Eagles
The Long Run

THE REVIEW

A classic.

Is there anything else to say about "The Long Run" by the Eagles? Ten songs that slide away with pleasure, genuine sounds in all departments (special mention to the guitars, played by four out of five band members), freshness in the vocal parts, incisive and refined arrangements. The only thing that can be criticized about this album, released in 1979, is that it marks the end of the Californian group, as perhaps the gloomy cover suggested: "The Long Run" is indeed the sixth and final studio album of the band, followed by a live album released in 1980 ("Eagles Live") and then nothing more, well not exactly: even the Eagles would succumb to the allure of reunion (and dollars), first in 1994 with "Hell Freezes Over" and some occasional tours in the following years, and then with the new studio album "Long Road Out of Eden", released in 2007.

But at the time of "The Long Run" it was a whole different music: just listen to the title track, which opens the album, with slide guitar in evidence and the sharp and expressive voice of drummer Don Henley. Or the following "I Can't Tell You Why", a ballad of great atmosphere and suggestion where the voice of bassist Timothy Schmit is protagonist. Or again the third track, "In The City", this time by Joe Walsh, an effective sketch of metropolitan anxieties fittingly used in the soundtrack of Walter Hill's beautiful film, "The Warriors".

It is not necessary to give a description, even a summary, of all the tracks: ten little gems that have carved out a prominent place in the rock Olympus, a perfect musical commentary on the American way of life of the '70s. Rather, it should be said that the production and recording of the album took almost two years. A laborious gestation, brilliant result: sometimes it is the fate of memorable works, and it surely is for this one.