One of Felder's pre-exit Eagles anecdotes was that he thought that the band split the first day he joined them. Leadon reassured Don that it was just a regular day in the Eagles and they were always on the brink of splitting up.
If the Eagles had a couple more gigs scheduled to fulfill after the "Long Night At Wrong Beach" I'm sure they would have performed them and maybe even delivered the further album they were contracted to produce.
The record company accepted a bunch of solo albums instead.
Long Road Out Of Eden is a great Eagles album. I really hope that they make another. If the Buckingham / McVie thing is a success maybe Don, Joe and Tim will feel like putting something out. With Trump in office there's a whole album's worth of material begging to be written right there.
I can't find them now, but I think I've read/heard interviews where Glenn said he knew he would be leaving either half way through the recording of The Long Run or after two weeks (he probably said both at different times). What is clear from any interview with Glenn from the 1980s was that he really did need to leave for his own well-being.
If we're think of "what ifs", What if they'd taken a break after Hotel California to work on solo albums? What if Hotel California hadn't been quite as successful? What if someone had convinced them that drugs weren't helping?
I was just looking through a book I have called "The Eagles-Flying High" by Laura Jackson. She is a British journalist and wrote what I consider the most balanced book on the band. There is a quote from Glenn in the 1980's stating he knew he would be leaving the group half way through the making of TLR. He states it was the worst, most stressful experience of his life and he would never go through that again. There is also a quote from Don H. stating due to the exhaustive tour schedules and the pressure to produce a new album every year by the record company, they could only keep going by using Cocaine. He states by July 1980, they were all beyond physically and emotionally exhausted and under presser by Asylum to begin another album. The record company wanted one more album, which was their cash cow. In addition, Asylum knew music was changing with disco and punk and they(Asylum) knew the band had reached it's peak and were on the verge of breaking up. Instead of the new album they made the "Eagles Live" album. Asylum President Joe Smith had offered them 2 million for two knew songs on the album and Glenn refused. At that time he was done with the band no matter how much Asylum offered.
I think Glenn left for his physical/emotional well being. There is a quote from him while making NFA, that he would never put himself through the brutal schedule like he did when he was in the Eagles. He also states he lived the Eagles 24/7 for nine years and could count on one hand the times he had taken a vacation. Obviously, he was physically, mentally and emotionally burned out.
I believe his experience making TLR was a big reason why it took them so long to make another record. IMHO, they probably felt they did not have too as they were selling out concerts all over the world and making mega bucks.
One of them (either Glenn or TBS) says as much in one of the interviews for the HFO concert. Obviously in the 14 years most of them had married and had kids and begun to have a 'normal' personal life. Once that happens you can't go out for beer, cocaine and willing females every night!
I don't know if I would consider it "wasted time." There was some great solo material created during that time. Don H, Glenn and Joe had such different-sounding albums and songs; I don't see them coming together and agreeing to the collaborative effort required for an album. Especially given the ordeal they endured with "The Long Run"--a decent album with a couple of great tracks, but hardly their best work.
By the 80s, the Eagles were considered passé, a throwback to the hippie era. I don't believe they were simpatico enough then to agree to what the next "Eagles" sound should be to keep up with the times. What might have happened is an album with a collection of solo tracks--not unlike LROOE. At least "The Long Run" sounds like the band working together, however painful it may have been.
Right or wrong, what’s done is done
It’s only moments that you borrow...
This is one of my reasons for not being overly eager on LROOE, nor the concept of more to follow.
Glenn has three (of many) songs on it LROOE that are excellent - ILTWAWD, It's Your World Now and You Are Not Alone. The trouble is is that for the first two especially, there's basically no input at all from the other Eagles. They belong on solo albums just as LTBS belongs on a Don Henley album.
Don H. gets far too preachy on some of his contributions too - what made The Last Resort and LROOE (the title track) so good was that they hold the truth as Don Henley saw it, but in the way that a philosopher tells a story, not the way an angry church minister does. I got the sense that with Henley not having an equal (as in control) songwriting partner for something like Business As Usual like Glenn would be perhaps led him to go all guns blazing, and it makes him sound like an angry, bitter old man.
Joe's two contributions vocally range from bang average (GOTC) to so bad I've never actually listened to it all the way through (Last Good Time in Town). Not his finest hour by a long way. I wonder if any of his potentially better contributions were sacrificed to be saved for Analog Man (as I believe One Day at a Time was).
TBS is actually very good on it and his two songs are two of the better ones on the album.
If LROOE had been a single disk of the ten best songs on the album (yes, I know, it'd be different depending on who you asked) then it would be a belter - How Long, Long Road Out of Eden and Somebody are cracking tracks that I am so glad saw the light of day. The abundant, mediocre tat though drags it down so badly. Not a chance in a million years that all four of them are present on every track, which is what a band should be doing as a starter!
LROOE is hit or miss to me. There are some songs that I love, and some that I don't care for. I agree with you, TLR, about Henley's ranting on Business As Usual and other tracks like it. It sounds reminiscent of some of his solo work (If Dirt Were Dollars, Gimme What You Got, I Will Not Go Quietly, etc.) - those songs all sound the same to me. I agree with you about Joe's songs too. Mixed bag though it is, I'm glad they got together to make LROOE.