''The Allnighter'' is the second solo studio album by

Glenn Frey Glenn Lewis Frey (; November 6, 1948 – January 18, 2016) was an American singer, guitarist and a founding member of the rock band Eagles. Frey was the co-lead singer and frontman for the Eagles, roles he came to share with fellow member Don ...

, the guitarist and co-lead vocalist for the

Eagles Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just ...

. The album was released in mid-1984 on MCA in the

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and the

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, two years after Frey's modestly successful debut album ''

No Fun Aloud ''No Fun Aloud'' is the debut solo studio album by Glenn Frey. It was released in 1982 on Asylum. The album reached #32 on the charts and contained two top 40 singles, " The One You Love" and "I Found Somebody". The album was certified Gold by t ...

'' 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 No. 22 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' charts, and releasing two top 20 singles with "

Smuggler's Blues "Smuggler's Blues" is a song written by Glenn Frey and Jack Tempchin, and performed by Frey. It was the third and final single from Frey's second studio album, '' The Allnighter'' (1984). It followed " Sexy Girl" and "The Allnighter"; of the thre ...

" and " Sexy Girl". The album achieved gold status by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

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 ''Miami Vice'' is an American crime drama television series created by Anthony Yerkovich and produced by Michael Mann (director), Michael Mann for NBC. The series stars Don Johnson as James "Sonny" Crockett and Philip Michael Thomas as Ricardo ...

'' episode of the same name, and Frey was invited to star in that episode, which was Frey's acting debut. The music video for the single also won Frey an

MTV Video Music Award The MTV Video Music Awards (commonly abbreviated as the VMAs) is an award show presented by the cable channel MTV to honour the best in the music video medium. Originally conceived as an alternative to the Grammy Awards (in the video category) ...

in 1985.

Composition

When Frey was asked about his song writing partnership with

Jack Tempchin Jack Tempchin is an American musician and singer-songwriter who wrote the Eagles song "Peaceful Easy Feeling" and co-wrote " Already Gone", "The Girl From Yesterday", "Somebody", and "It's Your World Now". Career During the Eagles' breakup per ...

, 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." The lyrics of "Better in the U.S.A" are opposed to the

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Critical reception

In a contemporary review for ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...

'', music critic

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...

gave ''The Alnighter'' a "C" and panned it as a "smarmy piece of sexist pseudosoul". In a retrospective review for ''

The Rolling Stone Album Guide ''The Rolling Stone Album Guide'', previously known as ''The Rolling Stone Record Guide'', is a book that contains professional music reviews written and edited by staff members from ''Rolling Stone'' magazine. Its first edition was published in 1 ...

'' (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." On the other hand,

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

's William Ruhlmann retrospectively gave it four-and-a-half stars and said that it departs from the "old

sound" of Frey's last album for a "bluesy, rocking feel."

Track listing

All songs by

and

, except where noted. ;Additional track

Personnel

– lead vocals, electric piano (1, 10), electric guitar (1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 9), bass (2, 5), backing vocals (2, 4, 7-10), guitar (3),

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

(5), acoustic guitar (5), synthesizers (6),

slide guitar Slide guitar is a technique for playing the guitar that is often used in blues music. It involves playing a guitar while holding a hard object (a slide) against the strings, creating the opportunity for glissando effects and deep vibratos tha ...

(6), acoustic piano (8),

celesta The celesta or celeste , also called a bell-piano, is a struck idiophone operated by a keyboard. It looks similar to an upright piano (four- or five-octave), albeit with smaller keys and a much smaller cabinet, or a large wooden music box ( ...

(10) Additional musicians * David "Hawk" Wolinski – synthesizers (1), organ (1, 7, 10), keyboards (4), synthesizer programming (4, 9), fuzz guitar (4) *

Barry Beckett Barry Edward Beckett (February 4, 1943 – June 10, 2009) was an American keyboardist, session musician, record producer, and studio founder. He is best known for his work with David Hood, Jimmy Johnson, and Roger Hawkins, his bandmates in th ...

– synthesizers (2), acoustic piano (2, 8), keyboards (3) * Nick DeCaro –

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...

(5), string arrangements (5) *

Vince Melamed Vincent Edward "Vince" Melamed is an American keyboardist and songwriter who resides in Nashville, Tennessee. He was born in New York, and moved to Los Angeles at an early age. Melamed has appeared with many bands as a keyboardist (Bob Dylan, J.D ...

– electric piano (7) * Duncan Cameron – harmony vocals, lead guitar (2), guitar (3), electric guitar (5-8), acoustic guitar (10) *

Josh Leo Josh Leo (born 1953 in Des Moines, Iowa) is an American guitarist, songwriter, and record producer active in Nashville, Tennessee. Leo was born in Des Moines, Iowa, but was raised in Kansas City, Missouri. In 1976, he moved to Chicago, Illinois ...

– electric guitar (6, 7, 10) * Bryan Garofalo – bass (1, 6, 7, 9, 10) *

David Hood David Hood (born September 21, 1943) is an American bassist from Muscle Shoals, Alabama. He also plays the trombone. He is a member of the Alabama Music Hall of Fame. Early life and education Hood was born in Sheffield, Alabama and attende ...

– bass (3, 8) * John Robinson – drums (1, 4) *

Larrie Londin Ralph Gallant (October 15, 1943 − August 24, 1992), better known by the stage name Larrie Londin, was an American drummer and session musician. According to journalist James Byron Fox, "If not the best known, Larrie is one of the most listene ...

– drums (2, 3, 8) *

Michael Huey J. Michael Huey (born October 24, 1950) is an American drummer and producer, earning 18 Gold / Platinum Top Ten Awards. He has played with a diverse group of artists in genres including Rock/Pop/Country/R&B such as Glenn Frey, Joe Walsh, Juice ...

– drums (6, 7, 10) * Steve Forman – percussion (1, 9),

conga The conga, also known as tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed drum from Cuba. Congas are staved like barrels and classified into three types: quinto (lead drum, highest), tres dos or tres golpes (middle), and tumba or salidor (lowest). ...

s (6) *

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 ...

–

vibraphone The vibraphone is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone is called a ''vibraphonist,'' ''vibraharpist,' ...

(7) * Al Garth – saxophone (4, 7) * Lee Thornburg – flugelhorn (10) * The Heart Attack Horns (3, 7, 9): ** Bill Bergman – saxophone ** Jim Colie – saxophone ** Greg Smith – saxophone, horn arrangements (9) ** John Berry, Jr. – trumpet ** Lee Thornburg – trumpet, horn arrangements (3, 7) * Roy Galloway – backing vocals (2, 4, 7-10) *

– backing vocals (2, 8), acoustic guitar (5) * Luther Waters – backing vocals (2, 8) *

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 ...

– backing vocals (2, 4, 7-10)

Production

* Producers – Allan Blazek and Glenn Frey (Tracks 1-10); Barry Beckett (Tracks 2, 3 & 8). * Recorded and Mixed by Allan Blazek * Second Engineers – Ray Blair and Steve Melton * Assistant Engineers – Lee Daley, Pete Greene and Rich Markowitz. * Art Direction – Jeff Adamoff * Illustration – Dave Sizer * Photography – Jim Shea * Management – The Fitzgerald Hartley Co.

Sales chart performance

Peak positions

Singles

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Allnighter 1984 albums Glenn Frey albums MCA Records albums Albums produced by Barry Beckett Blue-eyed soul albums