Jackson Browne - C or D?

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.

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

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

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

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