It is not controversial to describe the last studio album the Eagles made before their 1980 breakup as a major disappointment. First, the band set an impossibly high standard with their preceding LP, Hotel California, so only a superlative masterpiece could have satisfied critical expectations. Second, The Long Run was at some point in its creation envisioned as a double album, and, obviously, that plan was never realized. Third, The Long Run served as the band’s epitaph until their 1994 reunion. Given these particulars, the temptation to speculate about what might have been is powerful. I’m hardly the first fan to head down this particular “What if?” rabbit hole, and I certainly won’t be the last. It is within that broad context that I offer an imaginary track listing to suggest how a double-LP version of The Long Run might have sounded.
Naturally, this imaginary track listing bears zero resemblance to whatever the Eagles actually had in mind. Further, while it’s entirely possible that basic concepts for another LP’s worth of material existed, this situation doesn’t parallel, for instance, the Beach Boys’ aborted Smile album. For one thing, most of the pieces that would have comprised Smile actually got recorded, and for another, Smile emanated from Brian Wilson at the apex of his creativity. By their own admission, the Eagles were fried from endless touring and low on inspiration when they made The Long Run. In other words, The Long Run was never going to improve on Hotel California—so the point of this undertaking is simply to improve on The Long Run.
To establish a template, I retained all 10 tracks that appear on the released version of the album. “Teenage Jail” is among the few Eagles songs I actively dislike, but for reasons known only to the band members and their inner circle, it found a place on the 10-track rendition of The Long Run. Therefore, it’s only logical to assume the song might also have notched a slot on a lengthier version that offered more room for experimentation. This is also why I didn’t jettison novelty number “The Greeks Don’t Want No Freaks.” I’ve always found the song mildly amusing, and the only reason I resent the inclusion of “Greeks” on the released version of The Long Run is that it occupies space better allocated for a more substantial song. As with “Teenage Jail,” “Greeks” seems less irksome in the larger context of a double album, although I can happily imagine a world in which both tunes were relegated to B-side status.
Four of the tracks I’ve added are no-brainers, inasmuch as they are known to have been developed for The Long Run.
First is “Too Much Drama,” the only Henley-Frey composition written for The Long Run but not included—or at least the only such tune with which I’m familiar. Given the style of the lyrics and melody, I’m comfortable assuming “Too Much Drama” would have been sung by Henley and that it would have sounded much like it does in the version brought to the marketplace by Mickey Thomas in 1981. After all, the Thomas recording was produced by the same guy as The Long Run: Bill Szymczyk.
Situating three songs associated with Felder into The Long Run requires a bit more imagination. Felder’s first solo single, “Heavy Metal (Takin’ a Ride),” existed during the Long Run era but lacked lyrics at the time. (Felder hoped Henley would finish the number.) Let’s assume that the well-documented drama surrounding the recording of “Victim of Love” for Hotel California eliminated the possibility of Felder providing the vocal for an Eagles version of the groove that became “Heavy Metal,” so for purposes of this silly endeavor, I’ve presumed that Henley would be the singer for whatever that groove became on The Long Run.
Because Walsh and Felder cowrote “Rivers (Of the Hidden Funk)” and “Told You So,” it seems safe to say that Long Run versions of these numbers would sound similar to how they eventually appeared on Walsh LPs. It’s possible Henley and/or Frey would have provided different lyrics, but since Walsh only sings one tune on the released version of The Long Run, he benefits from an increased presence as a lead vocalist.
Speaking of Walsh, his 1980 non-LP solo tune “All Night Long” is one of several pulls I’ve made from band members’ solo output immediately following The Long Run—as differentiated from the preceding songs, which were conceived for The Long Run. Seeing as how the Eagles integrated “All Night Long” into their live act (it appears on 1980’s Eagles Live), this one doesn’t seem like much of a leap—excepting the obvious fact that song probably didn’t get composed until after The Long Run was completed.
Now this exercise becomes even more speculative. Amazingly, Frey contributes only one solo lead vocal to the released version of The Long Run, even though he was ostensibly the band’s leader. To expand his lead vocal presence, I pulled two cuts from his 1982 debut solo LP, No Fun Aloud. Like “All Night Long,” these songs probably didn’t exist when The Long Run was recorded, but to my ears they both suit the band’s style circa ’78-’79, thanks to potent guitars and thick vocal harmonies. “All Those Lies” was written by Frey solo, while “I Found Somebody” was written by Frey in collaboration with Jack Tempchin, who wrote “Peaceful Easy Feeling” and cowrote “Already Gone.” Since Tempchin is a member of the extended Eagles family, his participation seems legitimate.
