The Long Run (album)

The album was originally intended to be a double album. The band could not come up with enough songs and the idea was therefore scrapped. The recording was protracted; they started recording in 1978, and the album took 18 months to record in five different studios, with the album finally released in September 1979.{{cite web |url=http://ultimateclassicrock.com/eagles-long-run/ |title=36 Years Ago: The Eagles Grind to a Halt with 'The Long Run' |first= Jeff|last= Giles |date=September 24, 2015|work=Ultimate Classic Rock }}{{cite web |url=http://ultimateclassicrock.com/eagles-live-1980/ |title=35 Years Ago: The Eagles Limp Away With the Patched-Together 'Live' |first= Nick |last=DeRiso |date=November 7, 2015|work=Ultimate Classic Rock}} According to Don Henley, the band members were "completely burned out" and "physically, emotionally, spiritually and creatively exhausted" from a long tour when they started recording the album, and they had few songs.{{cite magazine |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/eagles-complete-discography-don-henley-looks-back-20160610/the-long-run-1979-20160609 |title=Eagles' Complete Discography: Don Henley Looks Back |first=David |last=Browne|date=June 10, 2016 |magazine=Rolling Stone }} However, they managed to put together ten songs for the album, with contribution from their friends JD Souther and Bob Seger who co-wrote with Frey and Henley on "Heartache Tonight". (Souther also got songwriting credit on "Teenage Jail" and "The Sad Cafe".)

According to Henley, the title track was in part a response to press articles that said they were "passé" as disco was then dominant and punk emerging, which inspired lines such as "Who is gonna make it/ We'll find out in the long run". He said that the inspiration for the lyrics was also "irony", as they wrote about longevity and posterity while the group "was breaking apart, imploding under the pressure of trying to deliver a worthy follow-up to Hotel California".

Randy Meisner decided to leave the Eagles after an argument in Knoxville, Tennessee, during the Hotel California Tour in June 1977.{{cite magazine |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/videos/flashback-the-eagles-play-take-it-to-the-limit-in-1977-20150716 |title=Flashback: The Eagles Play 'Take It to the Limit' in 1977|author= Andy Greene |date=July 16, 2015 |magazine= Rolling Stone }} He was replaced by Timothy B. Schmit, who brought an unfinished song to the band, "I Can't Tell You Why". Schmit wrote the song based loosely on his own experiences; both Henley and Frey liked the song and they completed the song together.{{cite web|url= http://www.songfacts.com/blog/interviews/timothy_b_schmit_of_the_eagles/ |title=Timothy B. Schmit of the Eagles |work=Song Facts}} Joe Walsh also contributed the song "In the City", which was first recorded by Walsh for the movie soundtrack for The Warriors, where it was credited to Walsh, not the Eagles.{{cite web |url=http://www.allmusic.com/song/in-the-city-mt0032023264 |title=Joe Walsh: In the City |work=AllMusic }} Don Felder wrote the tune for "The Disco Strangler" using a four-on-the-floor disco beat as the basis for the composition. Henley wrote the lyrics. Henley intended the song to be an antidote to disco as both he and the rest of the band disliked disco, which was the most popular musical genre at the time.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IL1h6Icq9ZIC&pg=PA199 |title=Heaven and Hell: My Life in the Eagles (1974-2001) |first= Don |last=Felder |page=199 |publisher= John Wiley & Sons|date= May 9, 2008 |isbn= 978-0470289068 }} The song "The Sad Cafe" was inspired by the Troubadour nightclub in Hollywood where the Eagles once played, and also by Dan Tana's restaurant that they frequented, while "The Greeks Don't Want No Freaks" was written as a homage to Sixties "frat rock" such as the song "96 Tears" by ? and the Mysterians.

The album was produced by Bill Szymczyk, although the Eagles were listed as co-producers.

The original vinyl record pressings of The Long Run (Elektra/Asylum catalog no. 5E-508) had text engraved in the run-out groove of each side, continuing an in-joke trend the band had started with their 1975 album One of These Nights:

1. Side one: "Never let your monster lay down"
2. Side two: "From the Polack who sailed north" (may be a reference to the producer of the album Bill Szymczyk){{cite web |url=http://wcbsfm.cbslocal.com/2014/11/22/this-week-in-history-the-beatles-abbey-road-the-eagles-the-long-run-bon-jovis-new-jersey/ |title=This Week In History: The Beatles' 'Abbey Road,' The Eagles' 'The Long Run' & Bon Jovi's 'New Jersey' |date=November 22, 2014 |author=Big Jay Sorensen|work=WCBS-FM }}

