Celebration of "Long Road Out of Eden"!

[Ive always been a dreamer]

Yep - I hope you enjoy LROOE, SL.

I also made a single disc, but I rarely play it. It doesn't feel right - seems like it's incomplete or something.

[Jonny Come Lately]

Having read other comments about how the album may have turned out had it been released as a single disc, I think I'll give my preferred single disc version of LROOE.

I think the most important choices to be made are where there are two tracks which are fairly similar to each other, IMO there are two of these:
- You Are Not Alone and It's Your World Now, both Glenn songs which bring the respective CDs to a close. Part of me thinks I should go for the latter as thematically it's probably better as the closing track, but musically I prefer the former. So You Are Not Alone it is.
- Frail Grasp On The Big Picture and Business As Usual, both Don Henley social commentary songs which are among the more rocking songs on the album. I seem to be fairly unusual in really liking Frail Grasp, more so than Business As Usual, so I'll take that one.

I also suspect that had LROOE been released as a single album there would only have been one track each by Joe and Tim. I found these to be quite easy to choose, I definitely prefer Last Good Time In Town to Guilty Of The Crime, not least because it's an original Eagles song. Same goes for Do Something over I Don't Want To Hear Any More.

There are three songs where I had been involved in making the album I would have absolutely insisted the band include no matter what - excluding the title track for obvious reasons, these would have been How Long, Waiting In The Weeds and Somebody.

So here's my tracklisting:
1. No More Walks In The Woods
2. How Long
3. Busy Being Fabulous
4. Center Of The Universe
5. Waiting In The Weeds
6. Do Something
7. Long Road Out Of Eden
8. I Dreamed There Was No War
9. Somebody
10. Frail Grasp On The Big Picture
11. Last Good Time In Town
12. You Are Not Alone

I probably have a slight bias towards Don's songs over Glenn's on this album, so this might explain some of my choices. I've also noticed that the first half is mostly country/acoustic with the exception of How Long, while the second half is mostly rock except for IDTWNW and YANA. Maybe Center Of The Universe is perhaps a little early in the tracklisting in would be better between Last Good Time In Town or You Are Not Alone, I'm not sure.

F50, I have the same issue when listening to Wishbone Ash as you do with Poco and The Flying Burrito Brothers - I find it hard to tell which one of the three singers is singing at any one time. It doesn't bother me too much in their case though as they are predominantly a twin-lead guitar rock band. Like you I've never had any problem telling the Eagles vocalists apart - I remember when I first listened to One Of These Nights, my second Eagles album, I could tell straight away that it was Randy singing Too Many Hands and Take It To The Limit and Glenn singing Lyin' Eyes as well as on ATTIG, and I could tell that Visions and I Wish You Peace were by different vocalists even though I hadn't heard Felder or Bernie sing lead before.

[Funk 50]

Actually you've got me beat with Visions JCL.

It's a whole new topic but I'd have difficulty recognising the band playing Visions, never mind, the lead vocalist. All the vocals are so multi-tracked, it could be anybody singing.

I'm trying to think of Eagles tracks now, that don't sound like Eagles tracks.

Journey Of The Sorcerer is the obvious one.

The harmony vocals are always the real giveaway but LROOE tracks I Don't Want To Hear It Anymore, Last Good Time In Town and What Do I Do With My Heart, plus the Grammy winning instrumental sound un Eagly. You can broaden your boundaries a bit more on a double CD though.

[Jonny Come Lately]

I think The Disco Strangler should be added to your list - its lack of backing vocals of any kind and the very repetitive and in your face guitar riff makes it sound rather unlike the Eagles. Don Henley's voice is recognisable, but if I didn't know better I'd have said that it was a Henley solo track rather than the Eagles. I also feel that Out Of Control is not that immediately recognisable as their music, more so than any of their other rockers - Already Gone, by contrast, I consider to pure Eagles, and as I've said before I couldn't imagine any other band doing that song as well.

