The band, starting with this album, played a major role in popularizing the country rock sound.

Johns was invited by Geffen to see the band perform at a club called Tulagi in Boulder, Colorado, in December 1971.

[6][7] Johns, however, was not impressed by the band's live performance, thinking that it sounded confused and lacking in cohesion – Frey wanted it to be a rock & roll band while Bernie Leadon wanted a country feel – so Johns declined to produce the album.

[10] There were however frequent disagreements over the sound of the band between the producer and Frey and Don Henley during the making of the album.

[12] Frey later admitted, "[Johns] was the key to our success in a lot of ways", but added: "We just didn’t want to make another limp-wristed L.A. country-rock record.

Later, a further track, "Nightingale", was recorded in Los Angeles after Geffen and manager Elliot Roberts listened to the tape of the album and decided that it needed another song with Henley on lead vocals.

[20] Allmusic's William Ruhlmann, in his retrospective review, sums up the album as balanced in terms of songwriting, but noting that the three hit singles were sung by Frey and Henley, who would later go on to dominate the band.

[30] Ultimate Classic Rock critic Sterling Whitaker rated the non-single album track "Most of Us Are Sad" as being among the Eagles' 10 most underrated songs.

[33] The album was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on March 20, 2001 for shipment of 1 million copies in the United States.