Five songs that prove Eagles had the best vocals in rock history
Rock and roll has not always been considered with singers that sounded like angels. From the first time Little Richard screamed into the microphone, artists have been making songs that weren’t as concerned with sounding pretty, instead focusing on how much they could push their voices. Despite the massive guttural howls from Robert Plant and Steven Tyler in the 1970s, the Eagles were interested in creating a vocal symphony with their songs.
Following the tradition of artists like The Beatles and The Beach Boys, the California rock band always prided themselves on creating a bed of different vocals that held together like a singular voice whenever they opened their mouths. Although every group member had a distinctive voice when singing, they all came together to form an original sound whenever they combined their harmonies.
Outside of the vocals, though, the art of the band’s melodies is how well they connected to the rest of the instruments. Across every song in their career, the harmonies would be playing melodies utterly independent from what everyone was playing, making for brilliant hooks bouncing off each other every time a chorus began.
Although not every member got the same treatment behind the lead vocal, every one of these performances is a perfect example of the Eagles turning themselves from humble country rock singers into the most outstanding vocal team of all time. From Don Henley’s harrowing tales to Glenn Frey’s good-time spirit, this is the ideal example of the Eagles singing in perfect tune with each other.
The five best Eagles vocal performances:
5. ‘Pretty Maids All In a Row’ – Hotel California
By his own admission, Joe Walsh was never the most talented singer for the Eagles. Even when hiring him on lead guitar, Frey hesitated to consider Walsh because he feared the vocals wouldn’t be as strong as before. Despite his wildman persona, Walsh turned in a song for the ages with ‘Pretty Maids All in a Row’, with the rest of the band delivering a masterclass by his side.
Opening like a soft prayer for the 1970s generation, Walsh is delicate throughout the whole song, wondering how long it has been since he caught up with old friends. Though he sings selections of the song by himself, one doesn’t truly appreciate the band’s harmonies until Frey leads in the rest of the backing vocals, guiding the track into Walsh’s guitar solo much like a guitar slide might.
Because Walsh is talking about friends catching up and reassuring each other of their friendship, it’s almost as if the band are singing to each other as they croon over top. ‘Pretty Maids All In A Row’ is probably not the best Eagles song in their canon, but it’s the best showcase of how well their vocals work when offset against Walsh’s strange nasal croon.
4. ‘Lyin’ Eyes’ – One Of These Nights
When living the rock and roll lifestyle, there comes a time when everyone develops trust issues. Whether it’s through poor management or projects going awry, every musician tends to see through the facade of anyone after they have been cheated one too many times. As Frey looked back at the married women flirting with rock stars at their bar in California, he began to form the perfect idea for the next Eagles hit.
Remarking about the woman’s eyes before she went home to her husband, ‘Lyin’ Eyes’ became one of the finest showcases of the band’s vocal chemistry, doing everything possible to offset Frey’s soft-spoken vocal. Compared to the usual schtick with Henley behind the mic, the band fade into the background at the exact right moment for Frey to tell the story of this lonely woman trapped in an unhappy marriage.
Once the chorus hits, the band may as well have formed a choir with their vocals, featuring cascading chords that clash against each other before going into the next word of the chorus. Although the band may have started seeing their first bouts of internal drama around this time, they sound like the most tight-knit group in the world when listening to their vocals.
3. ‘Take It Easy’ – Eagles
None of what the Eagles did was intended to be mediocre. Throughout the first few years of the band’s development, Henley talked about wanting to put together the band that had the complete package, needing faces that could look good and perform like no one else in California. As evidenced by their first single, the band stormed onto the scene as if they were seasoned veterans on ‘Take It Easy’.
Taken from a song that Jackson Browne had been working on around the same time, Frey helped fill in the track when coming up with the line about a girl in a flatbed Ford slowly down to take a look at him. Although the band were introduced to the world of country music due to those sultry string bends from Bernie Leadon, the chorus is where the band started to harmonise like a California choir, featuring Henley’s smokey voice at the bottom of the mix.
Though the golden throat hidden behind the drumkit had yet to make his proper debut behind the mic, nowhere else could one find every single singer accounted for in the mix, even being able to point out Randy Meisner’s searing high vocals on the second verse alongside Frey. Stephen Stills may have made the crack that the Eagles wanted to be like his outfit, but not even Crosby, Stills, and Nash could sound this smooth.
2. ‘Desperado’ – Desperado
There was a reason why Glenn Frey admitted to singing far fewer songs as the Eagles went on. When there’s someone like Don Henley standing behind the drumkit, it would be hard to argue with anyone else taking the vocals on a particular song. Although Henley would stretch his voice every which way when putting together the Eagles’ classic material, the band have never felt more genuine than on ‘Desperado’.
Framed as part of a concept album centred around the rebels, the start of the title track began as a melody Henley had been working on for years before the Eagles had formed. Written as a soft prayer for those on the wrong side of the tracks, Henley sings like a weary traveller warning the kid about the dangers ahead, all while the backing vocals of Frey and Meisner echo his support in the background.
Although the backing musicians didn’t have the best time playing on the final version of the track, Henley’s lead vocals are rough by design, trying to capture the essence of the character rather than put on any fancy extensions. For all the vocal acrobatics the band could perform on occasion, they have never sounded more human than they did on this song.
1. ‘Seven Bridges Road’ – Eagles Live
How do you distil the massive vocal sound of the Eagles into just one song? Usually, when talking about a band’s vocal prowess, it tends to be spread out over every song, with each record showing them getting more experienced until they are a vocal machine. Whereas most artists might show a gradual development over the years, the best way to see the band in action was on the live stage.
Covering an old song from before the band had even formed, ‘Seven Bridges Road’ features some of the most euphoric harmonies of the band’s career from the word go. Before any music starts, fans are greeted with the sounds of every member harmonising for an entire verse before eventually bringing in the various acoustic instruments to tell the story of the folk tune.
Throughout the tune, one can hear traces of different influences in their vocal work, from the Appalachian-style bluegrass harmonies to the Motown sounds that Frey loved as a kid. Just like they started it, though, the band leaves the listener with an acapella outro, almost as if they captured the song along the wing in real time. The Eagles may have their fair share of chop behind the fretboard and the drumkit, but this is the ultimate reminder of what craftsmen they were in front of a microphone.