The most Eagles-y tracks on LROOE to my mind are NMWITW (Seven Bridges Road-esque vocal harmonies), Busy Being Fabulous, Somebody, Center Of The Universe, and, rather unsurprisingly, How Long. To a lesser extent I would also include the title track, Do Something, You Are Not Alone and Frail Grasp. Fast Company is a strange one - on one hand Henley's falsetto in the verses and the use of horns is very un-Eagles, the guitars sound much like On The Border or LITFL to me. Without prior information I would have mistaken IDTWNW for Mark Knopfler, while I think Last Good Time In Town sounds kind of like Santana, although that does have Joe's distinctive vocals. I find it a bit more difficult to describe why WDIDWMH and IDWTHAM don't sound like Eagles songs, but you're right in saying that they don't, I think.

I could give a couple of examples for other bands as well - San Tropez has never really sounded like a Pink Floyd track to me, being so outwardly happy in its sound and outlook, and the music sounds more like jazz than typical Floyd, while much of Led Zeppelin's In Through The Out Door album, with its prominent use of keyboards and synthesisers on songs like Southbound Saurez or All My Love is practically unrecognisable as the band that brought the world Communication Breakdown and Whole Lotta Love. I don't think it's a coincidence that Jimmy Page isn't credited as a writer on either of the ITTOD tracks I mentioned.

[Funk 50]

The most Eagles-y tracks on LROOE to my mind are NMWITW (Seven Bridges Road-esque vocal harmonies), Busy Being Fabulous, Somebody, Center Of The Universe, and, rather unsurprisingly, How Long. To a lesser extent I would also include the title track, Do Something, You Are Not Alone and Frail Grasp. Fast Company is a strange one - on one hand Henley's falsetto in the verses and the use of horns is very un-Eagles, the guitars sound much like On The Border or LITFL to me. Without prior information I would have mistaken IDTWNW for Mark Knopfler, while I think Last Good Time In Town sounds kind of like Santana, although that does have Joe's distinctive vocals. I find it a bit more difficult to describe why WDIDWMH and IDWTHAM don't sound like Eagles songs, but you're right in saying that they don't, I think.

I think the biggest "sore thumb" track on Long Road Out Of Eden is the title track. Some of it sounds like classic Eagles but it doesn't really fit with the other tracks and as such it'd be the first track to be thrown out if LROOE (the album would have to be renamed) was cut to a single disc.

Maybe the fact that they were talking about it long before it was released, forced the Eagles to stretch the album out to a double disc rather than cut the centerpiece title track.

I agree about I Dreamed There Was No More War. Even the title is un-Eaglish. Last Good Time In Town, I'd say is more Steely Dan-ish groove wise. I wish somebody had talked Joe out of the whispering bit. I didn't like it in, The Confessor either or Glenn's, Let's Pretend We're Still In Love.

Fast Company, I'd say is the closest track to The Long Run, Eagles. If it wasn't a Szymczyk production, I'd love to know who the producer was.

I've worked out a few single disc track sequences since it was released in 2007. I'm working on another. I'm convinced, Waiting In The Weeds should be the opener.

[thelastresort]

Don't care for either LGTIT (easily IMO Joe's worst Eagles contribution) or Fast Company (just downright bizarre), but I love the title track. It is a bit of out place on the album in general, and drags, granted, but I would also argue it's the best work Henley and Frey (and TBS) have churned out since the mid-70s. There's about three or four lines in it I would put forward as Henley's finest ever lyrics and Joe's guitar solo is one of his best.

[Freypower]

I think the biggest "sore thumb" track on Long Road Out Of Eden is the title track. Some of it sounds like classic Eagles but it doesn't really fit with the other tracks and as such it'd be the first track to be thrown out if LROOE (the album would have to be renamed) was cut to a single disc.

Maybe the fact that they were talking about it long before it was released, forced the Eagles to stretch the album out to a double disc rather than cut the centerpiece title track.

I agree about I Dreamed There Was No More War. Even the title is un-Eaglish. Last Good Time In Town, I'd say is more Steely Dan-ish groove wise. I wish somebody had talked Joe out of the whispering bit. I didn't like it in, The Confessor either or Glenn's, Let's Pretend We're Still In Love.

Fast Company, I'd say is the closest track to The Long Run, Eagles. If it wasn't a Szymczyk production, I'd love to know who the producer was.

