Jackson Browne - C or D?

However, Springsteen's Tunnel of Love is his only album to approach the delicate filigrees of "In the Shape of a Heart."

Solo Acoustic is utterly wonderful - the live version of "Looking East" is terrific, the solo acoustic "These Days" is great, there really isn't an off moment in the set.

I sure do. Note the tone of his vocal on "Downbound Train" -- it's almost querulous; the character can't believe things have gotten so bad for him. Browne's voice works for what he does -- it communicates the narcissism of his lyrics and the hermetic predictability of the L.A. arrangements -- but it also just sits there. When he's on, though, he's great; the only person I want to hear singing "Lawyers in Love" is Browne, in part because Browne probably hangs out with lawyers more often than Springsteen and thus knew whereof he spoke.

this isn't true btw

once again however generally speaking I gotta agree to disagree with you Alfred

this could be a shorter post if I just said "me thinking Alfred's opinion is totally insane in an endearing kind of way" but I like hearing you unpack yr stuff

Is anyone still wondering about this? I'll explimacate it if necessary, but one hates to kill the magic and all.

"Late For The Sky" is indeed fantastic, but some of his later work is surprisingly good too. I would particularly like to mention "I'm Alive", which was his "breakup album", released as late as 1993, and which contains a lot of great songs.

One underrated record is Lives In The Balance. He spent the eighties getting upset about US policy in central America, which isn't the best recipe for making timeless music. But that record has In The Shape Of A Heart, which is in his top 5, and Black and White, which is another excellent record.

And the solo acoustic thing is way better than anybody could have imagined.

"the words had all been spoken / and yet somehow the feeling still wasn't right / so we continued on through the night..." sort of epitomizes what i'm talking about. that's a great opening line, but also sort of clinical, and the song doesn't really fulfill all its expectations,and i don't know what the clincher (the title phrase) means exactly.
Is anyone still wondering about this? I'll explimacate it if necessary, but one hates to kill the magic and all.

― hearditonthexico (rogermexico), Monday, October 23, 2006 12:07 PM Bookmark

yeah, i'd like to know

me too.

anyone?

funny "Running on Empty" (the song) came up last night - strange how much I wanted to like this stuff 5 years ago.

his live album with David Lindley this year, Love Is Strange, is pretty fucking great - I think in the absence of a producer with hunger & vision, his studio albums have really suffered (although I love his schtick so much that at this point I will even rep for "I'm the Cat" from Looking East), but his live records are just insanely good. his live singing voice - I don't know how they mic'd him on the last studio album, but it muffled him & made him sound tired; live, he's a little weathered, but singing with this sort of studied ease - enviable, awesome. and Lindley...I mean, cards on the table, we're from the same town so I know him some, but ask anybody, what an incredible musician he is.

there's a version of "call it a loan" on this that's just ridiculously effective - emotional, but so measured; subservient to the melody, standing in service to it. unbelievable.

singing with studied ease indeed; his voice has aged extraordinarily well, barely any deterioration to my ears, esp. for a guy in his 60s who's been pro singer since his teens.

okay... um... looks like I'm nearly a year late on this (sorry amateurist!) and i hate hate hate to go all songmeanings on such a finely-crafted lyric... so i'ma keep a gentle touch here but...

Of course, the title means what it says - "we've both got places to be that aren't this bed."

But it gets its punch from some pretty clever songcraft. Up until the final lines, we're drifting in the night... the last sleepless hours of a failed affair, the eyes shut tight, the dream of getting it right this time... and then against that, suddenly, at last, the volta. The rising sun. The morning flight that it will surely carry you up, away, into daylight and romantic love, if only this time you can catch it. It's as much a fantasy as the hope of making this one the right one, but and if we trace our steps from the beginning we know it's there waiting for us, but we dust ourselves off and grab our bag and step into the morning and gun the engine and we're off down the canyon in a plume of dust toward the 101 and LAX and if we can just drive fast enough, this time, this time we can make the sky.

