Kultur: Two Views of Early Jackson Browne

Kultur: Songs, Scenes and Sunday School

A Blog on Culture by C. Michael Bailey

Kultur

Kultur is a Webblog primarily devoted to the discussion of music but often addressing movies, books, politics, religion, media and popular culture.

This blog offers me the opportunity to develop ideas and receive feedback in an effort to understand why King Solomon states in Ecclesiastes 1:17 (KJV):

Then I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom, and also of madness and folly, but I learned that this, too, is a chasing after the wind.

When not writing this blog, I serve as a Senior Reviewer for the online magazine All About Jazz. This blog is an outgrowth of and will eventually replace my previous blog: Kultur.

Kultur: Two Views of Early Jackson Browne

Two Views of Early Jackson Browne

Two Views of Early Jackson Browne

Jackson Browne - Ultrasonic Studios 1973 (Hempstead, New York, 10/09/1973)

Jackson Browne - Nashville 1978 (Nashville, Tennessee, 02/22/1978)

Unauthorized Live Recordings

Live recordings are revealing with those recorded earlier in an artist's career typically better. Jackson Browne is a case in point. These two early live bootlegs reveal two very different Brownes while both illustrate the absolute necessity of David Lindley to Browne and his signature sound. Ultrasonic Studios 1973 and Nashville 1978 bookend the release of Browne's masterpiece, Late for the Sky (Asylum, 1974); magnum opus, The Pretender (Asylum, 1976); and greatest commercial achievement, Running on Empty (Asylum, 1977). Both performances are anchored by "Take It Easy," "Rock Me On The Water," "Doctor My Eyes," and "These Days," all from his first two recordings Jackson Browne (Saturate Before Using) (Asylum, 1972) and For Everyman (Asylum, 1973).

And it is with these songs that the two performances differ. The Ultrasonic Studios show (a radio show) have Browne in a quartet format with David Lindley playing guitar, lap steel, violin and viola, Larry Zak on drums and Doug Hayward on bass. The performance of these four core songs are played with much for authority and assertiveness than the later Nashville set. Lindley is incendiary in both his violin ("Take It Easy") and lap steel playing ("Doctor My Eyes"). Browne's passion is palpable.

The only thing that the 1973 show lacks, at a minimum, are the Nashville selections from Late For The Sky ("Fountain of Sorrow," "Before the Deludge," "For A Dancer," Walking Slow," though an instramental version on the 73 show anticipates ...Sky, and "The Road and the Sky") and at maximum those from The Pretender ("The Fuse," "Here Come Those Tears Again," "Your Bright Baby Blues," and "The Pretender"). The Nashville show employs a larger band and slicker performance. Browne and company were well on their way to becoming business men-artists in 1978 rather than the hungry artists in 1973.

Both of these shows are necessary to understand the early Jackson Browne and why he is such an important songwriting presence then and now. He is the yin to Warren Zevon's yang and a deadly serious Lowell George. I'm am not sure Browne has had a thing to say since The Pretender, but up to that time is introspectively brilliant.