The first time I heard about Jackson Browne was from David Crosby. It was in an interview Crosby did with Rolling Stone magazine. He talked about this young songwriter he met who was overwhelming other musicians with the quality of his songs. So, when Jackson Browne’s Saturate Before Using album came out, I bought it right away. Of course the album was supposed to simply be called Jackson Browne, but the photo of the desert water bag gave it a new title. Even Jackson Browne refers to it as:
Released in January of 1972, it’s an excellent singer-songwriter album. The hit was “Doctor My Eyes”, and it included “Rock Me On The Water” and “Something Fine”, with sublime harmonies by David Crosby.
The song that is probably his best know composition wasn’t included. Instead, Browne gave it to the songwriter who helped him finish it…Glenn Frey. The Eagles album premiered a little later that same year with “Take It Easy”. The ever humble Browne says it was the extended “Eeeeeasy” and other aspects of the Eagles’ arrangement that turned his song into a hit.
Jackson Browne was never a “singles artist”. It’s always been about his Albums. For Everyman was next in 1973. The album included “These Days” (Gregg Allman recorded a popular version of it), ”For Everyman”, and “Take It Easy”.
In 1974 Jackson Browne released Late For The Sky. It’s his best studio album. There are only eight songs, because they’re fairly long. Browne says he sometimes has trouble letting go of the writing process. I remember the review in Rolling Stone that called three of the songs “masterpieces”… “Fountain Of Sorrow”, “For A Dancer”, and “Before The Deluge”. Not far behind are “The Road And The Sky”, “The Late Show”, and “Late For The Sky”.
1977 was the year of The Pretender. Besides the title song, it included the single “Here Come Those Tears Again”, and standout album tracks “The Fuse”, “Your Bright Baby Blues” and “Sleep’s Dark And Silent Gate”.
All of Jackson Browne’s first four albums are Platinum or multi-Platinum sellers, but his breakthrough to an even larger audience was Running On Empty. It was an unusual concept. The songs were new, but instead of using studio versions, they were all recorded live. (Only Neil Young’s Time Fades Away had used that concept.). Besides the songs being performed to audiences, one was recorded in a hotel room, “Cocaine (Running All ‘Round My Brain)”, and one even on the tour bus, “Nothing But Time”. The songs that got the most radio play are “Running On Empty”, “You Love The Thunder”, and the killer ending medley, “The Load Out/Stay” There’s a real freshness to the album. It went 7-times Platinum.
Running On Empty was released in December of 1977, and Jackson Browne started the album tour in Omaha in January, 1978. We were there…my all-time favorite concert. (It might actually be a tie with Paul McCartney’s 1993 concert in Kansas City.)
This was the peak for Jackson Browne. He had many of LA’s best studio musicians…Lee Sklar on bass, Craig Doerge on piano, Russ Kunkel on Drums, Doug Haywood on guitar, Danny Kortchmar on lead guitar, and David Lindley on lap steel guitar. The sound at the concert was top notch. We could hear each player so clearly that we could pick out the individual performances on the various instruments. Jackson Browne was perfect! Three encores.
The next album Hold Out (1980) was #1 and double-Platinum. Lawyers In Love (1983) also went Platinum.
We saw Jackson Browne for the second time in 1986 during his Lives In The Balance tour. It was our son Paul’s first concert. World In Motion (1988) was not as popular as his previous albums, but he bounced back nicely with I’m Alive (1993), and we saw him again in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Five more studio albums followed. Here’s the complete list of studio releases.
His double-disc set, The Very Best Of Jackson Browne, covers most of his career, and is a good choice for streaming or collecting.
Besides his studio albums, Browne released two albums of live solo performances of some of his best songs. The albums showed off Jackson’s often overlooked guitar and piano skills, plus the sparse instrumentation let the lyrics shine.
In 2015 Jackson Browne came to us…Eugene, OR…for an outdoor concert. Here are some photos. (Click to enlarge.) It was a perfect day…as early evening turned into night.
The time has passed when singer-songwriters ruled the music world and toured with the best musicians. But, it was a packed show, and Jackson Browne still sounded great!
Update: Jackson Browne’s album Downhill From Everywhere was released July 23rd, 2021. It’s his best album in decades. A complete review of the album is on this site. Here’s the link: https://ontherecords.net/2021/07/jackson-brownedownhill-from-everywhere-review/
Also, you can check out the David Crosby…For Free (Review) to see what Jackson Browne recently said about David Crosby.
This is certainly thorough, extremely well-written and very heartfelt!! Now I wanna hear Downhill from Everywhere, and right now!! Thanks a lot. I haven’t kept up with his last few lps.