The Allnighter (album)
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The Allnighter is the second studio solo album by Glenn Frey, the guitarist and co-lead vocalist for the Eagles. The album was released in mid 1984 on MCA in the United States and the United Kingdom, two years after Frey's modestly successful début album, No Fun Aloud and four years after the demise of the Eagles. It was and still is Frey's most successful solo album throughout his whole solo career, having reached #22 on the Billboard charts, and releasing two Top 20 singles with "Smuggler's Blues" and "Sexy Girl". The album achieved Gold status by the RIAA in the US. It is generally regarded as the culmination of the smoother, more adult-oriented sound of Frey's solo work.
The single "Smuggler's Blues" helped to inspire the Miami Vice episode of the same name, and Frey was invited to star in that episode, which was Frey's acting début. The music video for the single also won Frey an MTV Video Music Award in 1985.
Composition
When Frey was asked about his song writing partnership with Jack Tempchin, he said at the time that "It’s funny, there are only those certain people where things click — at least for me. He’s very free. I’ll just run some soul licks by him, or I’ll ring him something like The Allnighter, which originally was just about staying up all night. But then we started talking about it and Jack says, ‘Staying up all night can’t play over three or four verses. What if the Allnighter was a guy?’ So, we made him into some woman’s every-guy."[1] The lyrics of "Better in the U.S.A" are opposed to the Soviet Union.[2]
Critical reception
In a contemporary review for The Village Voice, music critic Robert Christgau gave The Alnighter a "C" and panned it as a "smarmy piece of sexist pseudosoul".[2] In a retrospective review for The Rolling Stone Album Guide (1992), Mark Coleman gave the album two out of five stars and wrote that it "glistens with synthesized oomph, but the sugar coating doesn't sit well on Frey's mannered white R&B loverman act."[3] On the other hand, AllMusic's William Ruhlmann retrospectively gave it four-and-a-half stars and said that it departs from the "old Eagles sound" of Frey's last album for a "bluesy, rocking feel."[4]
Track listing
All songs by Glenn Frey and Jack Tempchin, except where noted.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "The Allnighter" | 4:22 |
| 2. | "Sexy Girl" | 3:30 |
| 3. | "I Got Love" | 3:49 |
| 4. | "Somebody Else" (Glenn Frey, Hawk Wolinski and Jack Tempchin) | 6:00 |
| 5. | "Lover's Moon" (Frey) | 4:10 |
| 6. | "Smuggler's Blues" | 4:17 |
| 7. | "Let's Go Home" | 5:01 |
| 8. | "Better in the U.S.A." | 3:00 |
| 9. | "Living in Darkness" (Frey) | 4:35 |
| 10. | "New Love" (Frey) | 4:25 |
| Total length: | 43:09 | |
- Additional track
| Bonus track on European and Asian releases | |||||||
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Personnel
- Glenn Frey – lead vocals, guitar, bass guitar, drums, keyboards, piano, synthesizer
- Additional musicians
- Josh Leo – guitar
- Duncan Cameron – guitar
- John "J.R." Robinson – drums
- Michael Huey – drums
- Larry Londin – drums
- David Hood – bass guitar
- Bryan Garofalo – bass guitar
- Greg Smith – saxophone
- William Bergman – saxophone
- Al Garth – saxophone
- Allan Blazek – keyboards
- Barry Beckett – synthesizer, piano
- David "Hawk" Wolinski – synthesizer
- Lee Thornburg – trumpet
- Vince Melamed – piano
- Nick DeCaro – strings
- Steve Forman – percussion
- Heart Attack Horns
- Victor Feldman – backing vocals
- Jack Tempchin – backing vocals
- Oren Waters – backing vocals
- Roy Galloway – backing vocals
- Luther Waters – backing vocals
Production
- Producers: Glenn Frey, Barry Beckett, Allan Blazek
- Engineer: Allan Blazek
- Mixing: Joe Chiccarelli
Sales chart performance
Album Peak positions
| Chart (1984) | Position |
|---|---|
| North American Billboard chart | 22 |
| Canadian RPM chart | 57 |
| UK Albums Chart | 31 |
| Swedish Sverigetopplistan chart | 40 |
Singles Peak positions
| Single | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| "Sexy Girl" | The Billboard Hot 100 | 20 |
| "Sexy Girl" | UK Singles chart | 81 |
| "Sexy Girl" | Hot Adult Contemporary Singles | 23 |
| "The Allnighter" | The Billboard Hot 100 | 54 |
| "Smuggler's Blues" | Mainstream Rock Tracks | 13 |
| "Smuggler's Blues" | The Billboard Hot 100 | 12 |
| "Smuggler's Blues" | UK Singles chart | 22 |
See also
References
- ^ http://ultimateclassicrock.com/glenn-frey-allnighter/
- ^ a b Christgau, Robert (October 22, 1985). "Christgau's Consumer Guide". The Village Voice. New York. Retrieved July 25, 2013.
- ^ Coleman, Mark (1992). "Glenn Frey". In DeCurtis, Anthony; Henke, James; George-Warren, Holly (eds.). The Rolling Stone Album Guide (3rd ed.). Random House. p. 265. ISBN 0679737294.
- ^ Ruhlmann, William. "The Allnighter - Glenn Frey". Allmusic. Retrieved July 25, 2013.