The #39 Album of All-Time in the Rock Era--"The Long Run" by the Eagles

Eagles fans were sad to hear of the breakup of the group in 1980 (thankfully, they are back together), not only because of the news itself but because they were coming off what many people thought was the best album of their career.  The Eagles land at #39 with that album.


The Long Run was just the sixth studio album from the group.  That in itself is hard to believe, given the dozens of great songs that the group has put out.  This album had a tremendous debut at #2 (at that time, unlike now, it was very difficult to debut in the Top 10 and at the time, you could count on two hands the number that had achieved the feat). and took over #1 the following week from Led Zeppelin's In Through the Out Door, which we already celebrated being in the Top 100 Albums*.  The Eagles stayed at #1 for nine weeks; it also was #2 for four more and #3 for two.  The Long Run spent 21 weeks in the Top 10 and 57 on the chart.  That is only part of the story.  Due to the singles from the album, this album got tremendous airplay and as time went on, more quality tracks from the album got exposure.  Thus, the album continues to sell well to this day, long after it left the "chart".  The Long Run is now up to seven million in sales and sports an excellent Track Record* of 9.2






Founding member Randy Meisner decided to go solo, but Timothy B. Schmit was brought in and the Eagles didn't miss a beat.  "Heartache Tonight" was a #1 single, and the title track and "I Can't Tell You Why" both were Top 10.  As has been the case with the other great albums, this album is far more than hits.  "In the City", which guitarist Joe Walsh first wrote for the movie "The Warriors", was recorded by the group and included on the album.  It is one of the Eagles' most popular songs, despite not being released as a single.  "The Sad Cafe" got enough airplay that it might as well have been a single--it features great lyrics as usual from Don Henley.  "King of Hollywood" is another of those, and "Those Shoes" and "The Greeks Don't Want No Freaks" all received great airplay.  The entire album can be tracked through, but those are the tracks I want to highlight.


The Eagles won a Grammy for Best Performance by a Group With Vocal ("Heartache Tonight") and captured the prestigious title of Favorite Rock Group at the American Music Awards. 


The Long Run:

Side one
1.  "The Long Run" (Don Henley, Glenn Frey) --3:42
2.  "I Can't Tell You Why" (Timothy B. Schmit, Henley, Frey) --4:56
3.  "I the City" (Joe Walsh, Barry DeVorzon) --3:46
4.  "The Disco Strangler" (Don Felder, Henley, Frey) --2:46
5.  "King of Hollywood" (Henley, Frey) --6:28

Side two
1.  "Heartache Tonight" (Henley, Frey, Bob Seger, J.D. Souther) --4:27
2.  "Those Shoes" (Felder, Henley, Frey) --4:57
3.  "Teenage Jail" (Henley, Frey, Souther) --3:44
4.  "The Greeks Don't Want No Freaks (Henley, Frey) --2:21
5.  "The Sad Cafe" (Henley, Frey, Walsh, Souther: --5:35



The Eagles responsible for this tremendous album were:  Don Felder on electric guitar, talk box guitar, acoustic guitar, slide guitar, organ and vocals, Glenn Frey on electric guitar, synthesizer, keyboards and vocals, Don Henley on drums, percussion and vocals, Timothy B. Schmit on bass guitar and vocals and Joe Walsh on electric guitars, talk box guitar, slide guitar, keyboards, organ and vocals.  You'll notice that all members sang and that was very important to the success of the group in providing some of the top harmonies in the Rock Era. 

Jimmy Buffett and "The Monstertones" provided backing vocals on "The Greeks Don't Want No Freaks", the great David Sanborn played alto saxophone and Bob Seger, who co-wrote "Heartache Tonight", also sang backing vocals on the song.

The Long Run was recorded between March of 1978 and September 1979 at Bayshore Recording Studio in Coconut Grove, Florida, and One Step Up Recording Studio, Britannia Recording Studio, Love 'n' Comfort Recording Studio and Record Plant Studios in Los Angeles.  All members of the group participated in the production of the album with their longtime producer Bill Szymczyk, Szymczyk and Ed Mashal were the engineers and Ted Jensen mastered the album.  Kosh handled the art direction for The Long Run and Jim Shea provided the photography.  The album was released September 24, 1979 on Asylum Records.

The Eagles come in at #39 All-Time with The Long Run.