Eagles-The Long Run

If you have to go out, you should go out with a bang. The Eagles did that with this album, which yielded three singles: "The Long Run", "Heartache Tonight", and "I Can't Tell You Why". The three songs may sound similar to some, but the third song was a mellow ballad, the second had a fast beat with solid percussion, and the first song, as much as I enjoyed it, I always thought of as The Eagle in molasses. A good song, but I always thought the song strained to be sped up. Not to be overlooked on this album is the last song, "The Sad Cafe", which is a swan song for The Eagles much like "The Long and Winding Road" was The Beatles' swan song. The bluesy, sad song ends the 1972 to 1979 run of The Eagles nostalgically. Coincidentally the end of The Eagles coincided with the end of the decade, the eminence of disco and the transition to New Wave and the techno driven pop of the 80s. Looking back, perhaps it was time for The Eagle to move on to other things (though I still don't think so).
The rest of the album is decent, generally listenable. Six of the songs were co-written by at least three people. The other four songs were written by two people. Glenn Frey and Don Henley contributed the most, but I still think that the huge difference between "Hotel California", "The Long Run" and what came before shows the influence of Joe Walsh. After the break up of The Eagles, Glenn and Don were considered sufficiently up-to-date to have their music selected for the then extremely stylish and modern "Miami Vice". Quite a change from the early cowboy boots and rattlesnakes era of The Eagles.
Perhaps this album wasn't their best. I think it would be more fair to say it is not my favorite Eagles' album. But who cares? We all have our own favorites. The question is whether the album is worth owning. I think it is. I prefer this album over the second greatest hits collection that was largely from "Hotel California" and "The Long Run". If you are influenced by the other reviews to be concerned that you might not like many of the songs on this CD, then buy the second volume of The Eagles' greatest hits and pass this one by. I think it is a good album and worth having in my collection.