{{Album ratings

|rev1 = AllMusic

|rev1score = {{rating|3|5}}{{cite web |first=William |last=Ruhlmann |url={{AllMusic|class=album|id=r6480|pure_url=yes}}|title=The Long Run |website=Allmusic |access-date=September 10, 2013}}

|rev2 = Christgau's Record Guide

|rev2score = C+{{cite book|last=Christgau|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Christgau|year=1981|title=Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies|publisher=Ticknor & Fields|isbn=089919026X|chapter=Consumer Guide '70s: E|chapter-url=https://www.robertchristgau.com/get_chap.php?k=E&bk=70|access-date=February 24, 2019|via=robertchristgau.com}}

|rev3 = Classic Rock

|rev3score = {{Rating|3.5|5}}{{cite magazine|url=https://www.loudersound.com/reviews/eagles-the-long-run-album-of-the-week-club-review|title=Eagles - The Long Run: Album Of The Week Club Review|magazine=Classic Rock|date=July 30, 2018|access-date=September 1, 2024}}

|rev4 = The Encyclopedia of Popular Music

|rev4score = {{Rating|2|5}}{{cite book|first=Colin|last=Larkin|author-link=Colin Larkin|chapter=Eagles|title=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_NNmFiUnSmUC&q=eagles|publisher=Omnibus Press|year=2011|isbn=9780857125958|via=Google Books}}

|rev5 = The Great Rock Discography

|rev5score = 6/10{{cite book|last=Strong |first=Martin C.|author-link=Martin C. Strong|title=The Great Rock Discography|date=2004|publisher=Canongate Books|isbn=1-84195-615-5|edition=7|page=[https://archive.org/details/greatrockdiscogr0000stro_r9o1/page/468/mode/1up 467-468]|chapter=Eagles}}

|rev6 = MusicHound Rock

|rev6score = {{rating|4|5}}{{cite book|title=MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide|publisher=Visible Ink Press|year=1999|isbn=1-57859-061-2|editor1-last=Graff|editor1-first=Gary|page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781578590612/page/372/mode/1up 371-372]|chapter=The Eagles|editor2-last=Durchholz|editor2-first=Daniel}}

|rev7 = Music Week

|rev7score = {{Rating|4|4}}{{Cite magazine|date=October 6, 1979|title=Album Reviews: The Eagles — The Long Run|magazine=Music Week|page=44|publisher=Pensord Press Ltd.|location=Gwent|url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-Week/1979/Music-Week-1979-10-06.pdf#page=44|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250301124755/https://www.worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-Week/1979/Music-Week-1979-10-06.pdf#page=44|archive-date=March 1, 2025|access-date=April 5, 2025|via=WorldRadioHistory.com}}

|rev8 = Record Mirror

|rev8score = {{rating|4|5}}{{cite magazine|last=Russell|first=Rosalind|date=September 29, 1979|title=This One Will Run and Run|url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/UK/Record-Mirror/70s/79/Record-Mirror-1979-09-29.pdf|access-date=September 1, 2024|magazine=Record Mirror|page=22}}

|rev9 = The Rolling Stone Album Guide

|rev9score = {{Rating|3|5}}{{cite book|chapter=The Eagles|last=Kot|first=Greg|author-link=Greg Kot|title=The Rolling Stone Album Guide|year=2004|publisher=Simon & Schuster|edition=4th|editor1-last=Brackett|editor1-first=Nathan|editor2-last=Hoard|editor2-first=Christian|isbn=0-7432-0169-8 |page=[https://archive.org/details/newrollingstonea00brac/page/267/mode/1up 267]}}

|rev10 = Smash Hits

|rev10score = 4/10{{cite magazine|last=Starr|first=Red|title=Albums|url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/UK/Smash-Hits/1979/Smash-Hits-1979-11-01.pdf|magazine=Smash Hits|issue=November 1–14, 1979|page=29|access-date=September 1, 2024}}