The third addition I’ve suggested for Frey, “The Last In Love,” is a cowrite by Frey and his first songwriting partner, frequent Eagles collaborator J.D. Souther. The song was released on Souther’s 1980 LP You’re Only Lonely, so its vintage is roughly the same as that of The Long Run.
Wrapping up the subject of Frey, I wanted to find a track that would serve as a companion to “The Sad Café” by complementing that song’s wistfulness. Internet wanderings led me to Tempchin’s self-titled 1978 debut LP. Frey worked on that album, so he would have been familiar with all of the numbers therein. Hence my inclusion of the melancholy “Walkaway.” (As a side note, several numbers on Tempchin’s 1978 album could conceivably have worked as Eagles songs, including the bittersweet gem “Golden Life,” which was written by Tempchin and Souther.)
While it makes sense that Schmit has only one lead vocal on the released version of The Long Run since he was the new guy in the band, it also makes sense that he might have enjoyed a larger presence on a longer version of the album. Although Schmit’s debut solo LP didn’t get released until 1984, I’ve borrowed two songs from that album to serve as placeholders. I use that term because both songs likely originated with Schmit’s main collaborator on the 1984 album, Josh Leo. Having said that, “Tell Me What You Dream” has a lovely feel that evokes the Eagles, and “Something’s Wrong” actually features three Eagles—Schmit plays bass, Walsh plays guitar, and Henley provides both drums and backing vocals. The idea is not that these particular songs would have made The Long Run, but that similar songs with Schmit lead vocals might have.
And now a word about sequencing. Flow is as subjective as any other aspect of music, but while I was playing around with how these songs might resonate off each other, I discovered a sort of loose narrative.
Assuming that Henley (or Henley-Frey) lyrics for the song we know as “Heavy Metal” would have reflected the band’s usual thematic concerns, my imaginary Side A of the first LP plays out the concept of the title track. Call this stretch “Relationships Are Messy.” Given my decision to retain the problematic “Greeks” and “Teenage Jail,” my imaginary Side B of the first LP is the bumpiest passage of the whole set, but I’m okay with that inasmuch as this exercise involves conceiving a more expansive rendition of a bumpy LP. Given that context, consider Side B of the first LP a showcase for the lighter side of the Eagles: “Let’s Try to Have Some Fun.”
To my ears, this imaginary double-album version of The Long Run coalesces on the second LP. Side A exclusively features songs from the released version of The Long Run, but in a slightly different order and without the interruption of substandard material. The dramatic through line of this side can be summarized in a single word: “Danger.” Side B comprises two songs from the released version, two songs that were originally intended for inclusion on The Long Run, and the aforementioned addition of “Walkaway” for Frey. At the risk of overstating my concept of a loose narrative, this final side could be synopsized with the word “Goodbye.” I suppose my inclination is to gift the Eagles with a deliberate farewell statement instead of the haphazard one they actually delivered by splitting up during the tour supporting The Long Run.
For the penultimate song slot that I’ve populated with “Walkaway,” one could just as easily substitute a TBD Henley-Frey composition with a Frey vocal—or even an instrumental, though I’ve yet to encounter any indications the band was contemplating the inclusion of non-vocal tracks on The Long Run. As for the opposite extreme of a cappella numbers, I didn’t appropriate “Seven Bridges Road” from Eagles Live, even though the band performed it during the Long Run era, because that song is way too rustic to sit comfortably alongside the heavy electric guitars that dominate most Long Run tracks. Oh, and one more bit of housekeeping. While it’s possible that Felder’s “All of You,” released at the same time as “Heavy Metal,” was also originally conceived for The Long Run, I haven’t confirmed that factoid, and I feel this alternate version of The Long Run already gives Felder a respectable presence as a composer.
Other fans playing this game will inevitably make different decisions given all the variables involved. To that point, after I was already deep into preparation for this post, I came across another imagined double-album version of The Long Run on the blog Albums Back from the Dead. Although everything here represents my ideas and research, it was enjoyable to see how someone else approached this entertaining task.
YouTube links have been provided after the track listing so readers can hear how this material (or material of a similar nature) might have sounded had the Eagles delivered two platters of The Long Run to stores in September 1979 rather than just one. Obviously, the recordings in these YouTube videos belong to the owners of the songs’ respective copyrights, so the links are shared solely for informational purposes.
Finally, the lead-vocal tally on this alternative version of The Long Run is seven songs for Henley, five for Frey, four for Walsh, three for Schmit, and two performed—as on the released version—by Frey and Henley in tandem.
