Eagles and the self-titled album ‘Eagles’

The debut album of the band named Eagles was first published on June 1st, 1972. Bearing the name Eagles, the album rock, contemporary pop/rock, country-rock and soft rock album debuted with Bernie Leadon on banjo, guitar, steel guitar, Dobro, mandolin and vocals, Don Henley on drums, percussion and vocals, Glenn Frey on guitar, slide guitar, keyboards and vocals and Randy Meisner on bass guitar and vocals. Guest musicians David Sanborn on alto saxophone and Don Felder on guitar and organ also played on the album.

(The album cover of Eagles, the self-titled debut effort of the band called Eagles).

Take It Easy opens the album Eagles, having been released as a single on May 1, 1972. Charting as high as 12th in the United States, the song references Winslow, Arizona and a flatbed Ford as writing credits for the song are shared between Jackson Browne and Glenn Frey. Frey “says that he learned a lot about songwriting by listening to [Browne],” as quoted here.

(The debut single Take it Easy leads off the self-titled debut album Eagles by Eagles).

Witchy Woman charted as high as ninth in the United States with writing credits resting with Bernie Leadon and Don Henley. As quoted here, the song is “about a number of women [Leadon and Henley] had met. It is not meant to portray the woman as devilish, but as more of a seductress.”

(Witchy Woman was released as a single by Eagles in August 1972).

Chug All Night offers a clear example of the country-rock style for the album Eagles without relying strictly on instrumentation. The sentiment hits me on the country side while the sound plays as hard as any song on the album.

Most of Us Are Sad plays with a strong country sensibility with harmonizing vocals. The time measure of the song makes the song feel like a ballad. The sentiment of the song offers the singer’s sense of a romantic love lost with the emotional baggage to show for it.

Nightingale grants Jackson Browne a second writing credit for the album Eagles. The song emphasizes the value of a romantic love relationship along the means of protecting oneself from the chaos of the world around you with love.

(From left, Bernie Leadon, Randy Meisner, Don Henley and Glenn Frey of the Eagles).

Train Leaves Here This Morning rekindles a sad experience with a marriage coming to an end, with the singer planning, as quoted here, “to escape his romantic travails and head home on the morning train.” Gene Clark and Bernie Leadon recorded the original version of this song with their group Dillard & Clark in 1968. As Leadon is quoted as saying here, “The Eagles rendition is very country, folky and stripped-down”. “There’s electric lead, electric bass and drums, but they’re lightly played.”

Take the Devil offers self-contemplation on what a soul, divine love and, dare I say, self-love and/or self-acceptance of a spiritual kind can be. The journeys of a restless spirit in searching for these meanings leads the singer to contemplate these points, judging the wandering temptations of the Devil; it is with these self-discoveries that the singer wishes to be done with this influence.

Earlybird feels like it could be a declaration of the organizing self-view of what the bandmates of Eagles see themselves to be. The notion of playing their music and reading the books they choose to find peace of mind while never fading into meaninglessness or lack of regard is the point-of-view of the band in the year of the album’s recording and release in 1972.

Peaceful Easy Feeling was written by singer-songwriter Jack Tempchin, whose rendition can be heard here. As quoted here, the Eagles’ “song evokes a state of tranquility. The lyric, however, is about a girl, with Glenn Frey singing about how he'[d] love for things to work out with her, but thinks she’ll probably leave in the end. He’ll be OK though, since he has a peaceful, easy feeling and he won’t let her ruin it no matter what happens.”

(Peaceful Easy Feeling was released as the third single for Eagles in December 1972).

Tryin’ closes the album as the third song with Randy Meisner on lead vocals. The song invokes the young man’s seeking purpose while learning from and making mistakes along the road of continued effort to land at the place life is heading. Upwards and onwards, Randy Meisner.

