Maps of Music

Desperado (1973)

Where the lyrics of Desperado take you, and where it was really made.

The title track became one of the Eagles' signature songs, yet it was never released as a single.

Key places

Where Desperado was recorded (1973)

Recording site Island Studios — The album was recorded at Island Studios in London, England, with Glyn Johns producing. The recording took four weeks. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Cover photo shoot at Paramount Ranch (1973)

Album cover Bob Dylan's garage studio (Malibu) — The cover photo shoot took place at Paramount Ranch, an old Western film set in Malibu Canyon. The point is placed at city-center level, not the exact building. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Desperado: second studio album by the American rock band Eagles
• Released 17 April 1973 by Asylum Records
• Produced by Glyn Johns
• Recorded at Island Studios in London, England
• Songs based on the themes of the Old West
• Band members appear on the cover dressed as an outlaw gang
• The only Eagles album where band members appear on the front cover

Background

• Written after the commercially successful first album
• Frey wanted the second album to be one that would get them taken seriously as artists
• Original concept: songs about anti-heroes
• The idea arose while Frey, Henley, Browne, and Souther were jamming after a Tim Hardin concert
• A book on Wild West gunfighters, given to Browne by Ned Doheny, inspired the Western theme
• 'Doolin-Dalton' came from the book, while 'James Dean' was moved to the next album, On the Border
• Dissatisfaction with the music business grew after Asylum was sold to Warner Communications

Recording

• Recorded over four weeks at a cost of £30,000
• Johns limited each track to four or five takes and refused requests for more
• Henley later said he regretted not singing the title track as well as he could
• After Johns played the whole album back for the first time, the band carried him on their shoulders out of the control room

Cover

• Artwork by Gary Burden, with photos by Henry Diltz
• The back cover shows the band, Browne, and Souther lying dead, a reenactment of the Dalton Gang's capture
• The photo shoot took place at Paramount Ranch, an old Western film set in Malibu Canyon

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• The Eagles are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1971.
• Founding members were Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Bernie Leadon, and Randy Meisner, all first recruited as musicians for Linda Ronstadt.
• They signed to David Geffen's Asylum Records in September 1971.
• The name was reportedly suggested by Leadon, though accounts vary.

Members

• Founding members: Glenn Frey (guitar, vocals), Don Henley (drums, vocals), Bernie Leadon (guitar, vocals), Randy Meisner (bass, vocals).
• Don Felder joined in 1974 as guitarist; Joe Walsh replaced Leadon in 1975; Timothy B. Schmit replaced Meisner in 1977.
• Frey died in January 2016; Meisner died in July 2023.

Career

• The band has five number-one singles and six number-one albums in the US, and six Grammy Awards.
• Estimated sales exceed 200 million records worldwide; inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.
• Their Greatest Hits (1971–1975) and Hotel California are among their best-selling albums.
• The band broke up in 1980, reunited in 1994 for Hell Freezes Over, and released Long Road Out of Eden in 2007.
• The band announced a farewell tour in 2023 and held a Sphere residency in Las Vegas from 2024.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Paul Gambaccini of Rolling Stone gave the album a positive review in 1973
• Gambaccini said the songs form a unified set but are not a rock opera or concept album
• Robert Christgau criticized the album's macho outlaw imagery and its paucity of decent songs, calling its concept mindless
• AllMusic editor William Ruhlmann praised Henley's greater involvement but wrote the album was less consistent than its predecessor
• The album was not a commercial success initially

Reappraisal

• Some critics now consider it one of the significant albums of country rock
• John Einarson wrote in Desperados: The Roots of Country Rock that it set the tone for later soft country rock sounds
• Voted number 631 in the third edition of Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000)
• Ultimate Classic Rock critic Sterling Whitaker rated 'Tequila Sunrise' and 'Doolin-Dalton' among the Eagles' 10 most underrated songs

Records

• Debuted at number 145 on the US Billboard 200 in its release week
• Peaked at number 41 in its eighth week on the chart
• Remains the Eagles' lowest charting album
• Certified Gold by the RIAA on 23 September 1974 after On the Border's release
• Certified double platinum on 20 March 2001, indicating 2 million shipped copies in the United States
• Inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2000

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Director Sam Peckinpah planned to use the album as the basis for a film, but the plan never came to fruition.
• Atlantic Records president Jerry Greenberg received the finished recording poorly, reacting with a remark about a cowboy album.
• Henley's cover concept of the back-cover reenactment mirrors the historical capture and death of the Dalton Gang.
• The centerfold idea for a gatefold cover was scrapped by David Geffen.
• Desperado the song was ranked number 494 on Rolling Stone's 2004 list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
• The album was the last Asylum Records album distributed in North America by Atlantic Records, before Asylum's mid-1973 merger with Elektra Records.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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