Recommendations of the Editorial team
Above all, they may have shaped the appearance of country and rock. But for me the Eagles just make American Music. And great ones on top of that. It is a miracle that a band could assimilate so many influences – in addition to country and rock also Soul, R&B and Folk – in order to distill such a genuine sound from it.
And the Eagles Were a real band. After one or two albums, Don Henley and Glenn Frey developed into one of the biggest songwriter teams in rock music. But material, but above all gifted musical contributions, made them all. Randy Meisner and Bernie Leadon, then Don Felder. Later Joe Walsh and Timothy B. Schmit.
The first song that really got stuck with me was “take it easy”. The Lyrics – from Frey and Jackson Browne – could also have come from Merle Haggard or Willie Nelson, but the instrumentation and energy was definitely rock. And the combination of both elements was simply unbeatable.
To this day, there is nothing more brilliant than the guitar reef from “Life in the Fast Lane”
I remember endless cross-country trips with my parents. Once, when we drove through Texas at night, the only radio station we could receive was a ceremony medium-wave broadcaster that came from nowhere. But then these ghostly first bars from “Hotel California” came out of the loudspeaker. The Eagles provided me with the soundtrack for so many summer.
The melodies and harmonies of the Eagles immediately seemed familiar: “Desperado”, “Take It To The Limit”, “Tequila Sunrise” and “Best of My Love” were among the best pop songs that have ever been written. And to this day there is nothing more ingenious than the guitar reef from “Life in the Fast Lane”.
When I sang the back-up vocals for Don Henley in the early ninet, it was an almost surreal experience. The reaction of the spectators burned the relevance of these songs into my brain forever.