I didn't realize until the other day that "Ol' 55" is a Tom Waits composition. Every song on here is different, and every song is great. "You Never Cry Like A Lover" - can't understand why this one isn't played more - tender and intense! "Good Day In Hell" flat out smokes. The harmonies are flawless (as usual) and the instrumentation is superb. Add this one to your collection for sure.

A#1 King Of The Hill Top of the....wait a minute this is the Eagles not Frankie. Any these dudes sure fly high on this release. The weakest song on this disc is Best Of My Love and that number is damn good. I disagree with the previous reviewer as Good Day In Hell is just plain awesome. The guitars the raw energy are just fantastic there. They just don't make discs like this anymore.

Besides Hotel California, this is the Eagles best album. This is an album rich in both rock and country. From the hard rocking On the Border and James Dean, to the countryish sounds of the Bernie Leadon sung My Man and Ol' 55, this is one terrific album. Only Good Day in Hell is a throwaway. Another standout song is the Randy Meisner sung Is it True.

This album was made during the Leadon-Meisner years of the band. Frey, Henley, and Walsh get all the notoriety in the Eagles, but Meisner was the nerve center of the band with his bass and quality vocals, both as a lead and as a harmonizer (listen to his harmonies on Ol' 55). The Eagles are a better band with Meisner as opposed to Tim Schmitt, as On the Border will proves.

The Eagles' third studio album, the 1974 release ON THE BORDER, was meant in many ways to rectify the unjustified commercial failure of DESPERADO, and give this band a harder edge than before. To this end, they ousted Glyn Johns as their producer after just two tracks were recorded, bought in Bill Szymczyk to replace him, and added Don Felder on lead guitar.

But ON THE BORDER is the best of both worlds--yes, the band gained a harder edge but it also retained some of the more country elements of before. "Midnight Flyer" is an impressive bluegrass-style breakdown with Bernie Leadon zipping away on banjo; and Leadon's "My Man", a tribute to the departed Gram Parsons, features his handy steel guitar work. A lot of great cuts are to be had here. Ironically, one of the two songs Glyn Johns produced, "The Best Of My Love", would become the group's first #1 hit in early 1975; and in yet another ironic twist, they would hit #1 with this single just two weeks after their former employer Linda Ronstadt got her #1 single "You're No Good."

I admit to being a very devout Eagles/Linda Ronstadt fan, being as I am from the Los Angeles area. But they remain the standard by which many rock and country acts are measured. And as long as there are faux "boy bands" like 'N Sync and the Backstreet Boys, there will always be a need for the Eagles.

Have you ever locked onto a band during their first album, only to be let down by the second and later discs? I remember the early evolution of the Eagles oh so clearly. The first LP caught my ear and the concept of the second moved the band to a new dimension. But this, the third album, was the big buzz for me. Sure, one album later the band was selling much bigger, but this disc was it - the crystalline moment, for the Eagles. Radio jumped on Best of My Love and James Dean while I was in the groove on Already Gone, Midnite Flyer, Good Day In Hell and Ol' 55. The addition of Don Felder catalyzed the band towards a more hard edged, harder rock sound. The Eagles never made it to the land of hard rock, but it sure looked like this album was going to take them there. Next time your boss or your woman or man pisses you off, crank up the volume and play Already Gone. It's pure auralgasmic bliss and reality be damned!