}}

In 1979 Rolling Stone wrote, "Overall, The Long Run is a synthesis of previous macabre Eagles motifs, with cynical new insights that are underlined by slashing rock & roll...(it) is a bitter, wrathful, difficult record, full of piss and vinegar and poisoned expectations. Because it’s steeped in fresh, risky material and unflinching self-examination, it’s also the Eagles’ best work in many, many years."{{cite magazine|last=White|first=Timothy|date=November 15, 1979|title=Eagles: Eagles|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/the-long-run-252619/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180712120626/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/the-long-run-252619/|archive-date=July 12, 2018|url-status=live|access-date=September 1, 2024|magazine=Rolling Stone}} The Globe and Mail determined that "the Eagles' fawning synthesis of various kinds of rock and that roll sits less well the smoother it gets."{{cite news |last1=McGrath |first1=Paul |title=The Long Run The Eagles |work=The Globe and Mail |date=6 Oct 1979 |page=F8}} The New York Times stated that The Long Run "is neatly balanced among standard Eagles rockers, rather shallow social commentary, ballads and novelty numbers," and noted that the band's "mean streak" has "never been so apparent."{{cite news |last1=Rockwell |first1=John |title=The Pop Life |work=The New York Times |date=5 Oct 1979 |page=C12}}

Reviewing the album retrospectively in AllMusic, critic William Ruhlmann wrote that the album was a "major disappointment, even though it sold several million copies and threw off three hit singles," adding that the album "reportedly was planned as a double album before being truncated to a single disc. If these were the keepers, what could the rejects have sounded like?"{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/the-long-run-mw0000650104|title=The Long Run - Eagles - Songs, Reviews, Credits - AllMusic|website=AllMusic}}

{{Awards table}}

|-

| style="width:35px; text-align:center;"|1980 || "Heartache Tonight" || Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal{{cite web|url=http://www.grammy.com/nominees/search?artist=Eagles|title=Past Winners Search|publisher=National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences|access-date=June 2, 2012}} || {{won}}

|-

{{End}}

When released in September 1979, The Long Run debuted at number two on Billboard{{'}}s Pop Albums chart and a week later hit number one. It stood for nine weeks in the number one slot. The Long Run was first certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on February 1, 1980, and reached 7× Platinum status on March 20, 2001.{{Certification Cite Ref |region=United States|artist=Eagles |title=The Long Run |type=album }} It has sold more than eight million copies in the US.{{cite magazine |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/eagles/biography |title=Eagles: Biography |magazine=Rolling Stone }}

The album generated three Top 10 singles, "Heartache Tonight", the album's title cut, and "I Can't Tell You Why". Those singles reached No. 1, No. 8 and No. 8 respectively. The band also won a Grammy Award for "Heartache Tonight".{{cite web |url=https://www.grammy.com/grammys/awards/22nd-annual-grammy-awards |title=WINNERS: 22nd Annual GRAMMY Awards (1979) |work=The Recording Academy }}

The album reached number 1 in Japan in 1979.Billboard. 3 November 1979, [https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=zCQEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT177#v=onepage&q&f=false p 79]. 17 November 1979, [https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=CyUEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT127#v=onepage&q&f=false p 72]. This is the Music Labo chart. See also the Oricon chart.

{{Track listing

| headline = Side one

| extra_column = Lead vocals

| title1 = The Long Run

| length1 = 3:42

| writer1 = {{flatlist|

• Don Henley
• Glenn Frey}}

| extra1 = Don Henley

| title2 = I Can't Tell You Why

| length2 = 4:56

| writer2 = {{flatlist|

• Henley
• Frey
• Timothy B. Schmit}}

| extra2 = Timothy B. Schmit

| title3 = In the City

| length3 = 3:46

| writer3 = {{flatlist|

• Joe Walsh
• Barry De Vorzon}}

| extra3 = Joe Walsh

| title4 = The Disco Strangler

| length4 = 2:46

| writer4 = {{flatlist|

• Henley
• Frey
• Don Felder}}

| extra4 = Henley

| title5 = King of Hollywood

| length5 = 6:27

| writer5 = {{flatlist|

• Henley
• Frey}}

| extra5 = Henley and Frey}}

{{Track listing

| headline = Side two

| extra_column = Lead vocals

| title1 = Heartache Tonight

| length1 = 4:27

| writer1 = {{flatlist|

• Henley
• Frey
• Bob Seger
• JD Souther}}

| extra1 = Frey

| title2 = Those Shoes

| length2 = 4:57

| writer2 = {{flatlist|

• Henley
• Frey
• Felder}}

| extra2 = Henley

| title3 = Teenage Jail

| length3 = 3:44

| writer3 = {{flatlist|

• Henley
• Frey
• Souther}}

| extra3 = Henley and Frey

| title4 = The Greeks Don't Want No Freaks

| length4 = 2:21

| writer4 = {{flatlist|

• Henley
• Frey}}

| extra4 = Henley

| title5 = The Sad Café

| length5 = 5:35

| writer5 = {{flatlist|

• Henley
• Frey
• Walsh
• Souther}}

| extra5 = Henley

}}

{{anchor|Songs}}{{anchor|Tracks}}

Credits adapted from the liner notes.{{Cite AV media notes |title=The Long Run |others=Eagles |year=1979 |first= |last= |authorlink1= |last2= |first2= |authorlink2= |type=booklet |url=https://www.eaglesonlinecentral.com/eagles/ootn/linernotes.htm |publisher=Asylum Records |location=California |access-date=2023-06-08 }}

