Loved this. I was blessed to do the second Eagles show in Nov of 1971 at my first club Tulagi in Boulder. They wanted a few out of the way \u00c2\u00a0places 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 \u00c2\u00a0the audience left. I booked them because I loved the pedigree of the 4 members and thought without hearing them that they’d \u00c2\u00a0be amazing and had a shot to get big. It was right before finals at University of Colorado and I told \u00c2\u00a0Geffen 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.<\/p>\n
Chuck Morris – Chairman Emeritus
\nAEG PRESENTS<\/p>\n
_________________________________<\/p>\n
I got Desperado from MoFi that came out last year. The one-step vinyl, which was the purpose of the remastering you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re listening to.<\/p>\n
It has always been the only Eagles album I ever bought and loved. Which is why, when they opened with \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Saturday Night\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in 2014, I could have left the concert right after and been happy.<\/p>\n
After all I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m no fan-boy; I saw them twice \u00e2\u20ac\u201c once in 1975\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 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\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t clear why these Eagles were there other than friendship \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Walsh was not in the band then. But their harmonizing on Walsh tunes was a revelation, so it made sense when he joined.<\/p>\n
He even opened with your theme song, which I loved.<\/p>\n
But the MoFi One Step remastering of Desperado, which is where they got the new SACD remasters \u00e2\u20ac\u201c from a digital feed that was tapped off the signal going to the lacquer \u00e2\u20ac\u201c 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.<\/p>\n
Yes, I have a system that can highlight these improvements. If only for this record, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m glad I built this setup. \u00c2\u00a0And Johns can say what he wants, but he brought the best out of the Eagles.<\/p>\n
So, thanks for this morning surprise Your description exactly mirrors what affects me about this recording and why I love it. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t care about the Eagles except for this album. If they did nothing else, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d be great artists, for me.<\/p>\n
Gary Lang<\/p>\n
_________________________________<\/p>\n
Hello Bob,
\nEnjoy reading your posts, always.
\nHad 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. \u00c2\u00a0Told her it was one of my favorites, and she smiled and said: \u00c2\u00a0If you don’t like the Eagles, you don’t have a soul. \u00c2\u00a0I got a little teary, but that’s just me.<\/p>\n
Be safe,
\nMarcia Hrichison<\/p>\n
_________________________________<\/p>\n
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\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t 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) \u00e2\u20ac\u201c \u00e2\u20ac\u0153not good, not great, but insanely great\u00e2\u20ac\u009d.<\/p>\n
This was the moment they broke through the insanely great barrier, \u00c2\u00a0and rest is history.<\/p>\n
Best,<\/p>\n
Michael McCarty<\/p>\n
P.S. Desperado is my favorite song of all time. You could write a book about the genius craft\/art behind it.<\/p>\n
_________________________________<\/p>\n
I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been building my personal sound system since college days. \u00c2\u00a0Seems every few years I upgrade to some new electronic devise to keep up with technology. \u00c2\u00a0My 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. \u00c2\u00a0My speakers, ATC are north of $20k. WTF.<\/p>\n
Most big rig owners will aways wonder\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u009dIt music sounds really good, but maybe it can sound better if I\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u009d. Bottom line is we are never satisfied and the chase will always continue. \u00c2\u00a0My girlfriend once asked me, “do you ever just sit down and really listen to the music without being critical?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00c2\u00a0I do, but with a critical ear that music lovers in my\/our generation just can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t suppress.<\/p>\n
The latest Jimi Hendrix Experience – Are You Experienced, from MoFi is as close to the master tapes as I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll ever get.<\/p>\n
The journey continues.<\/p>\n
Thanks for what you do.<\/p>\n
-Scott Kilian<\/p>\n
_________________________________<\/p>\n
I worked at Tech Hifi on 8th Street \u00e2\u20ac\u201d 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 \ud83d\ude42 Those were the days!<\/p>\n
Peter Thea<\/p>\n
_________________________________<\/p>\n
Hey, Bob thanks for the piece on Desperado. \u00c2\u00a0It inspired me to take a 40
\nminute break from the insanity of the current world and take a deep inhale of Tequila Sunrise and the others…<\/p>\n
I had a good laugh turning the album cover over and rediscovering the outrageous back cover photo\u00e2\u20ac\u201dgenius badass concept with the band hogtied, mangled and defeated at the feet of the vigilantes who look just like them: \u00c2\u00a0long haired, scruffy and who could just as easily have been on the wrong side of the rope. \u00c2\u00a0I wonder if any of your readers know the identities of the vigilantes? \u00c2\u00a0The one on the far right looks like J.D. Souther…