The Long Run That Wasn’t (1979)
LP 1: SIDE A (approx. 20.5 minutes)
1. “The Long Run” (3:42, lead vocal by Henley)
2. “Something’s Wrong” (4:08, lead vocal by Schmit, from Playin’ It Cool)
3. “Told You So” (3:55, lead vocal by Walsh, from You Bought It—You Name It)
4. “All Those Lies” (4:44, lead vocal by Frey, from No Fun Aloud)
5. “Heavy Metal (Takin’ a Ride)” (4:54, lead vocal on this version by Felder, lead vocal on the imagined Long Run version by Henley, this version from the Heavy Metal soundtrack)
LP 1: SIDE B (approx. 21 minutes)
1. “The Last in Love” (3:50, lead vocal on this version by Souther, lead vocal on the imagined Long Run version by Frey, this version from You’re Only Lonely)
2. “All Night Long” (3:40, lead vocal by Walsh, from the Urban Cowboy soundtrack)
3. “I Found Somebody” (4:06, lead vocal by Frey, from No Fun Aloud)
4. “Tell Me What You Dream” (4:48, lead vocal by Schmit, from Playin’ It Cool)
5. “Teenage Jail” (3:43, lead vocal by Frey and Henley)
6. “The Greeks Don’t Want No Freaks” (2:12, lead vocal by Henley)
LP 2: SIDE A (approx. 21 minutes)
1. “Heartache Tonight” (4:26, lead vocal by Frey)
2. “Those Shoes” (4:55, lead vocal by Henley)
3. “In the City” (3:45, lead vocal by Walsh)
4. “The Disco Strangler” (2:45, lead vocal by Henley)
5. “King of Hollywood” (6:26, lead vocal by Frey and Henley)
LP 2: SIDE B (approx. 22.5 minutes)
1. “I Can’t Tell You Why” (4:56, lead vocal by Schmit)
2. “Rivers (Of the Hidden Funk)” (5:07, lead vocal by Walsh, from There Goes the Neighborhood)
3. “Too Much Drama” (3:28, lead vocal on this version by Mickey Thomas, lead vocal on the imagined Long Run version by Henley, this version from Alive Alone)
4. “Walkaway” (4:05, lead vocal on this version by Jack Tempchin, lead vocal on the imagined Long Runversion by Frey, this version from Jack Tempchin)
5. “The Sad Café” (5:23, lead vocal by Henley)
Total Running Time: Approx. 85 minutes
(Running time of the released version is 42:50)
YouTube Clips In Order:
Naturally, this imaginary track listing bears zero resemblance to whatever the Eagles actually had in mind. Further, while it’s entirely possible that basic concepts for another LP’s worth of material existed, this situation doesn’t parallel, for instance, the Beach Boys’ aborted Smile album. For one thing, most of the pieces that would have comprised Smile actually got recorded, and for another, Smile emanated from Brian Wilson at the apex of his creativity. By their own admission, the Eagles were fried from endless touring and low on inspiration when they made The Long Run. In other words, The Long Run was never going to improve on Hotel California—so the point of this undertaking is simply to improve on The Long Run.
To establish a template, I retained all 10 tracks that appear on the released version of the album. “Teenage Jail” is among the few Eagles songs I actively dislike, but for reasons known only to the band members and their inner circle, it found a place on the 10-track rendition of The Long Run. Therefore, it’s only logical to assume the song might also have notched a slot on a lengthier version that offered more room for experimentation. This is also why I didn’t jettison novelty number “The Greeks Don’t Want No Freaks.” I’ve always found the song mildly amusing, and the only reason I resent the inclusion of “Greeks” on the released version of The Long Run is that it occupies space better allocated for a more substantial song. As with “Teenage Jail,” “Greeks” seems less irksome in the larger context of a double album, although I can happily imagine a world in which both tunes were relegated to B-side status.
Four of the tracks I’ve added are no-brainers, inasmuch as they are known to have been developed for The Long Run.
First is “Too Much Drama,” the only Henley-Frey composition written for The Long Run but not included—or at least the only such tune with which I’m familiar. Given the style of the lyrics and melody, I’m comfortable assuming “Too Much Drama” would have been sung by Henley and that it would have sounded much like it does in the version brought to the marketplace by Mickey Thomas in 1981. After all, the Thomas recording was produced by the same guy as The Long Run: Bill Szymczyk.
