''The Longest Road'' is the eleventh studio album by

Seals and Crofts Seals and Crofts was an American soft rock duo made up of James Eugene Seals (October 17, 1942 – June 6, 2022) and Darrell George "Dash" Crofts (born August 14, 1938) They are best known for their hits "Summer Breeze (song), Summer Breeze" (1 ...

, released in July 1980 by

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...

. It was the final album the group released before being dropped by the label, and was their last studio album until 2004's ''

Traces Traces may refer to: Literature * ''Traces'' (book), a 1998 short-story collection by Stephen Baxter * ''Traces'' series, a series of novels by Malcolm Rose Music Albums * ''Traces'' (Classics IV album) or the title song (see below), 1969 * ''Tra ...

''. It is also the only Seals and Crofts album with no writing credits for co-founder Dash Crofts. Jim Seals instead wrote most of the songs with pianist Brian Whitcomb. Other guest musicians on the album include

Chick Corea Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea (June 12, 1941 – February 9, 2021) was an American jazz composer, pianist, keyboardist, bandleader, and occasional percussionist. His compositions "Spain", " 500 Miles High", "La Fiesta", "Armando's Rhumba", and ...

and

Stanley Clarke Stanley Clarke (born June 30, 1951) is an American bassist, film composer and founding member of Return to Forever, one of the first jazz fusion bands. Clarke gave the bass guitar a prominence it lacked in jazz-related music. He is the first jaz ...

Return to Forever Return to Forever was an American jazz fusion band that was founded by pianist Chick Corea in 1972. The band has had many members, with the only consistent bandmate of Corea's being bassist Stanley Clarke. Along with Weather Report, The Headhun ...

on the

jazz fusion Jazz fusion (also known as fusion and progressive jazz) is a music genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and jazz improvisation, improvisation with rock music, funk, and rhythm and blues. Electric guitars, ...

opening number "Stars" and

Michael Sembello Michael Andrew Sembello (born April 17, 1954) is an American singer, guitarist, keyboardist, songwriter, composer and producer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Sembello was nominated for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for his 1983 song "M ...

on "If and Any Day".

Track listing

All songs written by Jim Seals and Brian Whitcomb, except where noted #"Stars" #"Try Your Love" #"First Love" (Seals, Eddie Brown) #"If and Any Day" (

Marietta Waters Marietta Waters is an American singing, singer and most known for her performance of "Destination Unknown" on the ''Top Gun'' Top Gun (soundtrack), soundtrack, where she is credited by the stage name Marietta. Her other soundtrack credits includ ...

) #"Kite Dreams" (Seals,

Louie Shelton William Louis Shelton (born April 6, 1941) is an American guitarist and music producer. Biography During the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s Shelton was a session musician working in recording studios around Hollywood. Among his more notable session wo ...

, Whitcomb) #"Egypt, Israel & America" (Seals) #"The Longest Road" #"I Keep Changing the Faces" #"Silver Rails" #"One Planet, One People, Please" (Seals)

Personnel

* Jim Seals – lead vocals (except on "If and Any Day"), acoustic guitar (on "Egypt, Israel & America", "Silver Rails", and "One Planet, One People, Please"), tenor sax (on "Stars", "The Longest Road", and "Silver Rails") * Dash Crofts – lead vocals, mandolin, toy piano on "Silver Rails" *

– production, electric and acoustic guitars (except on "If and Any Day", "Egypt, Israel & America", "I Keep Changing the Faces", and "One Planet, One People, Please"), bass (on "Try Your Love", "Egypt, Israel & America", "The Longest Road", and "Silver Rails") *

– electric guitar and keyboards on "If and Any Day" *

Dean Parks Weldon Dean Parks (born December 6, 1946) is an American session guitarist and record producer from Fort Worth, Texas. Albums Parks was member of the North Texas State One O'clock Lab Band before moving to Los Angeles to work with Sonny and Cher ...

- electric guitar and electric sitar on "I Keep Changing the Faces" *

Tony Peluso Anthony F. Peluso (March 28, 1950 – June 5, 2010) was an American guitarist and record producer. He was lead guitarist for pop duo Carpenters from 1972 to 1983. Peluso played the fuzz guitar solo on the Carpenters' song " Goodbye to Love". He ...

