Reading reviews and charts, I still can’t understand why “Desperado” received so lukewarm recognition from fans and press when it released. Do you have an explanation? “Desperado” was the second album by the Eagles. We had three hit single records off of the first album, titled «Eagles». Everyone in the industry, including the press, expected that we would follow the first album with more songs that could be hits. But I give a lot of credit to Glenn Frey (Eagles singer and vocalist) who insisted that we got commercial success with the 3 hits on the first albums, but we should immediately do an artsy album, and try to get critical success also as soon as possible. He felt that would help give the band enough weight to last for a while. The band has lasted for awhile, so maybe that was the right move.
But we did not have immediate top ten hits from the “Desperado” album. Some songs have become classics, including the song “Desperado”, which I love. That was Don Henley’s (Eagles drummer and vocalist) first song, by the way. I think Frey is credited also, but it is mainly Don’s song, and it is a great song.