Situating three songs associated with Felder into The Long Run requires a bit more imagination. Felder’s first solo single, “Heavy Metal (Takin’ a Ride),” existed during the Long Run era but lacked lyrics at the time. (Felder hoped Henley would finish the number.) Let’s assume that the well-documented drama surrounding the recording of “Victim of Love” for Hotel California eliminated the possibility of Felder providing the vocal for an Eagles version of the groove that became “Heavy Metal,” so for purposes of this silly endeavor, I’ve presumed that Henley would be the singer for whatever that groove became on The Long Run.
Because Walsh and Felder cowrote “Rivers (Of the Hidden Funk)” and “Told You So,” it seems safe to say that Long Run versions of these numbers would sound similar to how they eventually appeared on Walsh LPs. It’s possible Henley and/or Frey would have provided different lyrics, but since Walsh only sings one tune on the released version of The Long Run, he benefits from an increased presence as a lead vocalist.
Speaking of Walsh, his 1980 non-LP solo tune “All Night Long” is one of several pulls I’ve made from band members’ solo output immediately following The Long Run—as differentiated from the preceding songs, which were conceived for The Long Run. Seeing as how the Eagles integrated “All Night Long” into their live act (it appears on 1980’s Eagles Live), this one doesn’t seem like much of a leap—excepting the obvious fact that song probably didn’t get composed until after The Long Run was completed.
Now this exercise becomes even more speculative. Amazingly, Frey contributes only one solo lead vocal to the released version of The Long Run, even though he was ostensibly the band’s leader. To expand his lead vocal presence, I pulled two cuts from his 1982 debut solo LP, No Fun Aloud. Like “All Night Long,” these songs probably didn’t exist when The Long Run was recorded, but to my ears they both suit the band’s style circa ’78-’79, thanks to potent guitars and thick vocal harmonies. “All Those Lies” was written by Frey solo, while “I Found Somebody” was written by Frey in collaboration with Jack Tempchin, who wrote “Peaceful Easy Feeling” and cowrote “Already Gone.” Since Tempchin is a member of the extended Eagles family, his participation seems legitimate.
The third addition I’ve suggested for Frey, “The Last In Love,” is a cowrite by Frey and his first songwriting partner, frequent Eagles collaborator J.D. Souther. The song was released on Souther’s 1980 LP You’re Only Lonely, so its vintage is roughly the same as that of The Long Run.
Wrapping up the subject of Frey, I wanted to find a track that would serve as a companion to “The Sad Café” by complementing that song’s wistfulness. Internet wanderings led me to Tempchin’s self-titled 1978 debut LP. Frey worked on that album, so he would have been familiar with all of the numbers therein. Hence my inclusion of the melancholy “Walkaway.” (As a side note, several numbers on Tempchin’s 1978 album could conceivably have worked as Eagles songs, including the bittersweet gem “Golden Life,” which was written by Tempchin and Souther.)
While it makes sense that Schmit has only one lead vocal on the released version of The Long Run since he was the new guy in the band, it also makes sense that he might have enjoyed a larger presence on a longer version of the album. Although Schmit’s debut solo LP didn’t get released until 1984, I’ve borrowed two songs from that album to serve as placeholders. I use that term because both songs likely originated with Schmit’s main collaborator on the 1984 album, Josh Leo. Having said that, “Tell Me What You Dream” has a lovely feel that evokes the Eagles, and “Something’s Wrong” actually features three Eagles—Schmit plays bass, Walsh plays guitar, and Henley provides both drums and backing vocals. The idea is not that these particular songs would have made The Long Run, but that similar songs with Schmit lead vocals might have.
And now a word about sequencing. Flow is as subjective as any other aspect of music, but while I was playing around with how these songs might resonate off each other, I discovered a sort of loose narrative.
Assuming that Henley (or Henley-Frey) lyrics for the song we know as “Heavy Metal” would have reflected the band’s usual thematic concerns, my imaginary Side A of the first LP plays out the concept of the title track. Call this stretch “Relationships Are Messy.” Given my decision to retain the problematic “Greeks” and “Teenage Jail,” my imaginary Side B of the first LP is the bumpiest passage of the whole set, but I’m okay with that inasmuch as this exercise involves conceiving a more expansive rendition of a bumpy LP. Given that context, consider Side B of the first LP a showcase for the lighter side of the Eagles: “Let’s Try to Have Some Fun.”
To my ears, this imaginary double-album version of The Long Run coalesces on the second LP. Side A exclusively features songs from the released version of The Long Run, but in a slightly different order and without the interruption of substandard material. The dramatic through line of this side can be summarized in a single word: “Danger.” Side B comprises two songs from the released version, two songs that were originally intended for inclusion on The Long Run, and the aforementioned addition of “Walkaway” for Frey. At the risk of overstating my concept of a loose narrative, this final side could be synopsized with the word “Goodbye.” I suppose my inclination is to gift the Eagles with a deliberate farewell statement instead of the haphazard one they actually delivered by splitting up during the tour supporting The Long Run.
