Month: July 2021

It seemed like the 70s.  David Crosby and Jackson Browne released new albums on the same day (July 23rd, 2021).

David Crosby had trouble keeping friends in recent years, especially his band mates Stephen Stills, Graham Nash, and Neil Young.  So, he recruited other friends to help with his album, For Free.

The impressive cover painting is by Joan Baez.  The first song, “River Rise” is a solid start for the album, and features great harmony work by Michael McDonald.  Of course McDonald is known for his solo hits, as well as his work with The Doobie Brothers and Steely Dan.  Crosby also got Steely Dan’s Donald Fagan to co-write one of the other tracks, “Rodriguez For A Night”, which definitely sounds like it would have been at home on a Steely Dan album.

(Photo by Anna Webber)

The title track, “For Free”, is the well-known song by Joni Mitchell, and is done here as a duet with Sarah Jarosz.  The song is about a popular singer spotting a street musician who is…”playing real good for free”.  The recording has a beautiful sound, and they sing it in perfect harmony, but that’s the problem.   If Sara Jarosz had only joined-in with harmony for portions of the song, it would have been effective.  Unfortunately, with the two singing nearly every word in harmony, you can hear how hard they’re striving to stay in perfect synchronization.  The song loses its story-telling flow.  Crosby did a better version with The Byrds nearly 50 years ago.  By the way, David Crosby turned 80 on August 14h, 2021, just after the release of this album, and his voice was still strong.

Despite the slight miss on the title track, this is a high quality album. The playing, singing, and arranging are all first rate.  There are no clunkers to be found.  Some of these songs would have worked great as Crosby Stills & Nash recordings, but the tracks on this album that have more of a pop/jazz feel (like “Secret Dancer”) are cool too.  Of the flurry of albums David Crosby released late in his life, this is the best one.

For Free concludes with a touching song, “I Won’t Stay For Long”, by David Crosby’s son, James Raymond.  It includes the lyrics… “I don’t know if I’m dying or about to be born, but I’d like to be with you today, and I won’t stay for long.”

It was a long stay in the music business for David Crosby.  Since The Byrds hit with “Mr. Tamborine Man” in 1965, we’ve had the privilege of enjoying his talent.  Whether he sang harmony or lead, whether in a group or solo, he always gave us his very original style.  With all of David Crosby’s personal and health problems over the years, it’s amazing he made it to 81, and was still writing and singing at this high level.

On January 18th, 2023 David Crosby passed away (It was announced on the 19th).  His wife, Jan, released a statement that he died after a long illness, but members of his band said Crosby was preparing for a tour, even though he had to turn over his guitar parts to someone else.  In recent interviews, Crosby said that arthritis in his hands made guitar playing difficult.  Band members also said Crosby had been writing & recording new songs shortly before he died.

Extra:  During a July, 2021 interview in the Los Angeles Times, Jackson Browne was asked if any musicians served as mentors to him when he was young.  Here’s his answer:  “David Crosby agreed to sing on my first record.  He absolutely showed me how to record, how to multitrack vocals.  He praised me to others and to myself, and that was really important.  I feel a great debt of gratitude to David.”

Here’s the link to the review of Jackson Browne’s new album:  https://ontherecords.net/2021/07/jackson-brownedownhill-from-everywhere-review/

These days, Jackson Browne says the songwriting process is slower for him.  It’s been seven years since the 73-year-old singer/songwriter released a new album, and now we have Downhill From Everywhere.

The album is a collection of ten Jackson Browne originals (with some co-writing).  Right away, Jackson lets us know he’s “Still Looking For Something”, which is a really good song, and a strong start for the the album.  It would have been a good title for it.  He says…“If all I find is freedom, it’s alright.”

The featured single and video is “My Cleveland Heart”.  It’s a lap steel guitar rocker about avoiding heartbreak by getting an artificial heart at the famous Cleveland Clinic.  The video adds some humor to the idea.

The third track on the album, “Minutes To Downtown”, is another song about heartbreak, and it has that classic Jackson Browne sound.  “I See that smile, and even while it breaks my heart, I laugh.  That’s because this heart was already torn in half.”

