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Rating: In 1977, the mustachioed and curly-haired (at the time, now he's bald...) Bernie, after leaving the Eagles in a huff, thus missing out on the most wealthy, decadent, and unappealing phase of the band's career ("Hotel California" included, oh yes), regrouped by teaming up with an unknown partner, honestly of modest value, a certain Michael Georgiades.
The fact is that Michael was his best friend (and still is today), the one who lived two doors down from him when he was a kid in Minnesota, the one he used to strum the guitar with, singing harmonies in the bedroom, influencing each other musically. A choice with its own logic, for someone who had heavily clashed with his former Eagle friends, who in a few years had become arrogant, overbearing, and above all oppressive towards his ideas and compositions, generating a need for new complicity and harmony.
The guitarist's good reputation, acquired through participation in the first four Eagles albums, allowed him to seize this recording opportunity, which soon revealed itself to be a one-off, given the relatively modest sales and the swift closure of the money tap by the record label, leading to the end of the partnership.
Leadon is my favorite Eagle musician, not certainly because of fascination with his loser story (in that case, bassist Randy Meisner, who left after "Hotel California," and guitarist Don Felder, who parted ways with the group more recently, would also be in the running) but precisely because he is a really talented musician, in my view the main contributor to the absolute charm, purity, and magic that exude from the Eagles' early records, so fresh and noble compared to the recycled and depressive last works of the seventies.
Leadon is decidedly brilliant and important on their first three albums (the self-titled debut, "Desperado," and "On The Border"), as much as he is out of focus on the fourth, "One Of These Nights" (he was already having arguments...). His legacy to the group, which gave him both stress and, ultimately, premature comfort and youthful success, can be counted in four tracks entirely penned by him, plus another eight where he is a co-author, and altogether, seven tracks where he is the lead vocalist. Those charming former bandmates, still out there touring and celebrating themselves, have the nerve to perform only one of these ("Witchy Woman," from the first album, a far from memorable collaboration with drummer Don Henley).
Leadon is a pure country rock guitarist, agile and clean, better on acoustic than electric, as well as a mandolinist, steel guitar player, and a master banjoist. More than his voice, warm and more than decent but inevitably only fourth in the Eagles' hierarchy because it was outshone by the greater talents of Don Henley, Randy Meissner, and Glenn Frey, it was his dry and precise work with the string instruments that infused the band's songs with that genuine, sober, striking component, decidedly aligned with country rock and incapable of becoming heavy and rigid towards harder rock or, conversely, pandering to the more sugary pop ballads. These were the reasons for his sidelining, the former more than the latter: leaders Frey and Henley wanted more grit, more "drive," more unpredictability, and the eclectic rocker Joe Walsh, Leadon's replacement, was the one to provide it.
Of all this, meaning Bernie's great value, not much is found in "Natural Progressions": eleven songs, almost all ballads, six from the unknown Georgiades, and five of his, naturally the most interesting. A single (half) masterpiece: the closing, dragging, and lyrical "Glass Off," with an elegant acoustic work and the catchy, repeated chorus of the refrain.
For the rest, well-groomed guitars, pleasant voices, sober duets, contributions from professional studio musicians on bass, drums, and keyboards, a general sensation of a good product, but only for genre aficionados... especially those, like me, who will remain tied for life to the feats of this musician from the period between 1971 and 1974 and still delight in listening to priceless gems like "Bitter Creek" (from "Desperado") or "My Man" (from "On the Border," with "Man" referring to his deceased friend Gram Parsons).
Bernie now lives in Nashville, the birthplace of the music he prefers, where he moved many years ago to join the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. After this album, despite his great work in the studio and live for many people and many records, he released only one other solo work: "Mirror," dated 2004.
The man is (was) great, just go and listen to the dobro solo in "Twenty One" (from "Desperado") or the live banjo performance he extended to over ten minutes "Earlybird" (from the first album), available on some old bootleg or DVD, to be left speechless, especially if you're a musician.
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