For the penultimate song slot that I’ve populated with “Walkaway,” one could just as easily substitute a TBD Henley-Frey composition with a Frey vocal—or even an instrumental, though I’ve yet to encounter any indications the band was contemplating the inclusion of non-vocal tracks on The Long Run. As for the opposite extreme of a cappella numbers, I didn’t appropriate “Seven Bridges Road” from Eagles Live, even though the band performed it during the Long Run era, because that song is way too rustic to sit comfortably alongside the heavy electric guitars that dominate most Long Run tracks. Oh, and one more bit of housekeeping. While it’s possible that Felder’s “All of You,” released at the same time as “Heavy Metal,” was also originally conceived for The Long Run, I haven’t confirmed that factoid, and I feel this alternate version of The Long Run already gives Felder a respectable presence as a composer.
Other fans playing this game will inevitably make different decisions given all the variables involved. To that point, after I was already deep into preparation for this post, I came across another imagined double-album version of The Long Run on the blog Albums Back from the Dead. Although everything here represents my ideas and research, it was enjoyable to see how someone else approached this entertaining task.
YouTube links have been provided after the track listing so readers can hear how this material (or material of a similar nature) might have sounded had the Eagles delivered two platters of The Long Run to stores in September 1979 rather than just one. Obviously, the recordings in these YouTube videos belong to the owners of the songs’ respective copyrights, so the links are shared solely for informational purposes.
Finally, the lead-vocal tally on this alternative version of The Long Run is seven songs for Henley, five for Frey, four for Walsh, three for Schmit, and two performed—as on the released version—by Frey and Henley in tandem.
The Long Run That Wasn’t (1979)
LP 1: SIDE A (approx. 20.5 minutes)
1. “The Long Run” (3:42, lead vocal by Henley)
2. “Something’s Wrong” (4:08, lead vocal by Schmit, from Playin’ It Cool)
3. “Told You So” (3:55, lead vocal by Walsh, from You Bought It—You Name It)
4. “All Those Lies” (4:44, lead vocal by Frey, from No Fun Aloud)
5. “Heavy Metal (Takin’ a Ride)” (4:54, lead vocal on this version by Felder, lead vocal on the imagined Long Run version by Henley, this version from the Heavy Metal soundtrack)
LP 1: SIDE B (approx. 21 minutes)
1. “The Last in Love” (3:50, lead vocal on this version by Souther, lead vocal on the imagined Long Run version by Frey, this version from You’re Only Lonely)
2. “All Night Long” (3:40, lead vocal by Walsh, from the Urban Cowboy soundtrack)
3. “I Found Somebody” (4:06, lead vocal by Frey, from No Fun Aloud)
4. “Tell Me What You Dream” (4:48, lead vocal by Schmit, from Playin’ It Cool)
5. “Teenage Jail” (3:43, lead vocal by Frey and Henley)
6. “The Greeks Don’t Want No Freaks” (2:12, lead vocal by Henley)
LP 2: SIDE A (approx. 21 minutes)
1. “Heartache Tonight” (4:26, lead vocal by Frey)
2. “Those Shoes” (4:55, lead vocal by Henley)
3. “In the City” (3:45, lead vocal by Walsh)
4. “The Disco Strangler” (2:45, lead vocal by Henley)
5. “King of Hollywood” (6:26, lead vocal by Frey and Henley)
LP 2: SIDE B (approx. 22.5 minutes)
1. “I Can’t Tell You Why” (4:56, lead vocal by Schmit)
2. “Rivers (Of the Hidden Funk)” (5:07, lead vocal by Walsh, from There Goes the Neighborhood)
3. “Too Much Drama” (3:28, lead vocal on this version by Mickey Thomas, lead vocal on the imagined Long Run version by Henley, this version from Alive Alone)
4. “Walkaway” (4:05, lead vocal on this version by Jack Tempchin, lead vocal on the imagined Long Runversion by Frey, this version from Jack Tempchin)
5. “The Sad Café” (5:23, lead vocal by Henley)
Total Running Time: Approx. 85 minutes
(Running time of the released version is 42:50)
YouTube Clips In Order:
And if you’ve made it this far, you deserve some bonus tracks—here are the other tunes mentioned in the post but not included in the imaginary track listing.
I tried it on a mixtape . it works ! Thanks .
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