Jackson Browne - C or D?

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I don't get the hate towards "Lawyers in Love." Great pastiche of doo-wop, good guitar work, and Jackson shows that he's got a sense of humor!

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 12:36 (twenty-one years ago)

the arrangements on his later records are so clunky, i find them embarrassing even if the songwriting and lyrics aren't truly embarrassing.

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 16:03 (twenty-one years ago)

That's my problem with the much-beloved "Somebody's Baby," a terrific pop tune ruined by pedestrian El Lay backing band. It sounds like it could be sprightlier, happier, or swing a bit.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 16:11 (twenty-one years ago)

HUGE fucking Dud. He and the Eagles should be tied up, locked in a submarine and torpedoed towards the earth's core....where, upon arrival, they must fight desperately to stay alive against swarms of angry pteradactyles in a skyless, underground realm ruled by monobrowed zinjanthropi.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 16:14 (twenty-one years ago)

Loathe The Eagles. Love Doctor My Eyes.

― PappaWheelie (PappaWheelie), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 16:17 (twenty-one years ago)

HUGE fucking Dud. He and the Eagles should be tied up, locked in a submarine and torpedoed towards the earth's core....where, upon arrival, they must fight desperately to stay alive against swarms of angry pteradactyles in a skyless, underground realm ruled by monobrowed zinjanthropi.
-- Alex in NYC (vassife...) (webmail), May 4th, 2005 5:14 PM. (vassifer) (link)

i must say: alex, you've outdone yourself

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 16:36 (twenty-one years ago)

he's got a sense of humor

i dunno, his sense of humor seems really academic and leaden to me. i say this as a pretty big fan of his first 2 1/2 records.

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 16:39 (twenty-one years ago)

I like "Doctor My Eyes," that's a good single.

I also love his "Mae Jean Goes to Hollywood," done brilliantly by the Byrds...and I just heard a good version of it by Johnny Darrell, on this Raven Byrds-associated song comp called "Byrd Parts 2."

I mean, I think that's his best song ever.

Overall, though, not someone I go back to. I kinda think "Running on Empty" album is all right. He was on the road and all. I share Alex's wish to consign the Eagles to some eternal hell, though--even though I admit to liking "Take It to the Limit" and sort of halfway respecting some of what they did otherwise, like "Life in the Fast Lane," which is, uh, really well performed and recorded...

― edd s hurt (ddduncan), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 16:44 (twenty-one years ago)

three weeks pass...

" so classic in a mildly boring kinda way" is right. there's something so literal, dull, and occasionally quite dumb and clunky about "late for the sky," and yet browne describes certain moments of an affair with a good deal of precision, and it definitely evokes a cathartic "this is your life" response in me every few lines. but i'm not sure what it does beyond that. there's a real pleasure listening to this record (well, most of it) but it's one that leaves me feeling more than vaguely unfulfilled, uninspired.

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Friday, 27 May 2005 17:31 (twenty-one years ago)

Still love "Running On Empty" (the song), like "Lawyers in Love" and "In The Shape of My Heart," discard everything else.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Friday, 27 May 2005 17:32 (twenty-one years ago)

TS: Dan Fogelberg vs. James Taylor vs. Kenny Loggins vs. John Denver vs. Jackson Browne

― The Mad Puffin, Friday, 27 May 2005 17:35 (twenty-one years ago)

"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.

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Friday, 27 May 2005 17:39 (twenty-one years ago)

some of what i like about that record (and browne in general) is sort of ineffable, just the unshowiness of his phrasing and the timbre of his voice, which he almost always uses well (on his first 4 records at least).

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Friday, 27 May 2005 17:42 (twenty-one years ago)

also the way he writes a tune to those opening lines is sort of brilliant, the strain in his voice accompanying the higher reaches of the melody comes at EXACTLY the right moments in the lyric, as do the more "resigned" melodic resolutions.

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Friday, 27 May 2005 17:59 (twenty-one years ago)

i mean most good pop music has that sort of speech-like quality. but he really outdoes himself here. "i don't know WHAT YOU-U-U LOVED IN ME[voice cracks]" etc. although i still can't get behind this stuff unequivocally.

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Friday, 27 May 2005 18:01 (twenty-one years ago)

You should hear the Nina Demos, ammo.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Friday, 27 May 2005 18:05 (twenty-one years ago)

how do i hear them???? can you gmail them to me?

