Quando Glenn Frey (chitarra) e Don Henley (batteria) chiamano Bernie Leadon (chitarra e mandolino) e Randy Meisner (basso), non immaginavano certo di dare vita alla più importante band country-rock di sempre e più in generale ad uno dei pilastri del rock.
Dopo l'esordio, con l'album omonimo, "classico" lavoro country-rock, vicino ad alcuni lavori di Jackson Browne (che tra l'altro collabora con il gruppo), i quattro pubblicano questo "Desperado": è il 1973. L'album, che è un concept, sin dalla copertina ci porta nel tema del disco. Ci troviamo in piena "epopea" western, i testi ci parlano di banditi, di tramonti malinoconici, di cow boy, di donne. Si sente odore di vecchio west in maniera maggiore di tanti dischi di buegrass o comunque di folk USA "puro". Le atmosfere sono suggestive, la polvere, i cavalli, il profumo del legno di un saloon o di una vecchia Martin D28 sembrano venire fuori dal disco.
Il primo pezzo, "Doolin-Dalton", queste caratteristiche le racchiude tutte : chitarre acustiche dai suoni bellissimi, una malinconica armonica a bocca in lontananza, dei cori eccezionali che ben si legano con le chitarre elettriche e la batteria. Le voci si alternano, Don Henley mostra le potenzialità del suo splendido timbro. "Twenty One", il pezzo successivo, ha il classico "locomotive" beat, complice un drumming in stile ma soprattutto un grande lavoro al banjo da parte di Barnie Leadon, che dona un pieno tessuto ritmico al pezzo. Come sempre, tutto arricchito dai cori. Dopo il rock più duro e sempre ben suonato di "Out Of Control", si passa a "Tequila Sunrise", tra i brani più belli dell'intera carriera degli Eagles. La ritmica delle chitarre (quasi un beguine) creano un'atmosfera "messicaneggiante", i ricami della steel guitar sono elegantissimi, come tutte le parti vocali, una atmosfera di rilassata malinconia. Segue quindi l'altro capolavoro degli Eagles, "Desperado". Una struggente ballata, affidata alla voce di Henley (autore del brano), con piano e orchestra in evidenza, un classico che negli anni verrà re-interpretato da molti, senza raggiungere mai la bellezza della versione originale. "Certain Kind Of Fool" è in bilico tra il country-rock ed il rock vero e proprio, con un pregevole assolo di chitarra elettrica (ma siamo ancora lontanti da Hotel California e da i soli di Joe Walsh, che entrerà in un secondo momento nel gruppo).
I quarantotto secondi di banjo di "Doolin-Dalton" fanno da preludio a "Outlaw man", brano rock che si lega ad un certa tradizone country-rock americana dei fine anni sessanta. Nuovamente atmosfere di "confine" ( qui inteso come frontiera immaginaria tra gli U.S.A ed il Messico..) con "Saturday Night" : ritmiche lente, cori molto in evidenza e ben arrangiati, mandolino che caratterizza il brano. "Bitter Creek", pezzo lento, piacevole e ben arrangiato, è uno dei pochi che può ricordare alcune cose alla C.S.N&Y. Siamo alla fine, ma come l'album è ben partito, altrettanto bene si conclude, con "Doolin Dalton - Desperado (reprise)". In pratica è un riassunto delle due canzoni, ma arricchita da un gran lavoro di banjo e chitarra elettrica la prima, con un bellissimo "ponte musicale" affidato alla voce di Henley che ci porta ad una versione di "Desperado" più corale e piena. Un medley bellissimo, atipico, che vive in maniera autonoma chiude questo album, che, nonostante sia a pieno titolo espressione di un genere oggi sicuramente non proprio in voga, se ascoltato oggi, regalerà emozioni ed un sapore di avventura di vecchio west.
Elenco tracce testi e video
01 Doolin-Dalton (03:29)
They were duelin', Doolin-Dalton.
High or low, it was the same:
Easy money and faithless women,
Red-eye whiskey for the pain.
Go down, Bill Dalton, it must be God's will,
Two brothers lyin' dead in Coffeyville,
Two voices call to you from where they stood.
Lay down your law books now, They're no damn good.
Better keep on movin', Doolin-Dalton,
'Til your shadow sets you free.
If you're fast and if you're lucky,
You will never see that hangin' tree.
Well, the towns lay out across the dusty plains
Like graveyards filled with tombstones, waitin' for the names.
And a man could use his back or use his brains,
But some just went stir crazy, Lord, 'cause nothin' ever changed
'Til Bill Doolin met Bill Dalton.
He was workin' cheap, just bidin' time.
Then he laughed and said, "I'm goin'"
And so he left that peaceful life behind.
Mm...