– additional electric guitar on "Silver Rails", additional acoustic guitar on "One Planet, One People, Please" *

- bass on "Stars" *

Bob Glaub Bob Glaub (born May 10, 1952)Hageman, William (April 29, 2005)."The aces of bass: Five giants of an overshadowed instrument", Knight Ridder Tribune News Service. is an American bass player and session musician. He has played with such artists an ...

- bass on "First Love" *

Nathan Watts Nathan or Natan may refer to: People *Nathan (given name), including a list of people and characters with this name *Nathan (surname) *Nathan (prophet), a person in the Hebrew Bible *Nathan (son of David), biblical figure, son of King David and ...

- bass on "If and Any Day" * Dennis Belfield - bass on "Kite Dreams" *

Abraham Laboriel Abraham Laboriel López Sr. (born July 17, 1947) is a Mexican-American bassist who has played on over 4,000 recordings and soundtracks. ''Guitar Player'' magazine called him "the most widely used session bassist of our time". Laboriel is the f ...

- bass on "I Keep Changing the Faces" * Brian Whitcomb - electric and acoustic pianos (except on "First Love" and "If and Any Day"), synthesizer on "Kite Dreams" and "The Longest Road" *

- acoustic piano on "Stars" * Peter Reilich - synthesizer on "Try Your Love" * Greg Mathieson - electric and acoustic pianos on "First Love" * Don Freeman - keyboards on "If and Any Day" * Carlos Vega - drums (except on "If and Any Day" and "The Longest Road") * Raymond Pounds - drums on "If and Any Day" *

Mike Botts Michael Gene Botts (December 8, 1944 – December 9, 2005) was an American drummer, best known for his work with 1970s soft rock band Bread, and as a session musician. During his career, he recorded with Linda Ronstadt, Karla Bonoff, Andrew G ...

- drums on "The Longest Road" *

Don Heffington Don Heffington (December 20, 1950March 24, 2021) was an American drummer, percussionist, and songwriter. He was a founding member of the Los Angeles alternative country band Lone Justice, which he performed with from 1982 to 1985. Heffington was ...

- percussion (including congas) *

Victor Feldman Victor Stanley Feldman (7 April 1934 – 12 May 1987) was an English jazz musician who played mainly piano, vibraphone, and percussion. He began performing professionally during childhood, eventually earning acclaim in the UK jazz scene as ...

- additional percussion on "The Longest Road" * Julia Tillman, Luther Waters,

Oren Waters Oren Waters is an American vocalist best known for his work with the backup singing group The Waters, his siblings: Luther, Maxine and Julia. As an ensemble, Waters has been a part of 260 gold and over 100 platinum albums with artists ranging from ...

, and Maxine Willard - background vocals on "Egypt, Israel & America" *

Gene Page Eugene Edgar Page Jr. (September 13, 1939 – August 24, 1998) was an American conductor, composer, arranger and record producer, most active from the mid-1960s through the mid-1980s. His sound can be heard in the arrangements he did for Jeffer ...

– string arrangements for "Try Your Love" and "I Keep Changing the Faces" *

Jimmie Haskell Jimmie Haskell (born Sheridan Pearlman, November 7, 1926 – February 4, 2016) was an American composer and arranger for motion pictures and a wide variety of popular artists, including Elvis Presley, Neil Diamond, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Steely Da ...

– string arrangement for "First Love" *

Marty Paich Martin Louis Paich (January 23, 1925 – August 12, 1995) was an American pianist, composer, arranger, record producer, music director, and conductor. As a musician and arranger he worked with jazz musicians Peggy Lee, Ella Fitzgerald, Stan Kento ...

– string and horn arrangements for "Egypt, Israel & America" *

Bob Alcivar Bob Alcivar (born July 8, 1938, in Chicago, Illinois) is an American music producer, composer, conductor and keyboard player. He is the father of rock keyboard player Jim Alcivar ( Montrose, Gamma). Discography Film *''Butterflies Are Free'' ...

– string arrangement for "One Planet, One People, Please"

References

External links

* 1980 albums Seals and Crofts albums Warner Records albums {{1980s-rock-album-stub