EAGLES (1972)
Key Tracks: "Take it Easy," "Witchy Woman," "Peaceful Easy Feeling"
Quick Take: Bringing together several strains of lily-white Sixties Southern California pop — the Beach Boys' harmonies, the Byrds and Buffalo Springfield's folk-rock, Poco and the Flying Burrito Brothers' mix of rural country and back-to-nature hippie music — the Eagles fashioned a sound on their debut that was so doggone easy to listen to, there was absolutely no reason not to like it. Breezy songs like "Peaceful Easy Feeling" would provide the template for a new decade of mainstream rock — one in which the raw political activism and intoxicating musical experimentation of the previous decade would give way to a laid-back, self-centered cocktail of sex, drugs and rock & roll.