I used to hurry a lot, I used to worry a lot

Continuing my trip back through the 1979 album charts.

28/10/79 : The Long Run - Eagles

Our third visit with Eagles and I was somewhat underwhelmed on our first visit but even I had to admit that Hotel California had some pretty decent tracks on it - I'm expecting this to be perfectly fine, but somewhat unnecessary.

Yeah, that's pretty much where we are - although there's a bit more variety than I was expecting. Don't get me wrong, most of it has the distinctive Eagles sound but "I Can't Tell You Why" has a definite Bee Gee feel to it and "Teenage Jail" has a surprisingly heavy feel to it. Do I remember any of it? No, I do not - but it's not dreadful, although I am intrigued as to what "The Disco Strangler" and "The Greeks Don't Want No Freaks" are on about. I also wonder how long they spent designing the album cover...

We're at #8 in the chart this week on their fifth week of a thirteen week run, with it having peaked at #4 in its second and third weeks. The top five this week were a blessedly compilation free selection of The Police, Fleetwood Mac, Blondie, The Specials (a new entry) and Lena Martell, with one more new entry in the top ten for The Boomtown Rats (#7).

Wikipedia has way more than I was expecting on the album, telling me it's sixth studio album and obviously the first to featurest Timothy B. Schmit and the last to feature Don Felder - neither of whom I could have named as Eagles members. Apparently, it was intended to be a double album until they realised they didn't have enough songs, so forgot that idea - the title is intended to suggest they will survive disco and punk (because they're in it for the long run) but was somewhat ironic in that they were all completely burned out (so it was somewhat unlikely they'd make it). Critically, Rolling Stone said it was "a bitter, wrathful, difficult record, full of piss and vinegar and poisoned expectations", which is apparently their way of saying they like it - but  others were somewhat less impressed. Commercially, it did very well, getting to #1 in Australia, Canada, Japan and Sweden, as well as, obviously, the US - where it sold EIGHT million copies. Madness, I tell you.

discogs.com tells us you can pick up a copy for three quid, but if you want the limited edition 180g super-vinyl boxset (and who doesn't?) it's going to set you back £200. I will not be spending that, I can assure you - and when I say "that", I mean three quid. There wasn't anything wrong with this, but it's no Hotel California, to say the least. 

21/10/79 - Could have been far worse
04/11/79 - More enjoyable than I was expecting

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