Matt – Saturday, June 1, 2024

The Year 2023 in Music

Continuing with our year in review, Matt Lynn Digital invites you to look back at the last year in reviews of books, movies, music and television. We look at these with individual categories, one per day through Sunday. Today we share music reviews offered by Matt Lynn Digital in 2023.

(Cover art for the Weathervanes album by Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit).

Beginning with our most recent review with a guest review of the Weathervanes album by Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit, as reviewed by friend of the blog Cobra. The 2023 album presented alternative country-rock that mixed in with roots rock and southern rock to entertain their fans. Our review of the Rick Rubin book The Creative Act: A Way of Being also represented 2023 with a top notch look into how creativity works in music production and other fields as well.

(Cover art for the 2011 Tedeschi Trucks Band album Revelator).

The 2011 release of the album Revelator by the Tedeschi Trucks Band offers the first of two albums from the 2010s in our annual review. Offering a taste of American traditional rock, blues rock and roots rock from a guitar virtuoso opens an album that I can and do listen to over and over again. The 2010 A Christmas Cornucopia album by Annie Lennox also presented a more contemporary music mix.

(The biopic Walk the Line depicted aspects of the lives of Johnny Cash and June Carter).

The movie Walk the Line (2005) provided a mostly autobiographical portrayal of the musical life of country musician Johnny Cash and his second wife, June Carter. Music from both performers were featured throughout the movie, which offered a compelling movie experience of the respective lives of the couple up to the point of their marriage.

(Cover art for the R.L. Burnside album Mr. Wizard).

A modern sound for the delta blues comes to us with the 1997 album Mr. Wizard by R.L. Burnside. The music tends to more of a jam format than some of Burnside‘s earlier work with influences on musicians making music into the current day.

(Cover art for the Van Halen album OU812).

The 1988 album OU812 (Oh, you ate one too!) by Van Halen incorporates the most hard rock or pop metal sound for the three albums we reviewed for the 1980s. Both the 1986 album The Way It Is by Bruce Hornsby and the Range and the 1985 No Jacket Required album by Phil Collins delve more into the so-called adult contemporary genre with a focus on message and sound this still hit for a somewhat different audience.

(Cover art for the Christopher Cross album Christopher Cross).

We’ve taken the 1970s decade seriously with a review of nine separate albums. The self-titled 1979 album Christopher Cross by Christopher Cross continues the adult contemporary appeal before the 1974 soft rock appeal of the Jackson Browne album Late for the Sky. Second Helping by Lynyrd Skynyrd gave 1974 a more southern rock or boogie rock sound with their second album.

(Cover art for the Dr. John album In the Right Place).

The 1973 Dr. John funk and piano blues album In the Right Place gives way to the more progressive rock sounds of Pink Floyd‘s 1973 album The Dark Side of the Moon and Yes‘ 1972 album Fragile.

(Cover art for the Chuck Mangione Quartet album Alive!).

The contemporary jazz and easy listening album Alive! by Chuck Mangione Quartet from 1972 introduces the final three albums with a largely instrumental sound. The soft rock album Teaser and the Firecat by Cat Stevens stands next to the blues rock, hard rock and heavy metal sound of Led Zeppelin IV by Led Zeppelin for the music of 1971.

(Cover art for the Miles Davis album Sketches of Spain).

Jazz and rock and roll provide our 2023 soundtrack for the 1960s. Holiday music for 1968 leads us to Christmas Album by Herb Alpert & Tijuana Brass. The seventh album for The Beatles gave us the rock and roll in the form of 1966’s Revolver. The John Coltrane album Giant Steps and the album Sketches of Spain by Miles Davis round out 1960 with jazz performances that warm our heart.

Matt Lynn Digital appreciates your continued interest in the content we offer. Should you have albums that you’d like us to review, please be sure to let us know.

Matt – Friday, December 29, 2023

Jackson Browne and the album ‘Late for the Sky’

Inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2004, Jackson Browne released his third studio album Late for the Sky on Friday, September 13th, 1974. The album was added to the National Recording Registry for preservation in 2020. The registry is maintained by the Library of Congress of the United States of America. Browne’s style on this album has been classified as pop/rock, contemporary pop/rock, singer/songwriter and soft rock.

