One of These Nights (1975)
At this point, there really was no stopping the Eagles. This, their fourth album, gave them their first number one slot and three hit singles, one of which also got to number one, the other two all making it inside the top four. This would be the farewell album for Bernie Leadon, who leaves a nice legacy in yet another self-penned song, this time an instrumental that would be resurrected some years later in circumstances he certainly could not have been expect to have been able to predict. Don Felder has a little more input to the album this time out, playing lead and slide guitar on all tracks (alongside Glenn Frey) and even getting to sing one song, the only Eagles song he ever provided vocals for. But it's Don Henley who kicks things off, with a sliding bass from Randy Meisner to take in the title track which opens the album, and there's a certain feel of “Witchy Woman” about its beat and its mood, though it's slightly more upbeat. The Eagles were always a band to make use of multiple guitars, and here they put them to good use as Felder and Frey trade licks. The wonderful close harmony vocal takes the chorus and it's a great opening song, leading into one of two Meisner songs, “Too Many Hands”, where there's harder, rockier guitar, and more a folk feel to this, moving away from the gentle rock of the opener. Much darker, much more mature and for once sounds as if they're casting a woman in a positive light. Maybe.
“Hollywood Waltz” is, well, a waltz, with some lovely moaning pedal steel thanks to Bernie Leadon, and it's, as Batty would probably say, country as f
uck. First ballad, and it's pretty much a hit for me at any rate. Some really beautiful mandolin too. That instrumental from Bernie is next, and for anyone who recognises it but doesn't remember from where, it became the theme music to the series (radio and TV) of Douglas Adams'
The Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy. It's played mostly on his trusty banjo, with strings addition from The Royal Martian Orchestra (?) and it kind of goes through movements, even though it's only six and a half minutes in total. Some really nice bass from Randy adds to it, but it really is the combination of strings and banjo (which you would not think would naturally go together) that makes the piece.
After that we're in familiar territory, with two hit singles coming one after the other. “Lyin' Eyes” is probably known by about everyone, and yes, once again the woman is the villain, although there is a hint that the man may be to blame in part. The idea of marrying an old man who has plenty of money in order to secure her future backfires on the woman in the song, as she realises that “It breaks her heart to think that her love is only given to a man with hands as cold as ice”, so she cheats on him. A familiar story surely, and the song is driven on a nice midpaced tempo with a great soulful vocal from Frey, some fine vocal harmonies as ever, and a nice bit of piano courtesy of Jim Ed Norman. This is followed by the slower, dreamier “Take it to the Limit”, a song that really suits Meisner's higher voice, and surely the most famous Eagles song he has sung on. Along with the title track, these two singles would break the Eagles commercially across the world, establishing them forever as legends in the music business. Lovely orchestration on this too.
That Don Felder song is up next, the only one he ever sang on (the only one they let him?) and “Visions” is a foretaste of the faster, uptempo almost rocky guitar that would characterise the likes of “Life in the fast lane” the next year. In fact, it's pretty close to the melody at times. To be fair, it's a pretty poor song and Felder is, I have to say, a pretty abysmal singer, most of his vocals supplemented by those of the other guys in the band. Poorest track so far, but its sour taste is soon forgotten as we hit “After the Thrill is Gone”, a really lovely ballad yearning for the days of the first blush of love, now long behind and hard to even remember. The opening lines say it all: “Same dancers in the same shoes, old habits you just can't lose” and later when Frey sings “Don't care about winning but you don't wanna lose.” Superb pedal steel from Bernie and a great emotional solo from Glenn.
Oddly enough, after a bitter ballad like that, the album closes on another ballad. It's Bernie's last hurrah, written by him and his girlfriend, and though Don Henley would later disown the song as “smarmy cocktail music”, it's a nice little closer, with some lovely piano and a very simple acoustic guitar line, and indeed a message of hope and love to finish up what would become their first number one album.
TRACK LISTING
One of These Nights
Too Many Hands
Hollywood Waltz
Journey of the Sorcerer
Lyin' Eyes
Take it to the Limit
Visions
After the Thrill is Gone
I Wish You Peace
Another great Eagles album and one that consolidated their hold over American music at the time. A number one album and a number one single will do that for you. For all that, though, there is still the ghost of what might be termed individualism in the Bernie Leadon instrumental, which, although I love it, seems out of place in an album of mostly soft rock hit singles masquerading as Country music, and ballads mixed with rock songs. The next album though, love it or hate it, would turn them into global superstars, and signal both their zenith and the beginnings of their fall from grace.
Rating: 9.2/10