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Friday, 27 May 2005 19:58 (twenty-one years ago)

Be glad to burn copies. I'll email you.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Friday, 27 May 2005 22:46 (twenty-one years ago)

seven months pass...

I lived a quite happy Jackson Browneless existence from circa 1987 through 2005. It never even occurred to me that I might be missing something; there was so much else to listen to. Maybe I had a glimmering of reawakening when somebody covered "Somebody's Baby" for the Not Another Teen Movie soundtrack. But it passed.

The other day I had a sudden, intense need to hear "Tender Is the Night" and "The Pretender" and maybe also "Rock Me on the Water" and even "Lawyers in Love." Just for grins I thought maybe I also needed "Running on Empty" as well.

Holy moley. The dude is catching some very specific range of Boomer middle-aged melancholy that I'm going to find irresistible for a week and then put back on the shelf for another couple decades, but don't harsh my mellow just yet.

I never want to hear "Doctor My Eyes" again but there are a few lyrics of his that I absolutely need to have exist. God sends his spaceships to America. I want to know what became of the changes we waited for love to bring. Looking into their eyes I see them running too. Tender are the hunters. Just make sure you've got it all set to go before you come for my piano.

The production values show some of the worst late-70s excess and bigness/slickness, but then he mostly stick to recognizable, basically timeless rock instrumentation--few synth drums, few sax solos--and it has some agreeable white-t-shirt purity to it. His voice can be too earnest and a bit laconic, but at the same time, the way he sings "the benediction of the neon light" and "now we've got all this room, we've even got the moon" charm me.

― The Mad Puffin (The Mad Puffin), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 01:59 (twenty years ago)

his solo acoustic album from last year is awesome

― Thomas Tallis (Tommy), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 02:29 (twenty years ago)

yeah, his in-between song rants and especially "lives in the balance" are pretty cathartic, politically

― prince rupert, Tuesday, 24 January 2006 02:42 (twenty years ago)

i was gonna summon mr. tallis to thread, but here he is.

― stockholm cindy (winter version) (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 02:59 (twenty years ago)

yeah that solo "Lives in the Balance" sends chills down my spine! also the spoken intro to "These Days" is classic

― Thomas Tallis (Tommy), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 03:28 (twenty years ago)

Terry Melcher's "These Days" is quite the beautiful.

just yesterday a friend tried to convince me that Jackson Browne is better than Tom Petty. i wasn't having it, but i need to hear more browne

― jaxon (jaxon), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 06:04 (twenty years ago)

i only know the brilliant "lawyers in love" and the excellent "somebody's baby". should i buy a greatest hits or the original albums ?

― retrogurl, Tuesday, 24 January 2006 07:49 (twenty years ago)

Puffin, go back and listen to "Late For The Sky" a few times. If you've ever known it was over just before it was really, really over, and been lying in a bed with someone who knew the same thing... Well, if it doesn't get you on the first spin, it should still own you by four or five.

But yeah, "Tender Is The Night" is prolly my POO...

― rogermexico (rogermexico), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 19:08 (twenty years ago)

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, 24 January 2006 19:27 (twenty years ago)

i only know the brilliant "lawyers in love" and the excellent "somebody's baby". should i buy a greatest hits or the original albums ?

the albums are pretty uniformly excellent in my opinion all the way up through The Pretender

― Thomas Tallis (Tommy), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 20:17 (twenty years ago)

Even his Nicaragua phase has some worthwhile stuff, like Black and White, In The Shape of a Heart and For America.

― kornrulez6969 (TCBeing), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 21:20 (twenty years ago)

and "Lives in the Balance"!

― Thomas Tallis (Tommy), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 21:41 (twenty years ago)

I will YSI a few song from Jackson's 'Nina Demos' when I get a chance tonight. Songwriter demo album he made in 1967 at, I believe, the age of nineteen. (The original acetate album included his versions of the songs of his that Nico recorded on the Chelsea Girls album.)

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Wednesday, 25 January 2006 01:47 (twenty years ago)

Well, darn, my computer is having a hard time reading these CDs. Sorry, guys.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Wednesday, 25 January 2006 05:18 (twenty years ago)

eight months pass...

i'm deeply enjoying "late for the sky" today: classic!

