It was recorded at Island Studios in London, England and released in 1973. Desperado is a concept album, based on the themes of the Old West. Originally, Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Jackson Browne, and J. D. Souther were working on a series of songs about anti-heroes, but ran out of ideas after writing "Doolin' Dalton" and "James Dean". The latter was shelved and they instead began to write songs from the themes established in "Doolin' Dalton".
The band members are featured on the album's cover dressed like an outlaw gang; Desperado remains the only Eagles album where the band members appear on the front cover.
Although the title track is one of the Eagles' signature songs, it was never released as a single. The song "Desperado" was ranked #494 on Rolling Stone 's 2004 list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". The album did yield two singles, though: "Tequila Sunrise" and "Outlaw Man". Those two singles reached #64 and #59 respectively. The album reached #41 on the charts and sold 2 million copies.