Where Eagles Dare

NOBODY EXPECTED the Eagles to pull this one off. Hotel California, their last album, betrayed a group hesitant to stray from familiar territory, unwilling to explore themes beyond the California fast life, unrequited love and witchy, lying women. And after Hotel California Joe Walsh and Randy Meisner went the solo route, leaving the band treading water in the backwash of the New Wave tide. But somehow the Eagles stayed afloat. Somehow they coaxed Walsh back into the flock, incorporated new themes into their music, and experimented with new sounds. And somehow The Long Run turned out to be a surprisingly original and promising album.

But the novelty that is the greatest asset of The Long Run is also what bogs it down. In abandoning the slick mediocrity of Hotel California, the Eagles have sacrificed the unity of their previous albums. The old style was wearing thin, but it was the Eagles; and its only vestige is the desperado voice of Don Henley. The new cuts have more depth, but they point in many different directions.

And it's obvious that some of the experiments will lead to dead ends. "The Greeks Don't Want No Freaks," a short, punky rock'n roll commentary on the superficiality of college fraternities, could be a preliminary homework assignment in a "How to Sound Like Elvis Costello" class:

There was beer all over the dance floor,

And the band was playing rhythm and blues.

You got down and did the Gator

And half an hour later

You were bumping all over your boyfriend's shoes.

But the Greeks don't want no freaks.

If this song is any indication of the Eagles' ability to cut it in the world of New Wave, they'd better drop the course.

The weakest tracks on The Long Run suffer from the same malady as "Greeks"--the band's unfamiliarity with new styles. The Eagles are good at solid lyrics and sing-along tunes, but they have trouble trying to create the more ambitious moods they strive for in cuts like "Teenage Jail" and "The Disco Strangler." The problem here is that the band buries its talents in an attempt to say something new; the messages are too specific, the music too strong.

But when the Eagles get off the ground, they soar. Joe Walsh spits out "In the City," perhaps the best cut on the album, with an anger that eclipses the past "Take It Easy" style of social commentary. The song works because it's a logical evolution from the old sound--not a self-conscious deviation from it. And in "King of Hollywood," Henley and Glenn Frey reiterate the old themes, but without the Hotel California gloss; this one is straightforward and un-hyped.

Bass player Timothy B. Schmit, a former member of Poco who replaces Meisner, adds a new dimension to the Eagles, tempering the fury of The Long Run with his romantic "I Can't Tell You Why." Schmit's haunting tenor elevates run-of-the-mill lyrics to a sensitive, convincing level. In fact, the cut epitomizes what makes the good songs on this album click: they're from the heart, reflecting the experience and professionalism of the band members--they indicate the Eagles' ability to work creatively witnin the framework of their talents.

But the problem is that the Eagles are still testing their new wings. At their early-October Boston Garden concerts, they included only four of the new songs in their two-hour sets: "In the City," "I Can't Tell You Why," "Heartache Tonight"--a cut with an irresistable, pulsating beat and torchy lyrics--and the title track. The disjointedness of these four songs, especially when interspersed in the bloc of old classics, underlined the group's growing pains.

IN THE TITLE TRACK, the band boasts, "Who can go the distance/We'll find out in the long run....When it all comes down/We will still come through in the long run." There's no denying that we can now expect more from the Eagles--they've checked out of Hotel California and they've gained a perspective on life in the fast lane. But at present the band is still groping for a new identity to replace the old sound. Their latest album reaffirms the Eagles as one of mainstream rock's best bands. But The Long Run is, ironically, a good album for the short run--better things are sure to come.