Thoughts on Jackson Browne (1 Viewer)

[Chaos Commish]

Browne is lying to my parents to have that fun only a 16 year old boy knows when the road first starts rushing under his wheels. I lost my innocence to Running on Empty, summer of 78, under a towel, on a beach; after awkward skinny dipping at sunset with a naughty girl of 18, who was somebody else's baby. That album was anthemic for my gang of guys and girls that summer... and a bit the next summer. Browne is memories of desert bonfires and hidden swimming holes, under-age drinking, new freedoms, unconditional friendships, ditching the cops, and fresh, hilarious stories so hard to believe all these years later. For us Browne's timing historically was too good. Dad was on travel. Mom was with friends. We had Richard Pryor on the video and stolen beer in an ice chest.

I'm a fan. I think he's criticized too harshly. Some of David Lindley's work with Jackson is phenomenally good. I don't think Browne's a soaring talent, but when he's good he's more than worth a listen. When he's bad, he's cheesy and that is what it is. I like simey's list and a little bit more. I doubt I go out of my way to listen to him more than once a quarter.

My musical hero from those days was Lowell George, a soaring talent launched by Browne. Lowell left us summer of 79 when I started facing that I had to grow up pretty soon. A dedication to Lowell, written for his inconsolable 5 year old daughter, Of Missing Persons, is my favorite song of Jackson's.

Your father was a rounder
He played that rock and roll
A leaper and a bounder
Down to his gypsy soul
The music was his angel
And sorrow was his star
And those of us who follow
Might hope to reach as far

They're walking slow in houston
Speechless in d.c.
There's no way I could tell you
What he meant to me

Your mother's a survivor
She'll do what must be done
Her children will revive her
And help her see the sun
She almost knew that unison
But the singing stopped too soon
Now she shares the silence
With a man up in the moon

To speak of missing persons
Tonight there's only one
And we all carry with us what the man's begun

And you can sing this song
On july the fourth
In the sunny south and the frozen north
It's a day of loss, it's your day of birth
Does it take a death to learn what a life is worth?

Your brothers are all older
And they'll take it in their stride
The world's a little colder
But manhood's on their side
Now you're the little girl-child
And you look so much like him
And he's right there inside you
Each time you want to sing

Sing of missing persons
Tonight there's only one
But he's where you can find him when it's said and done

And we will sing this song
On july the fourth
From the sunny south and the frozen north
This will always be your day of birth
May you always see what your life is worth

 

[Eephus]

His first three albums are pretty spectacular but he lost the plot when he tried to make the jump from narcissist to musical politician.

 

[Ilov80s]

His first three albums are pretty spectacular but he lost the plot when he tried to make the jump from narcissist to musical politician.

I would say his first albums varied between good and great. Everything he did post-70s was meh. He had a few great songs in the 80s, but no comprehensive albums.