Jackson Browne waited six years to release his next album, 2008’s Time the Conqueror. Perhaps that wasn’t long enough.
I’m sorry to report that this record is the first in Browne’s catalog that did nothing for me from start to finish. The songs are too long and they lack memorable hooks. Every album I’ve heard so far has served up at least one track I consider a keeper, but not this one.
Jackson Browne entered his fourth decade of recording with 2002’s The Naked Ride Home. This album is more personal than political, always a plus.
It’s also the longest record he’s ever released, its ten songs running a full hour. Six of these tracks run six or seven minutes, turning it into a test of patience at times. Often that padded running time is dedicated to long instrumental interludes, which doesn’t help.
Jackson Browne followed up the triumphant comeback of I’m Alive with Looking East, a record more in line with his mid-80s work.
The political songs made a comeback, but fortunately they don’t dominate the album and, for the most part, they are more subtle than earlier efforts. That said, I have to call him out for this particularly awful verse:
Listening to Jackson Browne’s I’m Alive last week and now this song today, I’m reminded that the early 90s contained their fair share of musical treasures.
Toad the Wet Sprocket’s Dulcinea is one of my favorite albums from that era. This is the best release by one of the best alternative rock bands of all time, one that has never received half the recognition they deserve.
Today’s random SOTD is from The Weight of These Wings, Miranda Lambert’s splendid 2016 double album (which I recently named my favorite of the previous decade).
‘Keeper of the Flame’ is one of the album’s upbeat tracks, and one of the few that isn’t about going through or recovering from a breakup.
This song is about Lambert’s place in a long line of women in both country music and music industry generally.
Meet Me In Montauk 