Eagles, On The Border
Fantastic Album, I would recommend everyone who enjoys the Eagles to add this one to their collection.
Star Making Machinery Revs Up
There are better practitioners of both genres. The Eagles are to country rock what The Kingston Trio are to folk, which isn't bad necessarily-- it just gives you an idea of where you are. So "String Along" by The Kingston Trio is a very good record, very hummable and entertaining, but no one would call it as good as Woody Guthrie. "On the Border" is good too-- fast songs, slow songs, melodic, digestable-- but there are half a dozen bands that have done better albums. What's that? Name them? Ok, The Buffalo Springfield's first two albums, The Band's first three albums, The Byrds' classic "Sweethearts of the Radio," "Burrito Deluxe," by the Flying Burrito Brothers, both Manassas albums,early LIttle Feat, and Plainsong. Having said that, "Already Gone," is one of my favorite songs of all time. "On the Border" is, in my opinion, a good place to start if you want to check out the Eagles, but you should check out the other bands mentioned here as well.
Another dynamite Eagles album
What can be said about "Already Gone" and "Midnight Flyer", two of the best songs ever recorded! And more of the magical Eagles lyrics: ". . I went lickety-splitly. . . "; ". . . we who must remain go on laughing just the same. . . "; ". . . along came a Spyder, picked up a rider, and took him down the road to Eternity. . . you were too fast to live, too young to die, bye bye. . . "
If you've never listened to this album, you're in for a stunning experience.
The Eagles go from quartet to quintet on this transitional album
From the opening rocker Already Gone, you could tell that the band had become a rock band. In March of 1974, The Eagles released their third album On the Border. Not a country rock band but a plain good ol' rock and roll band.
The addition of third guitarist Don Felder in late 1973 gave the band a bigger, more raw, more urgent sound, particularly on the hardest rock tracks, the opening "Already Gone" which had great Felder solos and was the world's real intro to Felder, the rocking "Good Day In Hell" which had killer slide work from Felder (in fact, this very track was the first song Felder recorded with The Eagles) and "James Dean".
Like its predecessor Desperado, On The Border sounds like songs from different albums but the Eagles manages to pull it off.
Unlike its predecessors, the album was mainly produced by Bill Szymczyk (whom worked with The James Gang and J. Geils Band among others) taking over for Glyn Johns whom the band canned after recording the ballads "You Never Cry Like a Lover" and the closing "Best of My Love".
The album may have gone more rocking but there were a few more country numbers like the modern bluegrass sounds of 'Midnight Flyer" and the traditional country rock ballad "My Man" (Bernie's ode to Gram Parsons and his best song for the band) on the same album as the hard rock of the opening Already Gone, the funky title cut and the power chords of James Dean and Good Day in Hell.
This album gave the Eagles their first Gold album the year of release and the band's first #1 single Best Of My Love, a country-tinged ballad. A little bit ironic considering how much Glenn Frey and Don Henley wanted the Eagles to be a rock band rather than a country band, but it is really a beautiful song with a great lead vocal by Henley and pedal steel work by Leadon.
The two rock singles which are now staples of classic rock radio James Dean and Already Gone didn't fare nearly as well, the latter made it to #32, but the former stalled at #77. They're great songs, though, as is the Eagles' cover of then Asylum labelmate Tom Waits' "Ol' 55" which they made their own and because of this album's sales gave Tom Waits a little extra royalty money and the heavy Good Day In Hell. "Is It True" is a much more conventional, very pleasant mid-tempo love rocker with some fine slide guitar from guitarist/keyboard player Glenn Frey but the band wanted a good slide player for this album, and they found that in Don Felder who rocks on Good Day In Hell. Glenn and drummer Don Henley had taken firm control of the band on this album. Frey does two solo lead vocals, Henley three and shares center stage on Ol' 55 and Good Day In Hell. Faithful down-to-Earth bass player Randy Meisner sings on Midnight Flyer and on his own solo composition, the lovely Is It True and guitarist Bernie Leadon does a solid job on My Man, which is dedicated to the late Gram Parsons (Bernie's bandmate in The Flying Burrito Brothers).
I first got this album on cassette two days after my ninth birthday and is still a classic today, especially with the remastering on this album.
Highly recommended! .
A Masterpiece
How anybody could possibly rate it as 3 out of 5 is beyond me. This record is a true country-rock masterpiece. Every single song is bursting at the seams with melody; the harmony vocals and arrangements are tremendous on every track.
A record born in an era where great songwriting and musicianship ruled the roost and wonderful examples of both of these attributes are apparent in abundance here!
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You can see a complete list of all Eagles discography, or go back to the Eagles tabs
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