"Jeez, they've made a [expletive] cowboy album!" Jerry Greenberg, Atlantic Records President after listening to the final cut, quintessentially summarizes the general first reaction. Desperado represented perhaps the singular largest risk from the Eagles, an eyebrow raiser considering its leaders Don Henley and Glenn Frey were ambitious and calculating towards fulfilling their desires for commercial success and accolades. After a critically well received and financially rewarding debut Eagles record, it was generally assumed by the label that the band would produce a similar knockoff as its follow up. Wrong. And the record has stood the test of time, eventually earning grudging respect and achieving double platinum status in the United States. Desperado was aided by Linda Ronstadt's cover and the general profile of the album elevated. Although not a concept album, the mythos of the American cowboy analogous to the fate and plight of musicians is examined throughout. The back cover artwork depicts the musicians dressed as dead outlaws gunned down by triumphant musical executives guising as lawmen. Henley of course shines on vocals, greatly accentuated by harmonious choruses shared with Frey, however the understated Randy Meisner is wonderful on lead in Certain Kind of Fool. Extra credit to Bernie Leadon's terrific banjo picking providing a somewhat segue from one passage to the next.
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