Loved this. I was blessed to do the second Eagles show in Nov of 1972 at my first club Tulagi in Boulder. They wanted a few out of the way places to test out the songs they were going to record for their first album. They played a week in Aspen then for me in Boulder. Glyn Johns flew in from London to take notes and go over the songs after the show when the audience left. I booked them because I loved the pedigree of the 4 members and thought without hearing them that they'd be amazing and had a shot to get big. It was right before finals at University of Colorado and I told Geffen Roberts management company that no one would come but they didn't care. Plus there was a major snow storm and my club was freezing which made the audience even smaller. I remember Bernie playing guitar and banjo with gloves. I did watch history being made for the 20 people coming each night. I always thought they were great but Don always tells me how mediocre they were. (Being his worst critic made him the great artist that he was.) Lucky to watch history being made. Still my favorite band and manager(Irving) of all time.
Chuck Morris - Chairman Emeritus
AEG PRESENTS
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I got Desperado from MoFi that came out last year. The one-step vinyl, which was the purpose of the remastering you’re listening to.
It has always been the only Eagles album I ever bought and loved. Which is why, when they opened with “Saturday Night” in 2014, I could have left the concert right after and been happy.
After all I’m no fan-boy; I saw them twice – once in 1975… well not really the Eagles but a Joe Walsh Kirschner In Concert taping at Santa Monica Civic in late 1975, when Frey, Henley, and Felder sat in for Turn to Stone, etc. They had to do a few takes of some of these. It was super interesting to watch, and it wasn’t clear why these Eagles were there other than friendship – Walsh was not in the band then. But their harmonizing on Walsh tunes was a revelation, so it made sense when he joined.
He even opened with your theme song, which I loved.
But the MoFi One Step remastering of Desperado, which is where they got the new SACD remasters – from a digital feed that was tapped off the signal going to the lacquer – is shockingly great. After over 40 years of steady listening and relistening to this album, it actually sounded better. Suddenly it is a new thing.
Yes, I have a system that can highlight these improvements. If only for this record, I’m glad I built this setup. And Johns can say what he wants, but he brought the best out of the Eagles.
So, thanks for this morning surprise Your description exactly mirrors what affects me about this recording and why I love it. I don’t care about the Eagles except for this album. If they did nothing else, they’d be great artists, for me.
Gary Lang
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Hello Bob,
Enjoy reading your posts, always.
Had to reply, as in my UBER on the way to LAX, my post-50-african-american driver was playing Desperado when I entered the car. Told her it was one of my favorites, and she smiled and said: If you don't like the Eagles, you don't have a soul. I got a little teary, but that's just me.
Be safe,
Marcia Hrichison
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Thanks for writing about one of the classic albums of all time. A lot of the reason I am in the music publishing/song business is because of this album, the title song in particular. I was a teen when it was released, and didn’t know much about song writing or songwriters, but I could tell on first listen that these guys had reached a new level for themselves, and maybe for the craft. I think it was a case of some pretty talented people getting together, inside and outside the band, and challenging themselves to be, (apologies to Steve Jobs) – “not good, not great, but insanely great”.
This was the moment they broke through the insanely great barrier, and rest is history.
Best,
Michael McCarty
P.S. Desperado is my favorite song of all time. You could write a book about the genius craft/art behind it.
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I’ve been building my personal sound system since college days. Seems every few years I upgrade to some new electronic devise to keep up with technology. My current system probably cost me as much as a years tuition for my daughters college education. Maybe not, but chasing the sound is an obsession that I enjoy. My speakers, ATC are north of $20k. WTF.
Most big rig owners will aways wonder…”It music sounds really good, but maybe it can sound better if I…”. Bottom line is we are never satisfied and the chase will always continue. My girlfriend once asked me, "do you ever just sit down and really listen to the music without being critical?” I do, but with a critical ear that music lovers in my/our generation just can’t suppress.
The latest Jimi Hendrix Experience - Are You Experienced, from MoFi is as close to the master tapes as I’ll ever get.
The journey continues.
Thanks for what you do.
-Scott Kilian
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I worked at Tech Hifi on 8th Street — used whatever (little) money I made to buy (and buy and buy) stereo equipment at the employee discount price. It was the next best job to working at Alexanders Department Store on Queens Boulevard in the record department :) Those were the days!
Peter Thea
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Hey, Bob thanks for the piece on Desperado. It inspired me to take a 40
minute break from the insanity of the current world and take a deep inhale of Tequila Sunrise and the others...
I had a good laugh turning the album cover over and rediscovering the outrageous back cover photo—genius badass concept with the band hogtied, mangled and defeated at the feet of the vigilantes who look just like them: long haired, scruffy and who could just as easily have been on the wrong side of the rope. I wonder if any of your readers know the identities of the vigilantes? The one on the far right looks like J.D. Souther...
Anyhow, thanks for the album break, I (we) all need one...
Darriel Arnott
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The 1st time I heard Desperado was Kenny Rogers singing it on Johnny Carson Late Show!
