Asylum 1052
Producers: Glyn Johns and Bill Szymczyk
Track listing: Take It Easy / Witchy Woman / Lyin’ Eyes / Already Gone / Desperado / One of These Nights / Tequila Sunrise / Take It to the Limit / Peaceful, Easy Feeling / Best of My Love
March 13, 1976
5 weeks (nonconsecutive)
Their Greatest Hits was more than just a contractual obligation for the Eagles. The album effectively summed up the group’s first four years while giving their newfound fans a chance to catch up on the band’s work prior to their commercial breakthrough with One of These Nights.
“We thought it would be good to bridge the time between albums,” says drummer/vocalist Don Henley. “We knew it was going to take a while to make the next one.” The album featured three tracks from the band’s 1972 self-titled debut: “Witchy Woman,” “Peaceful, Easy Feeling,” and “Take It Easy.” Henley explains the origins of the latter song, written by Eagles singer/guitarist Glenn Frey and Jackson Browne: “That was a Jackson Browne song originally, but he shelved it, because he decided he didn’t like it and didn’t want to finish it. Glenn remembered the song and went to Jackson and said, ‘If you don’t like that song, could I finish it, because I think we would like to record it?'” Browne agreed to let the Eagles have the song, and it became the band’s first hit during the summer of 1972.
Also included on Their Greatest Hits is “Best of My Love,” a song written by Frey, Henley, and J.D. Souther, who, like Frey, had belonged to the country-rock band Longbranch Pennywhistle. The song went on to become the Eagles’ first Number One single on March 1, 1975. “‘Best of My Love’ was a song that Glenn had begun, then I started working on it, and then J.D. Souther came in,” says Henley. “That was when I first became good friends with J.D. He came over to my house one day in 1974 and we wrote the bridge.”
Their Greatest Hits also captures the evolution of Henley the songwriter. “On the first Eagles album, I really didn’t do any songwriting,” says Henley. “‘Witchy Woman’ was my only contribution and I only wrote half of that. I hadn’t really found my place yet as a songwriter. I was just sort of hanging on for the ride at that point.”
It was on the Eagles’ second album, 1973’s Desperado, that Henley truly found his songwriting voice. The track and “Tequila Sunrise,” both co-written by Henley, are included Their Greatest Hits.
Also present on the album are “One of These Nights,” “Lyin’ Eyes” and “Take It to the Limit,” all of them top five hits from One of These Nights, band’s first Number One album. With such hit-packed fire power, Their Greatest Hits hit the summit in its second week, giving the Eagles their second-consecutive Number One album, paving the way for Hotel California.
THE TOP FIVE
Week of March 13, 1976
1. Their Greatest Hits, Eagles
2. Frampton Comes Alive!, Peter Frampton
3. Desire, Bob Dylan
4. Fleetwood Mac, Fleetwood Mac
5. Station to Station, David Bowie