The Long Run

---

---

Editorial reviews

Description
THE LONG RUN, the Eagles' long-awaited follow-up to their hugely successful HOTEL CALIFORNIA, was the celebrated group's final studio album. By the time THE LONG RUN was released in early 1979, the laid-back West Coast rock scene that The Eagles had dominated throughout the decade had pretty much run its course. Many of the biggest rock groups of the era --including The Eagles--were incorporating new influences into their music and toughening up their sound.
While similar in feel to HOTEL CALIFORNIA, THE LONG RUN is a far more diverse album that features an immaculately crafted set of songs ranging from the soulful pop of the Don Henley-sung titletrack and "I Can' t Tell You Why" to tough, country-influenced rocker "Heartache Tonight" and the epic, dynamic "In TheCity". Even though Don Henley, Glen Frey and Joe Walsh would all go on to lead successful solo careers in the ensuing years, they would rarely better the polished pop on THE LONG RUN.

---

Customer reviews

review by: date: 2007-11-09 rating:
Enigmatic but excellent
'The Long Run' has often been seen as the most enigmatic Eagles album, and many - including, at the time, myself - found it a bit disappointing. A longish time had elapsed since 'Hotel California', and this album seemed much less imediately accessible. True, you had some classic, hit-material songs ('Heartache Tonight', 'The Long Run') but a lot of the album seemed out of kilter with the band as we'd hitherto known them.

In fact, 'The Long Run' was a wholly logical next step in a process which had taken the Eagles from a country-rock band into the rock mainstream. The political awareness which had been present in 'On The Border', 'One of these Nights' and 'Hotel California' (especially in 'The Last Resort') became much more overt here and, with this, the music became both darker and heavier. Perhaps the album signals that the fun days and the idealism of the 70s were turning sour - that's certainly what you can take from 'The Disco Strangler' and 'King of Hollywood'. The latter track, in particular, was a million miles away from 'Take It Easy'.

Personally, I like this album, and can recommend it. It can work on two levels - there are some individual classics here (such as 'I Can't Tell You Why', 'Heartache Tonight' and the title track) - but it also works as a whole in that, rather than simply a collection of good songs, it's a comprehensive, complex body of work, best appreciated in its entirety.

Not the most accessible Eagles album, and it takes effort to appreciate it fully - but that effort is rewarded.

---

review by: caliburnknight date: 2004-04-11 rating:
The non-hits are the best!
This is a great Eagles album as it contains many great tracks that most people have never heard but are better than the hits in my opinion.

The Long Run, Heartache Tonight and In The City are good, and I Can't Tell You Why is ok, but...

King of Hollywood with it's great lengthy guitar solos has to rank as one of the Eagles' best, as does the minor hit, the Henley sung ballad, The Sad Cafe, with it's saxophone finale. There are other standouts such as the Disco Strangler and Those Shoes which showed the harder-edged playing of the Eagles and the terrific vocals of Henley. Then there is the short, but fun 50's sounding rock n roll number, The Greeks Don't Want No Freaks. Teenage Jail isn't quite up to standard, but it's still an ok song.

I think this album showed the type of hard-edged songs Don Henley would write for his later solo albums (can you tell I'm a fan?).

The Long Run is a MUST purchase for any Eagles fan who likes the rockier sounding songs. Make sure you get the remastered version for superior sound quality. Highly recommended.

---

review by: date: 2003-03-08 rating:
A very mixed bunch of songs
Well...you can't give 3½ stars, and perhaps three is a little harsh, but this is certainly not the Eagles' finest hour.
The singles are great, from the R&B-influenced Memphis-tribute "The Long Run" and the classic Glenn Frey-rocker "Heartache Tonight" to Tim Schmit's lovely soul ballad "I Can't Tell You Why". Nice guitar solos by Glenn Frey on that one, too.

But the rest of the songs are certainly a mixed blessing. Joe Walsh's "The Long Run" is a great rock song, albeit not originally an Eagles song, and Henley's "The Sad Café" is pretty good as well, as is the funny, lightweight rocker "The Greeks Don't Want No Freaks".
For the remaining titles I almost have to get the CD out in order to remember the titles.

"Those Shoes" is forgettable, but not downright offensive. "King Of Hollywood" is forgettable and almost offensive, and "Teenage Jail" and "The Disco Strangler" are unforgivably bad, synth-laden progressive rock statements which should never have seen the inside of a studio, much less appeared on an Eagles record. In fact, "The Disco Strangler" is not only the worst song the Eagles ever recorded, it is among the worst songs I have ever heard!

So...a lot of good, mixed in with a lot of very, very bad. You make the choice!


review by: bhudson35 date: 2001-05-12 rating:
Eagles metamorphoses is complete
The Long Run...Eagles had a hard act to follow after the classic 'Hotel California' so rather than try that the band 'progressed'from the clear waters of country into the darker waters of progressive rock.The result is a mixture of styles ranging from the radio friendly 'Heartache Tonight' to the 'grunge'of 'Teenage Jail'.Make no mistake,this is a classic 70's album that broke new ground for the band.The fact that as the recording was still being produced,band members were in dispute,never tells.The inclusion of Joe Walsh as a guitarist as on'Hotel...'is invested in well,'In The City' is a fine song.Each member of the band takes centre stage for different songs,Timothy B Schmidt gives a angelic vocal display on'I can't tell you why'.The whole recording is immaculately produced and it really does rank highly in their chart of work.Only 'Hotel California' prevents this getting a 5 star rating.Buy it and you'll wish you had years ago.

---

Similar products

One of These Nights
ON THE BORDER
Desperado
Eagles
Hotel California

---

Similar categories

Music . Styles . Hard Rock & Metal . Bestsellers
Music . Styles . Rock . Classic Rock . Bestsellers
Music . Styles . Rock . Classic Rock . Classic American Rock
Music . Styles . Rock . General AAS
Music . Styles . Pop . Bestsellers
Music . Styles . Pop . General AAS
Music . Styles . Adult Contemporary . Bestsellers
Music . Styles . Adult Contemporary . Pop Rock
Music . Styles . Country . Country Rock
Music . Special Features . Bargain CDs . All Bargain CDs
Music . Refinements . Format (binding_browse-bin) . CD . CD Album

---