The Eagles (Long Road Out of Eden)

[Slim Zaddy]

Released October 30, 2007
Recorded 2001–2007
Genre Country, Rock
Length 90:53
Label Eagles Recording Company II, Lost Highway
Producer Eagles, Steuart Smith, Richard F.W. Davis, Scott Crago, Bill Szymczyk

Overview
Long Road out of Eden is the seventh studio album by American rock band Eagles, released in 2007 on Lost Highway Records. Nearly six years in production, Long Road out of Eden is the first studio album from the Eagles since 1979. The album has produced two singles for the band on the Hot Country Songs charts: a cover of J.D. Souther's "How Long", and "Busy Being Fabulous", both of which were Top 30 hits on the country charts as well as Top 20 hits on the Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks charts.

In 2006, a special edition exclusive to Wal-Mart of the DVD release, Farewell 1 Tour-Live from Melbourne, included a bonus CD with three studio versions of songs from Long Road out of Eden: "No More Cloudy Days," "Do Something" and "Fast Company."

On August 20, 2007, the song "How Long," written by J.D. Souther — who had previously worked with the Eagles co-writing some of their biggest hits including "Best of My Love," "Victim of Love," "Heartache Tonight" and "New Kid in Town" — was released as a single to radio with an accompanying online video at Yahoo! Music and debuted on television on CMT during the Top 20 Countdown on August 23, 2007. The band performed the song as part of their live sets in the early to mid 1970s, but did not record it at the time due to J.D. Souther's desire to use it on his first solo album.
The Deluxe Collector's Edition of Long Road out of Eden was released on November 20, 2007, featuring two bonus tracks, "Hole in the World" and "Please Come Home for Christmas." This version of the CD is wrapped in a red linen cloth, screen printed with panoramic imagery, and includes a 40 page booklet with lyrics, credits, exclusive photos and desert scenes from the making of the "How Long" video.
"No More Walks in the Wood" is a song using the words from "An Old-Fashioned Song," a 21-line poem (without choruses either in the poem or song) by John Hollander. The song is in four-part harmony with guitar chords, but mostly sung a cappella.in an interview with CNN, band member Don Henley declared, "This is probably the last Eagles album that we'll ever make."The album received four nominations at the 51st annual Grammy Awards; Best Pop Vocal Album; Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals for 'Waiting In The Weeds'; Best Pop Instrumental Performance for 'I Dreamed There Was No War'; and Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals for 'Long Road Out Of Eden'.

Track listing

Disc one
"No More Walks in the Wood" (Don Henley, Steuart Smith, John Hollander) - 2:00
"How Long" (J. D. Souther) - 3:13
"Busy Being Fabulous" (Don Henley, Glenn Frey) - 4:19
"What Do I Do with My Heart" (Henley, Frey) - 3:54
"Guilty of the Crime" (Frankie Miller, Jerry Lynn Williams) - 3:43
"I Don't Want To Hear Any More" (Paul Carrack) - 4:21
"Waiting in the Weeds" (Henley, Smith) - 7:45
"No More Cloudy Days" (Frey) - 4:02
"Fast Company" (Henley, Frey) - 4:00
"Do Something" (Henley, Smith, Timothy B. Schmit) - 5:12
"You Are Not Alone" (Frey) - 2:22

Disc two
"Long Road out of Eden" (Henley, Frey, Schmit) - 10:17
"I Dreamed There Was No War" (Frey) - 1:38
"Somebody" (Jack Tempchin, John Brannen) - 4:09
"Frail Grasp on the Big Picture" (Henley, Frey) - 5:46
"Last Good Time in Town" (Joe Walsh) - 7:07
"I Love to Watch a Woman Dance" (Larry John McNally) - 3:16
"Business as Usual" (Henley, Smith) - 5:31
"Center of the Universe" (Henley, Frey, Smith) - 3:42
"It's Your World Now" (Frey, Tempchin) - 4:22

Bonus tracks on the Deluxe Collector's Edition
"Hole in the World" (Don Henley, Glenn Frey) – 4:13*
"Please Come Home for Christmas" (Charles Mose Brown, Gene C. Redd) – 2:58