(Cover art for Jackson Browne‘s third studio album, Late for the Sky).

As quoted by Songfacts here back to an interview in Mojo Magazine, the song Late for the Sky is “about a moment when you realize that something has changed, it’s over, and you’re late for wherever you’re going to be next.” The song would later be played in the movie Taxi Driver (1976) when character Travis Bickle, portrayed by Robert De Niro, sinks into a dangerous depression.

Fountain of Sorrow was the second single from the Late for the Sky album. A Mojo Magazine article quoted by Songfacts here identifies Jackson Browne as saying the song “talks about disappointment, but in a forgiving way…It acknowledges that people are always looking for something in each other that they may not find, and says that not only is that OK, but what’s more enduring is the goodwill and acceptance of each other’s right to be on this search and to make your own choices, and that one’s longing or sorrow is part of your own search, not a byproduct of somebody else’s.”

(Fountain of Sorrow was the second released single in support of Jackson Browne‘s album Late for the Sky).

Farther On is quoted at Old Time Music here as an “attempt [by Browne] to find hope and purpose amidst the chaos and uncertainty of existence.  The song’s central message encourages individuals to push through hardships, embrace change, and continue moving forward, despite the challenges that may come their way.” These points feel correct to me, despite the website’s misidentification of the album where this song is released.

The Late Show offers a consoling viewpoint of human nature and the massive amounts of people you encounter who cannot open their hearts and help to seeing you through your life journey. The further point is that the consolation comes not in the support of large numbers of people but in the quality comfort of friends willing and able to offer friendship in moments of need.

(Inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2004, Jackson Browne of Heildeberg, Germany wrote all the songs on his Late for the Sky album).

The Road and the Sky offers further evidence that Jackson Browne feels things spiritually while contemplating those feelings with substance. The Road and the Sky tells of Browne‘s desire for a partner in his spiritual journey that allows him to experience feeling without the demand for being the only person choosing the road that should be taken in continuing to exist.

In a 2016 interview quoted here, For a Dancer was written “for a friend of [Browne’s] who died in a fire…He was in the sauna in a house that burned down, so he had no idea anything was going on. It was very sad. He was a really interesting guy.” The strings and piano accompaniment included with this song are quite beautiful.

Walking Slow was the first song released in support of the Late for the Sky album, though didn’t chart of its own accord. The song gets into nostalgia for Jackson Browne‘s past while celebrating what was a sense of security with his family, his home and his career. The uplifting tone of the song stands out in comparison to other songs on the album.

(Released in support of the 1974 Jackson Browne album Late for the Sky, Walking Slow was the initial single released in support of that album).

Before the Deluge has more meaning to me than the point-of-view indicated by Old Time Music here. While certainly there is temptation to see strictly “a vivid picture of a world on the brink of destruction, exploring themes of societal decay, environmental devastation, and the desperate need for change,” I sense a moral call that invokes the biblical tale of Noah and the Flood in the Old Testament book of Genesis.

Beyond writing the music and singing the songs on Late for the Sky, Jackson Browne played acoustic guitar, piano and slide guitar. Additional musicians included David Campbell with string arrangements on Late Show, Joyce Everson, Beth Fitchet Wood, Dan Fogelberg, Don Henley, Terry Reid and J.D. Souther with harmony vocals, Doug Haywood (aka John Douglas Heywood) on bass guitar and harmony vocals, David Lindley (aka Perry Lindley) on electric guitar, lap steel guitar, fiddle and harmony vocals, Fritz Richmond on jug for Walking Slow, Jai Winding on piano, organ and keyboards, Clarence White on keyboards, Larry Zack on drums and percussion and H. Driver, Henry Thome and Michael Condello on handclaps.

Matt – Wednesday, September 13, 2023