The Long Run – THE EAGLES***

The Long Run/I Can't Tell You Why/In The City/The Disco Strangler/King Of Hollywood/Heartache Tonight/Those Shoes/Teenage Jail/The Greeks Don't Want No Freaks/The Sad Café

It was three years since The Eagles had released their previous blockbuster album so there was huge anticipation over The Long Run. However, from the funereal cover to the lacklustre tracks, this came as a big disappointment, despite the US No.1 hit single Heartache Tonight. (US:1 UK:4)

“Take this record for what it is, a smooth, tight, and very introspective album. There are no jagged edges, or memorable hooks that sit in your head demanding to be heard. Yet when this album is played, everything floats back like the touch and feel of a long lost lover, nothing to prove, just the pleasure of being together.”

“Considering that it took The Eagles nearly three years to produce this album, and also considering the strength of their previous album, The Long Run cannot be viewed as anything but a disappointment. It did indeed contain a few really big hits, but I'm not convinced they were as good as the ones the group had produced up to that point. Furthermore, and more disappointingly, the non-hit songs composing the remainder of the album are very slight.”

“Leaving behind the sun-splashed country-rock that helped The Eagles dominate the airwaves throughout the '70s, The Long Run points toward a new decade with angular lead guitars and a seductive but pervasive darkness of spirit.”

“The music is as dark as the sleek cardboard album cover with cynical insights into themes of evil exhilaration, dissolution and despair that now seem to have moved from American prairies and Mexican deserts into an urban setting. The country-rock inclinations and innocence of the Take It Easy era are now effectively ended, and the metallic violent sound is veering in a harder rock direction.”

“The Long Run is a bit heavier than their earlier records and is far from their country-rock roots. Its tempo is more upbeat throughout excluding the ballads. The title track is a great opening song, a good upbeat rocker.”

“This is the lone Eagles' album containing none of the usual country-style rock. It has a hard edge, a darkness, an urban feel, and is simply the best, most complete, adult work, that the band did together.”