\nAnyhow, thanks for the album break, I (we) all need one…<\/p>\n
Darriel Arnott<\/p>\n
_________________________________<\/p>\n
The 1st time I heard Desperado was Kenny Rogers singing it on Johnny Carson Late Show!<\/p>\n
Pam Oliver<\/p>\n
_________________________________<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Jay Rosenberg<\/p>\n
_________________________________<\/p>\n
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\u00c2\u00a0other\u00c2\u00a0Dvd’s just seem to be a rehash of what they have been doing the last 25 years.<\/p>\n
Joe Sherfy<\/p>\n
Austin, Tx<\/p>\n
_________________________________<\/p>\n
One of my favourite albums of all time. The instrumental transition\u00c2\u00a0from Doolin Dalton reprise to Desperado Reprise at about 1.26 is perfection.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
And Desperado I think is as perfect as a song can be. It’s got sadness, but it also has hope, something\u00c2\u00a0that seems to be waning these days.<\/p>\n
Henley surely must go down as one of the finest lyricists of all time.<\/p>\n
Greg Stroh<\/p>\n
_________________________________<\/p>\n
I think my brother Bill bought\u00c2\u00a0Desperado, 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\u00c2\u00a0for the Eagles, everything after that was comercial pop,\u00c2\u00a0meh. All these years later, I haven’t changed my mind. Doolin-Dalton,Tequila Sunrise, Bitter Creek, Desperado, it didn’t\u00c2\u00a0get 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.<\/p>\n
Alan Fenton<\/p>\n
_________________________________<\/p>\n
Classic concept album, one of the few great ones. \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Paul Lanning<\/p>\n
_________________________________<\/p>\n
Thanks. \u00c2\u00a0I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been reading you for more years than I can count now, and I really enjoyed this.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Desperado” was always one of my favorite albums, from the day it came out in my sophomore year of college. \u00c2\u00a0I agree with all your comments about specific songs, particularly “Certain Kind of Fool\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and “Bitter Creek.” \u00c2\u00a0I loved \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Saturday Night,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d the lead-in song to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Bitter Creek\u00e2\u20ac\u009d, as well \u00e2\u20ac\u201d the wistfulness matched my mood exactly that spring (I couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t find a girl).<\/p>\n
I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have a MoFi system so I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t hear what you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re talking about with the sound, but it doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t matter. What I can hear sounds fantastic. \u00c2\u00a0The music carries the day, even without the high fidelity system.<\/p>\n
Yours,<\/p>\n
Andy Shaw
\nSan Rafael CA<\/p>\n
_________________________________<\/p>\n
No equipment to listen to the\u00c2\u00a0aural truth in the MoFi version of “Desperado.”\u00c2\u00a0But\u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Desperado\u00e2\u20ac\u009d has always been my favourite\u00c2\u00a0Eagles\u00c2\u00a0Song and\u00c2\u00a0Album. In fact I still have and wear the promo whiteT for it as well.<\/p>\n
Olie Kornelsen<\/p>\n
ps.\u00c2\u00a0Henry Diltz is the best<\/p>\n
_________________________________<\/p>\n
HOTEL CALIFORNIA gave us the hype-line “More hooks than the\u00c2\u00a0Russian fishing fleet”…<\/p>\n
Barry Lyons \/ Rent A Label<\/p>\n
_________________________________<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Best<\/p>\n
Michael Ross<\/p>\n
_________________________________<\/p>\n
Vintage Lefsetz! \u00c2\u00a0My favorite Eagles album by a country-rock mile. \u00c2\u00a0I can still feel the texture of the original album cover. \u00c2\u00a0In part because I still have it.<\/p>\n
And in today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s reality, with so many people on antidepressants, I hear \u00e2\u20ac\u0153you’re losing all your highs and lows\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in a whole new light.<\/p>\n
Scott Kauffman<\/p>\n
_________________________________<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Best,
\nJohn Boylan<\/p>\n
_________________________________<\/p>\n
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……<\/p>\n
So, \u00c2\u00a0I 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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Best,<\/p>\n
Don VanCleave<\/p>\n
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Loved this. I was blessed to do the second Eagles show in Nov of 1971 at my first club Tulagi in Boulder. They wanted a few out of the way \u00c2\u00a0places to test out the songs they were going to record for their first album. They played a week in Aspen then for me in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-music"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p96vPs-4QH","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18643"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18643\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18651,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18643\/revisions\/18651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}