Classic Rock Bottom

ALBUM OF THE WEEK # 348 THE EAGLES - THE LONG RUN (1979)

Disclaimer: All info that does not reside in my brain is gathered from wikipedia.com (mostly because Jon can't stand it) unless otherwise noted.

Simply put, in RJ's world, this week's album is a masterpiece.  Released in 1979, The Long Run was the end of the line for The Eagles.  At least for a while.  It was all over the radio back in '79 and '80, I'm sure you remember. 

The album spent 8 weeks at number one.  The album is certified 7 X Platinum by the RIAA.  There were 3 Top 10 singles released from the album, Heartache Tonight (#1), The Long Run (#8) and I Can't Tell You Why (#8).  The band also won a Grammy for the song Heartache Tonight (Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal). It was the first album to feature Timothy B. Schmidt on bass guitar, and he also added the lead vocal (and an exceptionally fine job if I do say so myself) on I Can't Tell You Why.  I'm sure he wasn't particularly thrilled when the band split after his only album.  

The Long Run is full of great tunes, but features two of my very favorite Eagles tunes in King of Hollywood and Those Shoes.  

The original vinyl featured "Never let your monster lay down" engraved on the side one run-out groove and "From the Polack who sailed north" on the side two groove.  This was almost the source of the clue I eventually gave for our guessing game, but I ultimately decided to go with the colors on the album cover.

Side One:

1. The Long Run

2. I Can't Tell You Why

3. In The City

4. The Disco Strangler

5. King of Hollywood

Side Two:

6. Heartache Tonight

7. Those Shoes

8. Teenage Jail

9. The Greeks Don't Want No Freaks

10. The Sad Cafe

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Yeah, this was definitely all over the radio back then, so much so that the title track stills gives me the, well, runs and the sixth track just drives me up the wall since it was the anthem for a bunch of drunken fools at a bar in Omaha and it was played over and over and over again between sets of whatever was happening. 

Other than that, there's some good tracks on here like 3, 4, 7, 8 and for a laugh, 9. So, side tewo is better than side one. If you think otherwise, you're wrong cause I said so.

One of these tracks gives me an idea for my next post, but I'm just worried a certain special someone will think there's collusion going on. Actually, I don't care if he does think that. Maybe I'll post it and maybe I won't.     

Only heard the singles from this album (and have them in one form or another), but it's a solid release from start to finish.

My favorite track would be (from the ones I haven't heard before) the Teenage Jail. It's not a typical Eagles song. In fact, it would nicely fit in with some of the Alice Cooper's early repertoire.

Disco Strangler, stands out as No Disco, No Eagles, No SOLO??? I'm glad this didn't catch on. 

I remember it like its still 1979!  Car full of goofy teens and the exclusive premier of the Eagles new single was on right after the commercial break.  Cruising and jamming, FM radio was really good back then.  Heartache Tonight comes on and we all got quiet as the volume spiked up.  That's how it was done before Mtv... 

Really probably just got lucky we were cruising when it premiered otherwise I would have heard it a bit later, still it was the must own album of that time.  There were a few of those that popped up, I remember Double Vision was one, a few years later Pyromania was, and so on.  These were albums that penetrated my generation and they're still important.  Though I didn't know it at the time, Randy Meisner was not on this album, and that was a disappointment to me, I liked that guy!!  But Schmidt filled in nicely as he had done in Poco as well.  Meisner was the trailblazer though and I think his presence was missed in some of the songwriting.

Still the album pushed the rock and roll aspect of the band a lot further, and I liked that! There are ties to their past when I hear songs like Sad Café but the acoustic guitars are totally missing, so its also a huge break from the past as well.  I hear Henleys direction on the new wave-ish sounds.  (His first solo album took it further and its still a cool album!) ...  Frey's songs also hint of his direction, King of Hollywood is a masterpiece IMO!  And Walsh?  He's always been true to himself, he just gets pushed a little harder on an Eagles album which is serves him well!  I wished they would have continued exploring this new found rock and roll road they got on, but we all know how that story ends.

A great post!

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