Desperado (Eagles album)
| Desperado | ||||
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| Studio album by the Eagles | ||||
| Released | April 17, 1973 | |||
| Recorded | 1973 | |||
| Studio | Island Studios, London, England | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 35:40 | |||
| Label | Asylum | |||
| Producer | Glyn Johns | |||
| the Eagles chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Desperado | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    |
| Robert Christgau | C |
| Rolling Stone | |
Desperado is the second studio album by the American band the Eagles. It was recorded at Island Studios in London, England and released in 1973. The songs on Desperado are based on the themes of the Old West. The band members are featured on the album's cover dressed like an outlaw gang; Desperado remains the only Eagles album where the band members appear on the front cover.
Although the title track is one of the Eagles' signature songs, it was never released as a single. The song "Desperado" was ranked No. 494 on Rolling Stone's 2004 list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". The album did yield two singles, though: "Tequila Sunrise" and "Outlaw Man". Those two singles reached No. 64 and No. 59 respectively. The album reached No. 41 on the Billboard album chart and was certified Gold by the RIAA on September 23, 1974, and double platinum on March 20, 2001.
Desperado was the last Asylum Records album to be distributed in North America by Atlantic Records (catalog no. SD 5068), prior to Asylum's mid-1973 merger with Elektra Records by Asylum's, Elektra's and Atlantic's parent company, Warner Communications.
After a commercially successful first album, Frey wanted the second album to be one where they could be taken seriously as artists, and became interested in making a concept album. Originally, Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Jackson Browne, and J. D. Souther were working on a series of songs about anti-heroes, but ran out of ideas after writing "Doolin-Dalton" about the Doolin-Dalton Gang and "James Dean" about the eponymous actor. According to Glenn Frey, the four of them of were jamming together after a Tim Hardin concert when they had the idea of doing an album about anti-heroes. One inspiration was a book on gunfighters of the Wild West given to Browne by Ned Doheny for his 21st birthday. Browne showed them the book and suggested the theme. The book includes stories about Bill Dalton and Bill Doolin; from this came the song "Doolin-Dalton". Although the idea for anti-heroes was shelved, the album would become the Western-themed Desperado.
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