The quality continues with the duet “A Human Touch”.  The vocal is started by co-writer Leslie Mendelson.  Jackson Browne adds harmony on the chorus, and then takes the lead on the next verse.  The lap steel guitar gives it a country feel, and the lyrics hit home after the distancing of the pandemic… “Sometimes all anybody needs is a human touch.”  It reminded me of another duet, “Sometimes Love Just Ain’t Enough”, by Patty Smyth and Don Henley.

The title track, “Downhill From Everywhere”, is based on the thought that everything we do eventually goes downhill into the ocean, polluting it.  The song is a rocker that sounds like the guitarist had the riff from The Rolling Stones’ “Start Me Up” stuck in his head.  It’s not one of the better songs on the album…just too many listings of  “Downhill from…” on it.

The second song that has a Stone’s guitar feel is “Until Justice Is Real”.  It took a few listens for me to warm up to it, but it sounds like it would have fit on Jackson’s “Lives In The balance” album.

 One of the best songs is the welcome new ballad “A Little Soon To Say”.  It features beautiful guitar and organ accompaniment, with effective vocal harmonies, especially on the title line about whether things will be alright….“It’s just a little soon to say.”

The album ends upbeat with “A Song For Barcelona”.  The rhythm and instrumental arrangement match the title perfectly.  The band is energetic and in a groove.  Jackson Browne sings that Barcelona “gave me refuge in my escape from Rock & Roll.”

Something Jackson Browne could work on is making his album covers more appealing.  Here are his last two covers next to each other.

It looks like a place you’d want to avoid.  It would be a shame if anyone missed the music because they were turned away by the cover.  One of the new publicity photos would have made a much more inviting cover, and would have still been in line with his often serious lyrics.

Jackson Browne fans will definitely be adding some of the songs from Downhill From Everywhere to their permanent playlists.  This album has the most Jackson Browne songs I’ve added from any of his albums in the last 30 years.  Jackson is performing tracks from the new album, as he’s touring this fall with James Taylor, and on his own.

These days, we’re lucky Jackson Browne is still providing fans with new music.

Extra:  For a look at Jackson’s best albums, and some original concert photos, here’s the link.  https://ontherecords.net/2017/06/jackson-browne-best-albums-2021-updates/

Update (August, 2021):  Jackson Browne & James Taylor returned to the stage in Sarasota, Florida August 23rd.  Here are photos from the Daily Gazette.

According to the article, the two singer-songwriters performed together on three of Jackson’s songs “The Pretender”, “Running On Empty” and “Take It Easy”.  Trivia:  Both J.B. & J.T. were born in 1948.

Bonus photo from 2022 concert:

Famous producer Rick Rubin gets a Beatles fan’s dream…a conversation with the man who is probably the world’s most famous musician, Paul McCartney.  Rubin asks him about the music McCartney created with The Beatles, Wings, and as a solo artist.

McCartney 3, 2, 1  is a new six-part documentary on Hulu (each part is about half-an-hour).  The interview portion is in black & white, but some featured photos and film segments are in color.  Hulu subscribers (Hulu also offers free trials) can binge all episodes of the series, which started on Friday July 16th, 2021.

Actually, here on the West Coast, it became available Thursday at 9 PM.  My wife and I watched the six episodes straight through to Midnight.  If you’re into Beatles music, you’ll find the series to be absolutely fascinating.  Rick Rubin selected song sections to play for Paul McCartney, and Paul describes how the recordings came to be.  There are some familiar stories, but also a lot of new insights about songs we love.

Paul McCartney and Rick Rubin cover a lot of ground, and it’s never boring.  Both men at times controlled the mixing board, and various instruments or vocals were isolated like we’ve never heard before.  You get completely pulled into how the recordings were created.  As expected, the majority of the time is spent on Beatles songs, but some of Paul’s Wings and solo recordings are included.  The questions and discussions go beyond specific songs, and reveal so much about how The Beatles worked together.

McCartney even provides some live musical demonstrations on piano, guitar, drums, and his Hofner bass.  Instead of trying to be a definitive documentary of all things Beatles & McCartney, it’s a wonderfully casual and candid conversation. 

Beatles fans and musicians…a splendid time is guaranteed for all.

Here’s the trailer for the documentary:  https://youtu.be/eTSe5hgB04s

Update:  In July, 2022, the Paul McCartney documentary was nominated for three Emmy awards.