Eagles: Laid Back Rockers...or Bogus Dudes?

If you think about it....and you might not want to....you can divide the Eagles' output into two periods. The first, beginning with the release of "Take it Easy" --fifty years ago this past week--constituted their slick country-rock, adult contemporary easy listening period. That which was encapsulated in that first Greatest Hits album.

This period coincides with Bernie Leadon's tenure with the band. He had previously been in the Flying Burrito Brothers (for their second and third albums) and, before that, had played with Gene Clark in Dillard and Clark. His B-bender telecaster and banjo were, as much as anything, responsible for much of the Eagles' country sound.

At the end of the One of These Nights tour, Bernie poured a beer over Glenn Frey's head and - in what would become an end of tour ritual - quit the band*.

Enter Joe Walsh and so begins the second, laid back stadium rocker, period. The riffs and guitars got heavier. Joe playing featured more heavy slide than steel and the solos got longer, especially on the one song. For a time I was under the impression that"Victim of Love" was by Bad Company.

It is not, however, necessarily so.

If one goes through the first four albums (done here, so you don't have to), there is an album's worth of straight ahead "rockers" - mostly deep cuts, with only one that made it onto 1971-1975 and another that got some airplay. They feature chugging Chuck Berry riffs, overdriven guitars, some howling and even a proggy banjo piece: all tunes that wouldn't have been out of place on albums by "heavier" bands of the period.

You might argue that band wasn't authentic, that they were a bunch of bogus dudes who couldn't rock beyond a pose, and you might not be wrong. At least, I'm not going to argue with you.

* At the end of the Hotel California tour. Randy Meisner had an argument with Glenn and quit the band. Later, at the end of The Long Run tour, Don Felder and Glenn almost come to blows on stage. After the show Don quit.

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