Tag Archives: Running On Empty

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Song of the Day #6,491: ‘The Road’ – Jackson Browne

Continuing a countdown of my favorite albums of 1977…

#4 – Running on Empty – Jackson Browne

I did a Jackson Browne deep dive five years ago that gave me a strong appreciation for the man’s work. But even after digging into 14 studio albums, it was hard to find anything that compares to the one I already loved: Running on Empty.

This is a concept album about life on the road that was recorded on the road — in front of live audiences, on a tour bus, in hotel rooms and backstage rehearsal spaces. It captures the lazy haze of that vagabond existence and drips with the sweat of hard-working musicians and their supporting crews.

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Song of the Day #4,683: ‘Running On Empty’ – Jackson Browne

The Jackson Browne album people know best, and the one that has sold more than any other by far, is the one least representative of his overall output.

1977’s Running on Empty, Browne’s fifth release, is a concept record about life on the road, with all of its tracks recorded during live shows or in hotel rooms, buses or backstage. Browne has solo writing credits on only two songs (the two best, as it turns out) and four are covers. The mood and style of this album is a long way from the cerebral folk rock of his earlier releases.

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Song of the Day #4,159: ‘Shaky Town’ – Jackson Browne

When the Random iTunes Fairy first served up ‘Shaky Town,’ from Jackson Browne’s 1977 classic Running On Empty, I had no idea what it was. I figured it was a track on that album that I’d somehow always skipped, because the title seemed completely new to me.

Once the first verse started, though, I knew it very well. Guess I just never looked at the tracklist.

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Song of the Day #1,417: ‘The Load Out/Stay’ – Jackson Browne

Best Albums of the 70s – #14
Running On Empty – Jackson Browne (1977)

An interesting sub-genre is the album of new material that’s recorded live. Joe Jackson’s Big World is an example, as well as Stew’s The Naked Dutch Painter and Other Songs. These recordings lend an intimacy to the material that can be diminished in the studio.

The best example of this sort of album that I know of is Jackson Browne’s Running On Empty. This is an album about life as a musician recorded in a way that puts you in that musician’s shoes. It’s a beautiful marriage of form and content.

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Song of the Day #799: ‘You Love the Thunder’ – Jackson Browne

Somewhere Dana is bursting with excitement as Jackson Browne finally finds a spot in the Song of the Day series. And before song number 800, no less!

I scanned my iTunes collection recently to see which big names had yet to be featured on the blog and was intrigued to find five who all fit a similar mold, demographically if not musically. This week I’ll highlight the music of five white guys in their 60s (actually, I believe one is in his mid-50s).

Apparently I’m musically biased against the segment of the population that runs just about everything else.

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