Eagles

• Don Felder – backing vocals, guitars, organ on “The Long Run”, talkbox on “Those Shoes”
• Glenn Frey – vocals, acoustic and electric rhythm guitars, keyboards, lead guitar on “I Can’t Tell You Why” and “King of Hollywood”
• Don Henley – vocals, drums, percussion
• Timothy B. Schmit – vocals, bass guitar
• Joe Walsh – vocals, guitars, keyboards, talkbox on “Those Shoes”

Additional personnel

• Jimmy Buffett – backing vocals on "The Greeks Don't Want No Freaks"
• The Monstertones – backing vocals on “The Greeks Don’t Want No Freaks”
• David Sanborn – alto saxophone on "The Sad Café"
• Bob Seger – backing vocals on "Heartache Tonight" (not credited in liner notes)
• Joe Vitale – piano, electric piano

Production

• Bill Szymczyk – producer and engineer
• Ed Mashal – engineer
• David Crowther – assistant engineer
• Mark Curry – assistant engineer
• Phil Jamtaas – assistant engineer
• Bob Stringer – assistant engineer
• Bob Winder – assistant engineer
• Ted Jensen – mixing, remastering
• John Kosh – art direction, design
• Jim Shea – photography

It appears that several more songs were submitted for The Long Run, but did not make it. Some of these are included in the collection Selected Works: 1972–1999, with the title “Long Run Leftovers”, though in a barely-recognizable form. Joe Walsh later resurrected two of them, which surfaced on his solo albums: “Rivers (of the Hidden Funk)” on There Goes the Neighborhood (1981) and “I Told You So” on You Bought It, You Name It (1983). The music of both of them appear to have been written by Don Felder, with lyrics by Walsh. Felder is also credited for playing guitar on both songs.{{cite book

|title= Heaven and Hell: My Life in the Eagles (1974–2001)

|last= Felder

|first= Don (with Wendy Holden)

|authorlink=

|year= 2007

|publisher= Weidenfeld and Nicolson

|location= Hoboken, New Jersey

|isbn= 978-0-470-28906-8

|page= 219

}}{{cite web

| url = https://mojim.com/us100607x6.htm

| title = Eagles: The Long Run

| work = Mojim Lyrics

| publisher =

| accessdate = 26 August 2022

}}

{{col-begin}}

{{col-2}}

{{col-2}}

{{col-end}}

{{Certification Table Top}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=Australia|type=album|title=The Long Run|artist=Eagles|award=Platinum|certyear=1996|number=3|accessdate=15 July 2021}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=France|type=album|title=The Long Run|artist=Eagles|award=Gold|number=2|certyear=2001|source=infodisc}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=Hong Kong|artist=Eagles|title=The Long Run|type=album|award=Gold|relyear=1979|certyear=1981|access-date=July 21, 2022}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=Japan (Oricon Charts)|nocert=yes|salesamount=247,000|salesref={{cite book|title=Oricon Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970-2005|publisher=Oricon Entertainment|location=Roppongi, Tokyo|year=2006|isbn=4-87131-077-9}}}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=New Zealand|type=album|title=The Long Run|artist=Eagles|award=Platinum|id=1979-11-30|source=newchart|access-date=2024-11-20|relyear=1979}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=Switzerland|type=album|title=The Long Run|artist=Eagles|award=Gold|relyear=1979|certyear=1989}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=United Kingdom|type=album|title=The Long Run|artist=Eagles|award=Gold|relyear=1979|certyear=1979|id=7099-663-2|accessdate=15 July 2021}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=United States|type=album|title=The Long Run|artist=Eagles|award=Platinum|number=7|salesamount=8,000,000|salesref=}}

{{Certification Table Bottom}}

• 1979 in music

{{reflist|30em}}

{{Eagles}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Long Run, The}}

Category:Eagles (band) albums

Category:1979 albums

Category:Elektra Records albums

Category:Asylum Records albums

Category:Albums produced by Bill Szymczyk

Category:Albums recorded at Record Plant (Los Angeles)