Pam Oliver
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Loved your take on Desperado. It's my favorite Eagles' album and Bitter Creek is my favorite track on that LP. However you failed to credit Bernie Leadon as both the writer and vocalist. In addition it's Leadon's great guitar outro that seals the deal on the song. I'm probably in the minority but I became less of a fan after Bernie left the band. He was the best musician in the original band. Go back and listen to Peaceful Easy Feeling. That's Bernie's guitar solo channeling Clarence White on the B-Bender. Obviously the Eagles went to whole nother level with Hotel California and Joe gave the band a more rocking sound but those first 4 albums represent my favorite period of the band.
Jay Rosenberg
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Desperado is what I keep coming back to year after year when I listen to the Eagles. I am not tired of any of the songs. Loved hearing them do "Saturday Night" on the 2015 tour when Bernie was back in the fold. That and "Train Leaves Here This Morning" where the highlights of the show for me. Really wish they had put out a DVD of that tour as most of the other Dvd's just seem to be a rehash of what they have been doing the last 25 years.
Joe Sherfy
Austin, Tx
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One of my favourite albums of all time. The instrumental transition from Doolin Dalton reprise to Desperado Reprise at about 1.26 is perfection.
Interesting that the album cover features the 4 of them and with what happened later with Randy Meisner, the lyric "Four men ride out and only three ride back" seems prescient.
And Desperado I think is as perfect as a song can be. It's got sadness, but it also has hope, something that seems to be waning these days.
Henley surely must go down as one of the finest lyricists of all time.
Greg Stroh
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I think my brother Bill bought Desperado, but I ended up knowing it...having it imprinted in my brain after listening to it many, many times. I always thought it was the pinnacle for the Eagles, everything after that was comercial pop, meh. All these years later, I haven't changed my mind. Doolin-Dalton,Tequila Sunrise, Bitter Creek, Desperado, it didn't get better from the Eagles (and I really like Lonesome Joe Walsh), Neil Young and Crazy Horse, well yeah, but the Eagles never again reached for that truth.
Alan Fenton
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Classic concept album, one of the few great ones. Paul Lanning
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Thanks. I’ve been reading you for more years than I can count now, and I really enjoyed this.
“Desperado" was always one of my favorite albums, from the day it came out in my sophomore year of college. I agree with all your comments about specific songs, particularly "Certain Kind of Fool” and "Bitter Creek." I loved “Saturday Night,” the lead-in song to “Bitter Creek”, as well — the wistfulness matched my mood exactly that spring (I couldn’t find a girl).
I don’t have a MoFi system so I can’t hear what you’re talking about with the sound, but it doesn’t matter. What I can hear sounds fantastic. The music carries the day, even without the high fidelity system.
Yours,
Andy Shaw
San Rafael CA
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No equipment to listen to the aural truth in the MoFi version of "Desperado." But “Desperado” has always been my favourite Eagles Song and Album. In fact I still have and wear the promo whiteT for it as well.
Olie Kornelsen
ps. Henry Diltz is the best
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HOTEL CALIFORNIA gave us the hype-line "More hooks than the Russian fishing fleet"...
Barry Lyons / Rent A Label
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Hip today gone tomorrow. Whatever you say about The Eagles, they made the kind of impeccably crafted art that lasts. They managed to sell millions of records with intelligent lyrics, kind of like, er, Steely Dan.
Best
Michael Ross
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Vintage Lefsetz! My favorite Eagles album by a country-rock mile. I can still feel the texture of the original album cover. In part because I still have it.
And in today’s reality, with so many people on antidepressants, I hear “you're losing all your highs and lows” in a whole new light.
Scott Kauffman
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Just as an addendum, I want to point out that Linda Ronstadt's version of "Desperado" was a major factor in helping to make the song one of the iconic works of its era. Both on her "Don't Cry Now" album and in subsequent concerts where she used it as her encore, Linda's version elevated the status of the song to a higher plane in the zeitgeist. Don Henley has acknowledged this in many interviews, and indeed, the song has been associated with her almost as much as with Eagles.
Best,
John Boylan
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My wife and I bought $300 plus tickets to see the Eagles in Nashville last Thursday. We have seen them at least once per decade since our first show in 1979. The last couple of times I saw the band before last week, I was bored out of my mind. I had grown into a hater. And, I really did not like the audience. At one show about 15 years ago I blew up at the guys behind me cutting a real estate deal all the way through "Desperado". Once a yuppie......
So, I went into the show last week, where they play "Hotel California" start to finish then the hits, with low expectations. I was really interested in what Vince Gill brought to the table. That guy could be the mayor of Nashville anytime he wants. He is so beloved in this town.
Ok, count me blown away. It was a real band. No tricks. No programming that I could hear. They almost went into the ditch a few times and pulled it out with some glances, like a rock band should. Everyone was in top form, especially Joe Walsh. The guitar playing (yes, I still love solos) was a clinic. And Henley's voice was strong and forcefully delivered. Just under three hours of hits on top of more hits. The audience was all gray, but they were raging. And yes, Vince was incredibly special on the Frey songs. They had a full orchestra magically appear behind the band on those songs that had strings. They had the Fisk Jubilee Singers doing BGV's on some songs.
Older acts are always a gamble and usually can't hold a candle to their past. As a guy who sees multiple shows any given week let me advise that If you can afford it, this band is in top form and it made me happy.
Best,
Don VanCleave
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