― derrick (derrick), Sunday, 22 October 2006 20:54 (nineteen years ago)

I listened to last year's Solo Acoustic Volume 1 today in a car: classic!

― Thomas Tallis (Tommy), Sunday, 22 October 2006 21:09 (nineteen years ago)

The songs I mentioned upthread excepted, I usually wish Springsteen had sung his songs.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Sunday, 22 October 2006 22:30 (nineteen years ago)

Browne's singing is so immeasurably better than Springsteen's that I can only take my hat off to Alfred yet again

― Thomas Tallis (Tommy), Sunday, 22 October 2006 22:46 (nineteen years ago)

is Solo Acoustic worth grabbing, then? all i know are LFTS, Running on Empty, and his two 90s 'comeback' records ('I'm Alive' is good; 'Looking East' is less so). i mean to get the 1st album and 'The Pretender' soon.

― derrick (derrick), Sunday, 22 October 2006 23:04 (nineteen years ago)

Springsteen's voice can handle the ambivalences in his songs, which, parodoxically, are usually more attractively stentorian and demonstrative (at least post-Darkness On the Edge of Town) than Browne's, who can't resist poeticizing them into abstractions.

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

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Sunday, 22 October 2006 23:20 (nineteen years ago)

Tunnel of Love is the only Springsteen album than comes within three city blocks of "ambivalence"! Listen to JB's live version of "For a Dancer," there's depth I think you're mistaking for craft

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.

― Thomas Tallis (Tommy), Monday, 23 October 2006 00:26 (nineteen years ago)

Have you listened to Born in the U.S.A. lately?

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Monday, 23 October 2006 00:29 (nineteen years ago)

you're saying Springsteen's vocal communicates ambivalence in those performances? Alfred you are wonderful but all the ambivalence in in the text there, the vocal delivery is as nuanced as a sledgehammer, it's his vocal tendency to sandblast the ambivalence that allows broader audiences to dig his schtick

― Thomas Tallis (Tommy), Monday, 23 October 2006 01:06 (nineteen years ago)

you're saying Springsteen's vocal communicates ambivalence in those performances

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.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Monday, 23 October 2006 01:14 (nineteen years ago)

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

― Thomas Tallis (Tommy), Monday, 23 October 2006 12:47 (nineteen years ago)

I mean - the "hermetic predictability of the LA arrangements" is kinda a non-starting critique given that it's Browne on his first few records who's constructing the template; if it's predictable, it's only because it found general favor. But your refs onthread are to 80's JB, who could bang out a decent top-40 number from time to time but was generally lost in the woods; it's the albums from '71 through '78 that form the songbook. Though I myself like a fair amount of the 80's stuff too, and even Looking East for that matter. I drank the Kool-Aid I guess. I would advise a look at Browne's more tender love songs - "Your Bright Baby Blues," "The Only Child," "For A Dancer" - for examples of what I'd consider vocal subtleties of which Springsteen on his best day isn't capable (whose nuance is the nuance of pantomime: telegraph the punch, bring everybody in).

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

― Thomas Tallis (Tommy), Monday, 23 October 2006 12:55 (nineteen years ago)

I'd like to like Late for the Sky but I usually doze off after 2-3 songs.

― is anyone anticipating the new Baaderonixx? (baaderonixx), Monday, 23 October 2006 13:24 (nineteen years ago)

I'm telling you, Thomas: you're gonna be my lead guitarist in the Cheese-Filled Snares.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Monday, 23 October 2006 14:11 (nineteen years ago)

hahaha my solos are legendary

― Thomas Tallis (Tommy), Monday, 23 October 2006 14:26 (nineteen years ago)

As long as you don't play like L.A.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Monday, 23 October 2006 14:29 (nineteen years ago)

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

― hearditonthexico (rogermexico), Monday, 23 October 2006 17:07 (nineteen years ago)

Browne and Springsteen are both excellent singers, in their own respective, and very different from each other, ways. I would never had anyone else than Browne sing his material though, his voice fits in perfectly with those songs.

"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.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Tuesday, 24 October 2006 08:49 (nineteen years ago)

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Handsome man too.

― The Luda of Suburbia (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 27 November 2025 13:20 (six months ago)

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