As it happens, the Eagles rise to the top began with this first album.
Shortly after a successful run as the backing band for the ultra-talented Linda Ronstadt (who went on to have not too bad of a career herself), this fearsome foursome of Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Randy Meisner, and Bernie Leadon made this groundbreaking disc and thus legitimized the Los Angeles country-rock sound.
Everyone knows about ˝Take It Easy˝, ˝Peaceful Easy Feeling˝, and ˝Witchy Woman.˝
But there are other cuts here that are just as impressive, including the predominantly acoustic ˝Train Leaves Here This Morning˝ and Frey’s gutsy rocker ˝Chug All Night.˝
The instrumental work here is superb, with Leadon’s bluegrass instincts and his Clarence White-style country-rock guitar breaks particularly impressive.
Just like Linda, the Eagles would often be imitated but their success would never be duplicated.