Eagles

Long Run

This is not your father's Eagles album

Review Score:

(10/10)
Things change, groups change. And by the time they recorded The Long Run, if not before, the Eagles were changing. For The Long Run, the group added Timothy Schmit, former bassist for Poco, to replace Randy Meisner. Far more important for the purposes of this album, however, was the addition, before Hotel California was recorded, of former James Gang axeman and solo artist Joe Walsh. Walsh's talents and sound were evident on Hotel California, but they flower here. Henley and Frey were still writing a lot of the songs and singing the lion's share of the vocals, but musically The Long Run is Walsh's album.

Gone are the sounds of the earlier years, collected on the first greatest hits disc and the band's first four albums. The early Eagles were a straight contry-rock outfit, their sound plainly inspired by The Byrds, Gram Parsons, and the Flying Burrito Brothers, to name a few. The new band simply rocked. From co-writing with Jackson Browne on "Take It Easy," from their first album, they now recorded a Bob Seger-penned number, "Heartache Tonight," and it became their final #1 hit. This album has its sweet moments, but it is mostly characterized by sharp electric soloing and edgy, satirical lyrics. Perhaps The Long Run is not as commercial as Hotel California -- it generally lacks the AOR-radio hits that peppered that lp from beginning to end, but it is an admirable and eminently listenable extension of the Eagles' musical range.

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