I've worked out a few single disc track sequences since it was released in 2007. I'm working on another. I'm convinced, Waiting In The Weeds should be the opener.

I completely disagree that the title track doesn't fit with the other tracks. As it's my favourite track on the album I also can't agree that it would be the first track to go if it were a single CD.


Why is the title of I Dreamed There Was No War 'un Eaglish' What is an 'Eaglish song title'?. I also assume that implicit in your criticism of it is that you agreed with JCL that it sounds like Mark Knopfler. For the record, can I proudly state, that yes, it does.

The whispering in LGTIT is done by Glenn.

As for Fast Company, the album was produced by the Eagles. There was talk that Szymcyzk was going to produce it, but he doesn't have a credit.

[AlreadyGone95]

I bought this album last week at FYE, and I just now got a chance to sit down and give it a full listen. Here's my first listen ratings/thoughts.
*side note- I remember seeing this album in Walmart when it first came out (I was 12). I was like "Mom, look! The Eagles. They've released a new album! I thought that you told me they broke up?!" My mom said "They did. They're not together anymore. This must be a different band." .
My mom still believed this until last year when I bought the live from Melbourne dvd and she saw that it was from 2004!

Anyways, here's my rating system (I do in between numbers on songs I can't decide)
5- favorite
4- great
3- good
2- meh
1- sucks

Disc 1:
No More Walks in the Wood- 4, love the harmonies
How Long- 5, possibly my favorite on the album
Busy Being Fabulous- 3, I love the video, but the song doesn't do much for me
WDIDWMH- 2, eh, just not my song, I don't like Glenn's vocals on this one.
Guilty of the Crime- 4, a hard rocker! Yes! I love the keyboards on the song
IDWTHAM- 4.5, I'm shocked at how much am I enjoyed Tim's voice. I normally don't like the higher pitched singing much
Waiting in the Woods- 4.5, beautiful song and harmonies
No More Cloudy Days- 4, I'm not a big fan of love songs much, but this is an exception. I kind of see it not as a love song, but as a 2nd chance kind of song.
Fast Company - 3, Um, serious question. Is that Don doing the vocals? I don't like the vocals, but I enjoy the music.
Do Something- 3, I like the lyrics, but not the vocals
You Are Not Alone - 5, Beautiful, poignant, short, and simple. I love it. Songs like this are what give me hope for my future. As a person who has experienced alot of pain, turmoil, depression, and adversity in their relatively short life, this song speaks volumes. Didn't Glenn write this for his daughter?

Disc 2:
LROOE- 4.5, I love the song, but I don't like the intro. Am I the only one who thinks that in the lead up to the choruses, this song sounds like Silver Springs by Fleetwood Mac?
I Dreamed there was No War- 5, I love how LROOE segways into this short,simple, beautiful instrumental.
Somebody- 5, upbeat, creepy, I love it. It reminds me of Smuggler's Blues or THIO.
Frail Grasp- 4, I can't understand why this song is one of the least liked on the album (from what I gathered). It's a bit controversial, but I like it alot. I think it's meant to be somewhat humorous
Last Good Time in Town-3.5 not bad, but the weaker of Joe's 2 songs, imo
ILTWAWD- 1.5 I love Glenn, but it took all I could do to not hit the skip button. I don't want to say it sucks, but it's my least favorite song on the album for sure
Business as Usual - 3, not bad, but not memorable
Center of the Universe -3.5, love the harmonies
It's Your World Now- 4, love Glenn's vocals



Like most of ya'll, I could get this album down to 12-15 songs and be really happy with it. Overall, this is a great album. There's a few clunkers, but I can deal with them.

Now, to get my hands on the deluxe edition of this album!

[Brooke]

Nice review, AG. I agree with you on most all the songs there.

Btw, has your mom been living under a rock or what?!

[AlreadyGone95]

Nice review, AG. I agree with you on most all the songs there.

Btw, has your mom been living under a rock or what?!

Thanks Brooke!

I..er... she's only a casual music fan. She like the songs she hears on the radio, but that's it. She doesn't care about owning music or keeping up with bands. I'm the exact opposite!