Eagles - The Long Run

Import pressing of their 1979 album Long Run. Vinyl replica CD comes housed in a slipcase. Rhino UK. 2006. Album Description

Rocks From Beginning To End!

This is one of my favorite Eagles albums. I appreciate what they achieved here: a hard rock, R&B, soul, blues fusion. I'm glad they took chances. It's an excellent outcome. February 20, 2008

The rocking out farewell to The Eagles until 2007

The Eagles' sixth studio album (and last album until 2007's Long road Out of Eden) entitled The Long Run was released in September of 1979.
Many fans of the band had, or still have for that matter, mixed feelings about this album.
The year 1979 was a strange year for them when they released this album mainly there was lots of pressure to at least duplicate the major success of Hotel California. The Long Run was placed in the same vein of In Through the Out Door by Led Zeppelin, Tusk by Fleetwood Mac, The Wall by Pink Floyd and Cornerstone by Styx. All of those aforementioned bands were all having similar problems with either topping the previous hit or inner band turmoil or both.
The Eagles went into Bayshore Studios outside of Miami, Fla with producer Bill Szymczyk and new bass player Timothy B. Schmit and recorded The Long Run which took over a year and a half to record (the album was originally going to be a double album but was denoted to a single album).
The album begins with the Top 10 charting title cut, which was a great rocking way to begin the album with dual slide playing from Joe Walsh and Don Felder, rhythm guitar from Glenn Frey and vocal from drummer Don Henley. Next was Timothy's vocal debut, the soulful ballad "I Can't Tell You Why" which went Top 10 and is a great song. The rocking "In the City" follows and is a remake of a solo Joe Walsh song from the movie The Warriors, released earlier in 1979 with a stellar Walsh vocal and slide work. Another rocker comes in "The Disco Strangler" with a superb Felder riff. "King of Hollywood" ends the first half with Frey, Felder and Walsh trading leads at the beginning, middle and end of the song and Henley and frey sharing vocals with Frey singing falsetto whilst henley sang in his deepest range yet.
The chart-topping rocker "Heartache Tonight" (co-written by Bob Seger) kicked off the second half and featured a great Frey vocal and stellar guitar work from Walsh. Another rocker called "Those Shows" follows and had dual talk-box guitars from Joe Walsh and Don Felder and a great Henley vocal. Yet another rocker "Teenage Jail" follows and has Henley and Frey on vocals and superb guitar work from Felder. "The Greeks Don't Want No Freaks" follows and is a great rock song. The album closes with the ballad "The Sad Cafe" featuring a great acoustic guitar solo from Felder and superb alto sax work from David Sanborn and a superb Henley vocal.
When The Long Run was released, the album quickly shot to #1 where it stayed for the rest of the year and although it sold well (7 million in the US to date), fans complained it was a disappointment compared to its predecessor.
I still love the album to this day, especially with its remastered version.
Highly recommended! November 9, 2007

All good things must come to an end

I can't come down too hard on the Eagles for not living up to Hotel California on their next album - that was probably impossible. And The Long Run is not bad by any stretch. But it does pale in comparison to their other albums, and you can see why it was the last before what Glen Frey called their "fourteen year vacation."

It does start off well. The title track is yet another paean to '70s hedonism, but that's what they did best. This time around, at least it's about a guy who sounds like he wants to clean up his act - all too appropriate for 1979, I suppose. Elsewhere, "In the City" proves they weren't too starry eyed about the urban lifestyle after all. "Heartache Tonight," their fifth and last #1 single, is slight but catchy. "King of Hollywood" is a good preview of Don Henley's solo work, although he proved to be better at this sort of thing when he was on his own. "The Sad Cafe" was the perfect choice for the last song on the last album.

But there's more filler here than on the first five albums combined. "The Greeks Don't Want No Freaks" is surely the dumbest song they ever recorded (admittedly, that was probably intentional, but still...) "I Can't Tell You Why" remains a radio staple to this day, but it's nothing they hadn't done more convincingly before. Most of the other songs are simply forgettable. That should not stop you from getting this album if you're already an Eagles fan, since there are strong points. But if you're debating between The Long Run and any of the other five, I'd say you can't go wrong with the other option. August 10, 2007

The High and the Mighty

Despite what some say, this album represents the pinnacle of songwriting for The Eagles. "I Can't Tell You Why" is easily in the running for the greatest slow rock recording of all time. I absolutely love the overall tone they came up with in the studio for this one. Get over yourself and your musical prejudices, listen to the music, and let yourself enjoy it. May 5, 2007

An album that the band didn't want to make

The band had decided to end their run after Hotel California but being big sellers and under contract the band had to come up with something(according to Don, Glen and Joe). Well the first thing to happen was Randy left and decided to not come back so in came Tim. The band then came up with an album that sounds very late '70's. Not all the songs on here are bad but this is the band's most hit and miss album since their first. The highlights being The Long Run, I Can't Tell You Why, In the City and The Sad Cafe. The rest is, for the most part, a miss. April 1, 2007

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