Jackson Browne released his biggest hit between albums, when he wrote ‘Somebody’s Baby’ for the soundtrack of 1982’s Fast Times at Ridgemont High. The song made it to #7, one spot higher than his first-ever single, and only other top ten hit, ‘Doctor My Eyes.’

The following year he released Lawyers in Love, another rock album in the vein of Hold Out. Again, the critical response wasn’t great, and again, I kind of dig it.

I understand that Browne’s early 80s output must have been a shock to critics and fans who loved his folky, singer-songwriter work in the 70s. But he’s good at it.

Looking back 40 years later, the radio-friendly pop rock sheen on these albums doesn’t sound dated. He certainly made the transition more successfully than his friend Joni Mitchell.

Lawyers in Love features just eight tracks (one thing I like about Browne’s albums is their brevity) and six of them are definite keepers. I particularly like the poppy, satirical title track and the catchy single ‘Tender is the Night.’

The album does misstep twice, once with the terminally repetitive ‘Knock On any Door’ and once with ‘Say It Isn’t True,’ a painfully earnest political song that — unfortunately — served as a harbinger of things to come on his next two albums.