Eagles return with Long Road Out of Eden, first studio album in 28 years

Long Road Out of Eden Eagles

Released: October 30, 2007 Peak: 11 US, 11 UK, 2 CN, 16 AU Sales (in millions): 7.0 US *, 0.6 UK, 8.2 world (includes US and UK) Genre: heritage rock * Actual sales were 3.5 million, but because it was a double album, it was certified for twice that.

Tracks, Disc 1: Song Title (Writers) [time] (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts. No More Walks in the Wood How Long (8/16/07, 10 AC, 23 CW, 76 CN) Busy Being Fabulous (2/9/08, 12 AC, 28 CW) What Do I Do with My Heart (2008, 13 AC) Guilty of the Crime I Don’t Want to Hear Anymore (2009, 23 AC) Waiting in the Weeds No More Cloudy Days (7/9/05, 3 AC) Fast Company Do Something You Are Not Alone Tracks, Disc 2: Long Road Out of Eden I Dreamed There Was No War Somebody Frail Grasp on the Big Picture Last Good Time in Town I Love to Watch a Woman Dance Business As Usual Center of the Universe It’s Your World Now Total Running Time: 90:53 The Players: Glenn Frey (vocals, guitar, keyboards) Don Henley (vocals, drums) Timothy B. Schmit (bass, vocals) Joe Walsh (guitar, vocals, keyboards)

Rating: 3.960 out of 5.00 (average of 15 ratings) Quotable: “An album meticulously crafted to fit within the band’s legacy without tarnishing it” – Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album: After 1979’s The Long Run and a live album the next year, the Eagles disappeared for 14 years. They were widely embraced when they returned 14 years later with 1994’s mostly live album Hell Freezes Over. They cashed in on that reunion, “driving up ticket prices into the stratosphere as they played gigs on a semi-regular basis well into the new millennium.” AMG They released a box set, which contained their 1999 Millenium Concert, a 2005 DVD of yet another tour outing, and a 2003 2-disc compilation. However, it wasn’t until 2007 that they released a full-fledged studio album. “It could be that they were running out some contractual clause somewhere, it could be that they were waiting for the money to be right, or the music to be right.” AMG When they finally did come out with Long Road Out of Eden, they did so with little fanfare, “indulging in few interviews and bypassing conventional retail outlets in favor of an exclusive release” AMG in which the album was only available in North America through their website or Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club stores. AMG Billboard magazine controversially reversed a policy under which such exclusive releases were inelligible to chart, allowing the album to debut at #1. As for the actual material, it is “crafted to evoke the spirit and feel of the Eagles’ biggest hits…The J.D. Souther-written How Long recalls ‘Take It Easy,’ the stiff funk of Frail Grasp on the Big Picture echoes back to the clenched riffs of ‘Life in the Fast Lane,’ and while perhaps these aren’t exact replicas, there’s no denying it’s possible to hear echoes of everything from ‘Lyin’ Eyes’ and ‘Desperado’ to ‘Life in the Fast Lane,’ and Timothy B. Schmit turns Paul Carrack’s I Don’t Want to Hear Anymore into a soft rock gem to stand alongside his own ‘I Can’t Tell You Why.’” AMG “These tunes…but sonically… play as companions to Henley’s brooding end-of-the-‘80s hit The End of the Innocence, both in their heavy-handed sobriety and deliberate pace and their big-budget production.” AMG “The Eagles…sound utterly disconnected from modern times, no matter how hard Don Henley strives to say something, anything about the wretched state of the world on Long Road Out of Eden, ‘Frail Grasp on the Big Picture,’ and Business as Usual.” AMG However, “it’s all executed well and the doggedly out-of-fashion sonics only make the songs more reminiscent of the Eagles’ older records, especially if their solo work from the ‘80s is part of the equation.” AMG “It often manages to avoid sounding crass, as the songs are usually strong and the sound is right, capturing the group’s peaceful, easy harmonies and Joe Walsh’s guitar growl in equal measure.” AMG On the second disc, “Walsh spends seven minutes grooving on Last Good Time in Town as if he were a Southwestern Jimmy Buffett with a worldbeat penchant, Glenn Frey sings Jack Tempchin and John Brannen’s Somebody as if it were a sedated, cheerful ‘Smuggler’s Blues,’ and the whole thing feels polished with outdated synthesizers.” AMG If disc 2 “seem a bit like the Eagles’ lost album from the Reagan years, the first disc recalls their mellow country-rock records of the ‘70s – that is, if Joe Walsh had been around to sing Frankie Miller’s blues-rocker Guilty of the Crime to balance out Henley and Frey’s Busy Being Fabulous and What Do I Do with My Heart, a counterpoint that serves the band well.” AMG “That first disc is the stronger of the two, but the two discs do fit together well, as they wind up touching upon all of the band’s different eras…it’s an album meticulously crafted to fit within the band’s legacy without tarnishing it.” AMG

Resources and Related Links: DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Eagles AMG,/sup> All Music Guide review by Stepen Thomas Erlewine WK Wikipedia.org Other Related DMDB Pages: First posted 3/26/2008; last updated 8/20/2021.