Or something, no?

Somebody's Baby describes my defeatist attitude towards approaching women to a T -- circa 2008.

I don't know how they mic'd him on the last studio album but it muffled him & made him sound tired

The title track, Time The Conqueror was his best song in decades

This is really great:
http://www.indierockreviews.com/2011/02/a-tribute-to-jackson-browne-by-grails/

fav cover of one of his songs i think

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MHdPKCOB2A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqYiHkx7ils

kills me.

"Last night I watched the news from Washington, the capitol
The Russians escaped while we weren't watching them, like Russians will
Now we've got all this room, we've even got the moon
And I hear the U.S.S.R. will be open soon
As vacation land for lawyers in love"

--in 1983! motherfucker predicted the end of history six years in advance.....pretty good for an El Lay softhead, no? (#fakechristgau)

Binging on 'Late for the Sky' today. JB is undoubtedly classic in my book (doesn't mean he's the coolest guy in the world, btw), but what is even more classic is JB + David Lindley. The latter consistently elevates every thing of Browne's he's on.

This is pretty nice:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZFRPwrYeNA

One more - 9 minutes of 'Before the Deluge':

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8y45mAGJRA

side one is just unfathomably perfect. The Road and the Sky however - fucking hell what a terrible terrible way to start side 2.

Otm on both accounts. That tune sure sticks out like a sore thumb.

totally unbelievable live. his band kills

ok wait i think the lines were "you've heard that hollow sound/of your own steps in flight." what a precious-precious line.

quoting this v v old post to say i think this is an incredible lyric

totally unbelievable live. his band kills

indeed - and they played for 2½ hours when I saw them friday!

Few things are able to make the flesh crawl all the way off of my body quite like David Lindley's falsetto in the middle of 'Stay'.

ok wait i think the lines were "you've heard that hollow sound/of your own steps in flight." what a precious-precious line.

quoting this v v old post to say i think this is an incredible lyric

― insufficiently familiar with xgau's work to comment intelligently (BradNelson), Thursday, February 26, 2015 2:49 AM (1 year ago)

an ilxor mentioned this line on his FB page recently and yes this is a devastating piece of writing imo

I love this song, but I don't see the full magic in any one line in particular. It takes a lot of words for him to get at what he's describing, but it's the whole analysis of his experience that I love:

But when you see through love's illusions, there lies the danger
And your perfect lover just looks like a perfect fool
So you go running off in search of a perfect stranger
While the loneliness seems to spring from your life
Like a fountain from a pool

Maybe I'll try again. His voice tends me to vague me out pretty quickly. But always loved Bonnie Raitt's versions of "Under The Falling Sky" and "I Thought I Was A Child"---did she do any more of his? A whole album of Bonnie Sings Jackson would be a definitive Boomer move, but/and I'd buy it (maybe not even wait for the NPR pledge drive). Equally definitive: Nico, "These Days."

Oh yeah, and his own performance of the epic "You Know The Night" on Note of Hope, where various artists provide new music for words from W.Guthrie's notebooks, diaries, letters, telephone pads etc---this is a 14 minute setting (there's also ace 4-minute "Radio Edit") of G.'s note to self after meeting Marjorie, his next wife and mother of Nora, Arlo etc. Browne said he wrote out the whole thing on loose pages and set them up around the room while he was recording, maybe writing too. Another artist's inspired verbosity rang a bell!

But when you see through love's illusions, there lies the danger

I'm surprised this fusspot didn't write "therein."

ha, alfred, your take on Jackson itt completely baffles me!

It baffles me too.

Three songs are all I need for my Browne fix: "Lawyers in Love" on the political end, "In the Shape of a Heart" for L-O-V-E, and "Running on Empty" for '70s angst.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, January 24, 2006 12:27 PM (10 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i mean you are completely right that these are the best songs ever

it's possible i mentioned in some other jb thread that i saw him live in orlando last year and "in the shape of a heart" was particularly incredible