The fourth album, and the last one to feature the original lineup of The Eagles, One of These Nights, was released on this day in 1975!

Randy Meisner, Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Bernie Leadon, and new guy Don Felder began to work on the album in late 1974. This was during a “dark time in America”, so Don Henley called this the band’s “satanic country-rock period”.

Bernie Leadon left the band after the tour, unhappy with the change in direction from country towards a more mainstream rock sound. The band replaced him with Joe Walsh.

Don Henley and Glenn Frey wrote four of the nine tracks, and collaborated with other band members on three more. Glenn Frey started singing less on this album than before, only singing lead on “Lyin’ Eyes”. Don Felder only sang lead on “Visions”, even though he wanted to contribute more songs and vocals to the band.

The album was The Eagles’ first #1 album on the Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart, and had three Top 10 singles, “One of These Nights”, “Lyin’ Eyes”, and “Take It To The Limit”. One of These Nights was nominated for Album of the Year Grammy, and “Lyin’ Eyes” was nominated for Record of the Year. The band won their first Grammy for Best Pop Performance by a Dio or Group with Vocals in 1976 at the 18th Annual Grammy Awards.

Fun sidenote: “Journey of the Sorcerer” was used as the them music for the radio series production of Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, produced by the BBC, which led to numerous books, TV shows, movies, and even a text adventure game in 1984! I was a huge fan of the original radio show growing up, and still have the entire series on CD...

Track list:

1. One of These Nights
2. Too Many Hands
3. Hollywood Waltz
4. Journey of the Sorcerer
5. Lyin’ Eyes
6. Take It To The Limit
7. Visions
8. After the Thrill is Gone
9. I Wish You Peace

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