On this day on 1973, the Eagles released an album filled with songs based on the wild west days in the US that they recorded in the UK. Desparado, the group's second lp, was produced by Glyn Johns in Island Records London studio, where he rode herd, refusing to let the group do more than a few takes of each song to keep them from getting too polished. Tequila Sunrise and the title track, the closing songs on side one, became the biggest songs from the album, trailed by Outlaw Man from side two. Although described as a concept album, the group did not set out to tie the stories of songs in with one another, making it more of a theme release.
Other Noteworthy Classic Rock events on April 17 include...
1943 Mothers of Invention and Little Feat bass player Roy Estrada born.
1948 Keyboard great Jan Hammer of Mahavishnu Orchestra who also recorded with Jeff Beck and recorded the Miami Vice TV show theme is born.
1964 The FBI announces it has been unable to decipher whether Louie, Louie lyrics are obscene. The Kingsmen's 1963 recording of the Richard Berry song became one of the year's biggest hits, spending six weeks at #2 on the Billboard singles chart. Their debut album logged 131 weeks on the music trade magazine's album chart.
1964 Van Morrison and Them make live debut in Belfast, Ireland.
1969 The Band does its final formal concert as Bob Dylan's backing group.
1970 Paul McCartney releases his self-titled solo album.
1970 Santana starts work on the Abraxas album in a San Francisco studio.
1973 Dark Side Of The Moon album earns gold cetification in US sales.
1980 Bob Marley performs at Zimbabwe Independence Day event.
1983 Felix Papalardi of Mountain is shot and killed by his wife in their New York City apartment with a gun he had given her as a gift.
1986 Stevie Ray Vaughan cancels his European tour out of concern over repriasals over US bombing in Libya.
1987 Bob Marley and the Wailers drummer Carlton Barrett is shot to death outside his Kingston, Jamaica home.
1998 Linda McCartney dies of cancer.
1995 R.E.M. restarts its Monster tour after Bill Berry's recovery from brain aneurysm surgery.
2007 Eric Clapton, Genesis, Stevie Nicks and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young perform at a memorial concert for Ahmet Ertegun. The Atlantic Records chairman had died from injuries sustained when he fell backstage while attending a Rolling Stones concert.
2008 E Street Band keyboard player Danny Federici passes away from cancer at 58.
2012 Ted Nugent announces during a speech at a NRA rally he'll be "...dead or in jail" a year from then if President Obama wins reelection. Neither claim proves accurate.
