Eagles
One Of These Nights

THE REVIEW

One of these nights, one of these crazy old nights, I had the intuition to write a review about an Eagles album (yeah, the things you find among my brother’s vinyls…)

And indeed, One of these nights, one of these crazy old nights are the words that start this album. Actually, to be precise, the song begins with Randy Meisner’s bass (I don’t know much about the Eagles, so I might be wrong, but the back cover lists Randy Meisner on Bass Guitar).
"One of These Nights" is an empowering track, the result of Don Henley and Glenn Frey’s collaboration. What will happen one of these nights? One of these nights, the protagonist will find what he’s looking for, an angel in white, the devil’s daughter herself, or a woman who’s a bit of both, a dream that screams. The chorus repeats several times throughout the track, each time with different lyrics, interrupted either by Don Henley’s voice or by the central electric guitar solo.

The second track, "Too Many Hands", starts with a beautiful acoustic guitar introduction. The too many hands refer to those hands that overly rest on a woman, rare as a rainbow, whose beauty seems to move the tide at midnight. She will have her revenge because her fire is still burning and her heart yearns to be found. The lyrics throughout the album are very visionary, cryptic, and sometimes even romantic. They often allow for various interpretations.
Noteworthy is the final solo of “Too Many Hands”. "Hollywood Waltz", a love ballad for Southern California, which cannot be abandoned despite its faults.
"Side 1" ends with an instrumental track, "Journey of The Sorcerer", where you can hear David Bromberg's violins… Listening to it, one can imagine a sorcerer preparing his potions, smoke rising from the cauldron, or a shaman venturing into rough paths, or… Or the cover, an eagle taking flight in the deepest night (it could also be the sorcerer transformed into an animal), holding a cow skull in its beak. A dark, gloomy cover…

Side 2: "Lyin' Eyes", the lying eyes belong to the city girl, probably tied for convenience to a rich, old man with hands as cold as ice. Her eyes are thus forced to lie, and the smile on her face is nothing but a flimsy mask. After a brief fling with a young man, she remembers a boy she knew in school, a memory that brings her relief, since life didn’t change things and she is still the same old girl as before. Then "Take It To The Limit", pushing to the limit, another surreal song. So put me on a highway, show me a sign and take it to the limit one more time the chorus goes.

"Visions", a frantic song that reinforces the visionary nature of the entire work: these are visions of a girl stirring in the lover’s soul. The only song sung by Don Felder.
The penultimate effort from the Eagles on this album is "After The Thrill Is Gone". How do you feel after the first thrill, the first emotion of love is gone? You feel cold and small, you feel love without passion that ain’t no kind of lovin’ at all. You are neither lovers nor friends: you are a frozen pen and empty pages.

Finally, the Eagles bid us farewell, wishing us peace, hope, and strength in "I Wish You Peace". Peace for when the cold winds blow, hope when things go wrong, strength to make love grow.