Desperado --- The Eagles --- 1973 (Asylum)
I could of course be wrong --- it has to happen sometime! --- but I think this is the first, possibly only concept album I've seen in the country music genre. Of course, I'm not all that well versed with country and western music, so that's really not a claim I should be making. However, it is the only country concept album I've ever seen or heard of, so for that at least it deserves a listen.
Second album released by the Eagles, it's based around the concept of an outlaw gang, the Daltons, who figure fairly heavily in the history and mythology of the Old West. Although they only enjoyed a brief spell of notoriety, operating from the year 1890 to 1892, they ran with the Youngers, who were affiilated with Jesse James' James Gang (though the Daltons and the James never met or rode together), as well as Bill Doolin, legendary founder of the Wild Bunch. The Daltons were three brothers, who began life as lawmen but later became outlaws for various reasons.
The album opens on “Doolin-Dalton”, an acoustic rendition of the tale of the Daltons, who later joined up with Bill Doolin and became the Doolin-Dalton Gang. Don Henley takes the lead vocal, with Glenn Frey also adding vocals and a very atmospheric harmonica. Great guitar from Frey and Bernie Leadon, who would only last with the Eagles two more years, unhappy with the direction the band was taking towards more commercial, radio-friendly music and away from pure country and bluegrass. The latter is evidenced by “Twenty one”, on which Leadon not only sings, plays dobro and banjo but also wrote the song. Very much a one-man-band, in terms of this song. It's a good foot-tapper with a good melody, but the sort of song very definitely that the Eagles would gravitate away from, over the course of the next two albums. Far harder and rockier is “Out of control”, where Frey takes over both on vocals and guitar, perhaps taking a leaf out of Bowie's book on “Suffragette City”. A good rocker, with some great guitar from Frey, a real drinking song, and again the sort of thing they would move away from in favour of more AOR and often bland soft rock in the future, culiminating in the record-breaking milestone “Hotel California”.
One of their big hits is up next, the mid-paced ballad “Tequila sunrise”, Glenn Frey again behind the mike and also adding acoustic guitar, with Leadon playing the electric and a beautiful little mandolin solo that really makes the song. This then of course shows the slide towards commerciality that would for some people ruin the Eagles, and for others offer them a door into the world of country music and an appreciation of this band. Either way, it was a huge hit, and the boys were already on their way to fame and glory. The next song everyone knows, but perhaps not everyone knows it was never a single, despite being one of the huge standards of the Eagles. “Desperado” is sung by Henley, with Frey performing a classic and heartfelt piano piece which more or less carries the whole thing, as the outlaw is warned not to push his luck too far:
”Don't you draw the Queen of Diamonds, boy/ She'll beat you if she's able/ The Queen of Hearts is your best bet.” One of my favourite Eagles songs, and with good reason. Why this was never released as a single I will never know.
Leadon's acoustic guitar and powerful mandolin lead in the only song on the album voiced by Randy Meisner, as “Certain kind of fool” tells the tale of how the Daltons became outlaws, with lead guitar from Frey as Meisner tells of the outlaw's purchase of his first gun:
”He saw it in a window/ The mark of a new kind of man/ He kind of liked the feeling/ So shiny and smooth in his hand.” Great solo from Frey, and Meisner's vocal, though a little strained, somehow seems to fit this song. With a flourish on the drums it ends and hits into the only instrumental on the album, less than a minute long, and mostly riding on Leadon's versatile banjo, “Doolin-Dalton (instrumental)” runs directly into “Outlaw man”, a boogie rocker with Frey back on vocals, on the only song on the album not written by any of the Eagles. A great rippin' guitar solo from Leadon, then the song kicks into higher gear, almost southern boogie style, with fine backing vocals to the end, like a train hurtlin' down the tracks.
Another great ballad then in the mariachi-influenced “Saturday night”, a real song of reminscence with Henley on vocals and acoustic guitar, and Leadon adding his mesmeric touch on the mandolin, almost giving the song a vaguely celtic feel. Really nice song this, close to the standout, but then you have of course the title track, “Tequila sunrise” and “Doolin-Dalton” to consider. The next one is close to a contender as well, with vocal from Bernie Leadon on the introspective “Bitter creek”, also written by him. It has a very Delta blues feel to it, and I'm pretty sure that's a dobro Leadon is playing. It's also the longest track on the album, just over five minutes. Some great vocal harmonies on this, puts me in mind in places of Simon and Garfunkel at their best.
The closer is a sort of pastiche of the opener and the title, called “Doolin-Dalton/Desperado (reprise)”, which at the time excited me when I found out about it. I had listened to, and loved, “Desperado” for decades, never knowing or even dreaming there was more to the song, that there was a reprise. It's not a disappointment, and it closes the album really well. The first part, the “Doolin-Dalton” section, is essentially just a retreading of the song that opened the album, though more acoustic with banjo and dobro in Leadon's capable hands, and Henley on lead vocals. About halfway through the song, a banjo break ends the first part and we slide into “Desperado (reprise)”, which is indeed a continuation of the famous classic, and gives it new life, finishing the story but nevertheless leaving the conclusion unresolved, and taking this classic album to a very satisfying end.
There are those who love the Eagles, and those who hate them. There are those who think they sold out on the “Hotel California” album, and perhaps they did. There's no doubt that, like Deep Purple and perhaps Led Zeppelin too, they were coaxed out of retirement by huge mountains of money: Don Henley's promise that the band would reform “when Hell freezes over” was used as a clever marketing ploy to title the reunion album, but is fairly clear evidence that these guys did not get back together because they missed each other. Most had quite successful solo projects going, and they surely did not need the hassle of a world tour. But the dollar has a loud voice, and they listened to it.
Many will denounce them for that, for making the music secondary to money, but there's no doubting that, while that album was little more than a live set of old material with four new tracks, it did lead to one of the best albums, in my opinion, of 2007, the
real comeback album, “Long road out of Eden”. Whatever your view on their future work, "Desperado" shows the two sides of the Eagles: the pure, undiluted country/bluegrass and the more adult-oriented rock side of them, the latter of which won out in the end and made them huge international stars. But I really like this album, not so much for its disparities but for the way it pulls all the threads together into one cohesive whole. Elements which should really have no business working together do, and the album is the better for it.
The final word I leave to a review in, of all things, an “Alias Smith and Jones” annual from my childhood. A few paragraphs only, concerned of course with the fact that this album addresses the story of cowboy gangs and outlaws, and yet, for all its brevity and simplicity, it really does say it all about this album.
“Desperado, by the Eagles. It's only a record. But what a record.”
TRACKLISTING
1. Doolin-Dalton
2. Twenty-one
3. Out of control
4. Tequila sunrise
5. Desperado
6. Certain kind of fool
7. Doolin-Dalton (instrumental)
8. Outlaw man
9. Saturday night
10. Bitter creek
11. Doolin-Dalton/Desperado (reprise)