03 Out of Control (03:05)
Oh, my, don't the sky look spacious
With the stars all shinin' down
Well, I can hear the night wind howlin'
It's a high and lonesome sound
And I ain't had a woman in so long
I can't feed my starvin soul
Come on, saddle up, boys, we're gonna ride into town
We're gonna get a little out of control
There's a card game in the corner
And the barmaid smiled at me
Well, I tipped her a sliver dollar and
she brought me a drink for free
All the town-folk call her the cheap one
And the gamblers call her Flo
Come on, set 'em up again
I got me a friend and I think I'm gettin' out of control
Oh,oh,oh
She's cool water, her momma taught her
I got news, she's mine and mine alone
And if anybody's lookin' for trouble
You know I'm the one you want to try
Well, I'll fight any man who wants to
And I don't care who or why
You got to gamble on your story
You got no guts, you get no glory
And I'm bettin' my money on an ace in the hole
Think I'm gettin' out of control
04 Tequila Sunrise (02:54)
Tequila Sunrise
It's another tequila sunrise,
stirrin slowly across the sky,
I said goodbye,
he was just a hired hand,
workin on the dreams he planned to try,
the days go by.
Every night when the sun goes down,
Just another lonely boy in town,
And she's out runnin round.
She wasn't just another woman,
And I couldn't keep from comin on,
It's been so long.
Oh and it's a hollow feelin,
When it comes down to dealin friends,
It never ends.
Take another shot of courage,
Wonder why the right words never come,
You just get numb.
It's another tequila sunrise,
And this old world still looks the same,
Another frame.
05 Desperado (03:34)
Desperado, why don't you come to your senses?
You been out ridin' fences for so long now
Oh, you're a hard one
But I know that you got your reasons
These things that are pleasin' you
Can hurt you somehow
Don't you draw the queen of diamonds boy
She'll beat you if she's able
You know the queen of hearts is always your best bet
Now it seems to me, some fine things
Have been laid upon your table
But you only want the ones that you can't get
Desperado, oh, you ain't gettin' no younger
Your pain and your hunger, they're drivin' you home
And freedom, oh freedom well, that's just some people talkin'
Your prison is walking through this world all alone
Don't your feet get cold in the winter time?
The sky won't snow and the sun won't shine
It's hard to tell the night time from the day
You're losin' all your highs and lows
Ain't it funny how the feeling goes away?
Desperado, why don't you come to your senses?
Come down from your fences, open the gate
It may be rainin', but there's a rainbow above you
You better let somebody love you
(Let somebody love you)
You better let somebody love you
Before it's too late
06 Certain Kind of Fool (03:01)
He was a poor boy, raised in a small family
He kinda had a craving for somethin' no one else could see
They say that he was crazy,
The kind that no lady should meet
He ran out to the city and wandered around in the street
He wants to dance, oh yeah,
He wants to sing, oh yeah,
He wants to see the lights a flashin' and listen
to the thunder ring
He saw it in a window
The mark of a new kind of man
He kinda liked the feeling, so shiny and smooth in his hand
He took it to the country and practiced for days without rest
And then one day he felt if,
He knew he could stand with the best
They got respect, oh yeah,
He wants the same, oh yeah,
And it's a certain kind of fool who
Like to hear the sound of his own name
Oo...
A poster on a storefront, the picture of a wanted man
He had a reputation spreading like fire throught the land
It wasn't for the money, at least it didn't start that way
It wasn't for the runnin' , but now he's runnin' everyday
08 Outlaw Man (03:34)
I am an outlaw, I was born an outlaw's son
The highway is my legacy
On the highway I will run
In one hand I've a Bible
In the other I've got a gun
Well, don' you know me
I'm the man who won
Woman don't try to love me
Don't try to understand
A life upon the road is the life of an outlaw man
First left my woman, it was down in Santa Fe
Headed for Oklahoma, I was ridin' night and day
All of my friends are strangers,
They quickly come and go
And all my love's in danger,
'Cause I steal hearts and souls
Woman, don't try to love me
Don't try to understand A life upon the road is the life of an outlaw man
oo....
Woman, don't try to love me
Don't try to understand
A life upon the road is the life of an outlaw man
Some me call me Abel,
Some men call me Cain,
Some men call me sinner, Lord
Some men call me saint
Some say there's a Jesus
Some men say there ain't
When you got no life to lose
Then there's nothin' left to gain
Outlaw man
Outlaw man
10 Bitter Creek (05:03)
Once I was young and so unsure
I'd try any ill to find the cure
An old man told me
Tryin' to scold me
"Oh, son, don't wade to deep in Bitter Creek,"
(Bitter Creek)
Out where the desert meets the sky
Is where I go when I wanna hide
Oh, peyote (oh,peyote,mm)
She tried to show me
(tried to show me)
You know there ain't no cause to weep
at Bitter Creek
(Bitter Creek)
Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo
Doo, doo doo doo doo doo doo doo
We're gonna hit the road for one last time
We can walk right in and steal 'em blind
All that money (All that money,ooh..)
No more runnin' (No more runnin')
I can't wait to see the old man's face
When I win the race
(Bitter Creek)
Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo,
Doo doo doo doo doo
Doo..........
Carico i commenti... con calma
Altre recensioni
Di stevesirovai
Gli Eagles sono per me sicuramente il miglior gruppo Folk di tutti i tempi.
Desperado deve essere ascoltato con calma da persone calme come gli Eagles.
Di hellraiser
"Un disco bellissimo e ben suonato, dove si nota la mania di perfezione della coppia Henley-Frey."
"'Desperado' è una ballata meravigliosa ed esaltante, mai superata nelle interpretazioni successive."
