, and both guitarist Glenn Frey and drummer Don Henley had been working in Linda Ronstadt's band when they decided to form the Eagles in Los Angeles in August 1971. Greatly inspired by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, the Eagles blended vocal harmonies from country music, hard rock guitar techniques and dynamics, studio perfection and insightful lyrics that were alternately yearning and jaded. By their fourth album, One Of These Nights, Henley and Frey had become a powerful songwriting team.
Even with constantly changing personnel, the Eagles line-up always maintained four or five songwriters - quite unique for an American band. Any of the Eagles could sing lead, and all were among the finest musicians in the country. By the 1976 release of their Hotel California album, the band's combination of astute lyrics and great melodies had captured the thoughts and feelings of young Americans in the mid to late Seventies. The Eagles' capacity for brilliant music was matched by the degree of their legendary partying and the animosity that developed between the individual members during the Hotel California tour and lengthy sessions for The Long Run.
Each of the Eagles' nine albums sold over a million copies (over 50 million worldwide), 10 of their singles became Top 10 hits (half of those reached #1), they won four Grammys and could sell out any venue they chose - but internal pressures became too much to handle. The Eagles had ceased to function as a group by 1980. As the individual members headed off to solo careers, they left some of the finest music of the Seventies as their legacy.
Eagles Birth Dates
Glenn Frey - November 6, 1948
Don Henley - July 22, 1947
Bernie Leadon - July 19, 1947
Randy Meisner - March 8, 1947
Timothy B. Schmit - October 30, 1947
Joe Walsh - November 20, 1947
Eagles
Hotel California
6th LP, released 12/76 - a year and a half after their last studio effort. When founding member Bernie Leadon (pron. LED-on) left the Eagles after their One Of These Nights tour, the band recruited guitarist Joe Walsh (formerly of the James Gang). Featuring a strong triple lead guitar line-up like Lynyrd Skynyrd, more strong lead vocalists than any other band in rock & roll, the Eagles spent the eight months between March and October 1976 recording in Miami and Los Angeles, once again working with producer Bill Szymczyk (pron. ZIM-zick) (who'd also worked with the James Gang and the Edgar Winter Group). Drummer Don Henley, bassist Randy Meisner, guitarists Glenn Frey, Don Felder and Joe Walsh averaged 29 years of age and were operating at their writing and performing peak. With these songs, the Eagles captured the attitudes and lifestyle of Southern California (and thus, eventually, the rest of America) in the Seventies better than any other artist. Appropriately, Hotel California became one of the biggest records of the decade - spending a total of eight weeks at the #1 spot in America, it hit #2 in the U.K. and sold over nine million copies in the U.S. alone and over 15 million worldwide!! Hotel California received the 1977 Best Record Of The Year Grammy Award and is still considered to be one of rock's greatest albums!
In September 1977, following the intense seven month long Hotel California world tour, founding member Randy Meisner left the band. He was later replaced by Timothy B. Schmit (who'd also become Poco's bassist when Meisner left that band six years earlier).
** Special Note: The runoff area on the original pressings of this album contained two humorous messages etched into the vinyl: "Is it 6 o'clock yet?" and "V.O.L. is five piece live." - a reference to the song "Victim Of Love." Unfortunately, that touch of Eagle-humor was totally lost on later pressings and the compact disc versions of this album.