Charts &Awards
Australia ARIA Chart[5][6][7] 1 3× Platinum 210,000+
Austria Media Control Album Chart[8] 2 Platinum 20,000+
Belgium IFPI Album Chart[9] 8 Gold 15,000
Denmark IFPI Albums Chart[10] 2 Platinum 30,000
Finland GLF Album Chart[11] 6 16.000
France SNEP Album Chart[12] 9
Germany Media Control Album Chart[9] 2 Platinum 200,000
Greece IFPI Album International Chart[13] 1 Gold 10,000
Hong Kong Album Chart[14] 1
India Album Chart[14] 1
Ireland IRMA Album Chart[9] 4 Platinum 15,000
Italy FIMI Album Chart[15] 4
Japan Oricon Albums Chart[16][17] 7 83,132
Korea Hanteo Album Chart[18] 9 2,597[19]
Malaysia Album Chart[14] 1
Netherlands MegaCharts Album Chart[20] 1
New Zealand RIANZ Album Chart[21] 1 2× Platinum 30,000
Norway IFPI Album Chart[9] 1
Russia RASC Album Sales Chart[22] 1
Singapore Album Chart[14] 1
Spain PROMUSICAE Album Chart[23] 13
Sweden GLF Album Chart[9] 2 Platinum 40,000
Switzerland Media Control Album Chart[24] 2 Gold 15,000
Thailand Album Chart[14] 1
UK Albums Chart[25][14][26] 1 2× Platinum 800,000+
U.S. Billboard 200[27][28][14] 1 7× Platinum 3,184,964
U.S. Billboard Top Country Albums[29] 1
U.S. Billboard European Top 100 Albums[30] 1


Singles
2005 "No More Cloudy Days" U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks 3
2007 "How Long" U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks[31] 7
2007 "How Long" U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs[32] 23
2007 "How Long" U.S. Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks 38
2008 "Busy Being Fabulous" U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs 28
2008 "Busy Being Fabulous" U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks 13
2008 "What Do I Do With My Heart" U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks 23

Awards
Year Winner Category Award
2008 Long Road out of Eden Best International Rock Album Fonogram – Hungarian Music Awards
2008 "How Long" Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal Grammy Awards


Nominations
Year Nominee Category Award
2008 Long Road out of Eden Best International Album BRIT Awards
2008 Eagles Best International Group BRIT Awards
2008 "How Long" Wide Open Country Video of the Year CMT Music Awards
2008 Eagles Vocal Group of the Year Academy of Country Music

Credits:
Andy Ackland Engineer
Bill Armstrong Trumpet
Chris Bell Engineer
Bobby Carlos Guitar Technician
Lenny Castro Percussion
Steve Churchyard Engineer
Luis Conti Percussion
Scott Crago Percussion, Drums, Producer
Richard F.W. Davis Keyboards, Programming, Producer, Orchestration
Glenn Frey Bass, Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals, Orchestration
John Gabrielli Guitar Technician
Al Garth Violin, Sax (Alto)
Mike Harlow Engineer
Jeri Heiden Art Direction, Design
Olaf Heine Photography
Don Henley Guitar, Percussion, Drums, Vocals, Horn Arrangements
Willie Hollis Keyboards
Brian Hunt Guitar Technician
Jason Lader Engineer
Greg Leisz Pedal Steel
Hank Linderman Engineer
Bob Ludwig Mastering
Chris Mostert Sax (Alto), Sax (Tenor)
Jim Nipar Engineer
Victor Rodriguez Guitar Technician
Elliot Scheiner Mixing
Timothy B. Schmit Bass, Vocals
Greg "Frosty" Smith Sax (Baritone), Horn Arrangements
Steuart Smith Guitar, Mandolin, Keyboards, Producer
Nick Steinhardt Logo
Bill Szymczyk Producer
Mike Terry Engineer
Michael Thompson Trombone, Accordion, Keyboards
Joe Walsh Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals

My Review :
No great fan of the Eagles though they have been nearly impossible to ignore due to my demographic; I have, strangely, gotten into The Long Run in recent years. Kinda reminds me of the post heyday sleazy Stones of the latter 'seventies. Latter-day sleazy Eagles music has a slightly sweet smell of aural/personal decay that I've found useful in interpreting my own middle-age.

So, after not owning any Eagles record for the majority of my adolescent/adult life, it was a strange twist that I found myself driving to a Wal-Mart to grab a copy of their first studio record in 2 yrs. Just Henley, Frey, Joe Walsh and the Poco bass player on this one so I thought that maybe, just maybe, it might sound a bit like The Long Run. Hey, they'd even titled this disc like it was some sort of sequel. And, amazingly, it does sound like a sequel. There are some crap awful songs that hearken back to their more earnest days, but there's also some of that damaged twilight Eagles stuff that picks up from where The Long Run left them. Henley's title song is certain to remain a personal favourite, Glenn Frey doesn't mess up anything too badly and catching up with Joe Walsh is like visiting a cool uncle that you haven't seen in awhile.