Jackson Browne Albums Ranked Worst to Best
· Ultimate Classic RockWhen it comes to Los Angeles-based singer-songwriters of the '70s, none paints a more concise and vivid portrait of the era than Jackson Browne.
Born in Germany, and raised in L.A., Browne made his name as a songwriter while still a teenager in the '60s, penning songs that were covered by artists as diverse as Nico and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Gregg Allman and Tom Rush.
By the time he released his eponymous debut (aka Saturate Before Using) in 1972, he was one of the elite members of the still-growing singer-songwriter movement. Over the next several years, he'd release a string of albums - Late for the Sky, The Pretender and Running on Empty, among them - that earned him the title of the quintessential '70s singer-songwriter, as you will see in the below list of Jackson Browne Albums Ranked Worst to Best.
READ MORE: Top 10 Jackson Browne Songs
As time moved on, Browne stepped away from his comfort zone, making records throughout the '80s that reflected the interests and themes of his peers, from pointed political commentary to insider looks at the community that made and surrounded him.
While it might be tempting to pin down Jackson Browne with just a handful of musical and thematic ideas in his toolbox, records from For Everyman and Running on Empty through Hold Out (his only No. 1) and, more recently, Standing in the Breach show an artist willing to break the chains of his past and move forward, unafraid to stumble occasionally along the way.
15. 'World in Motion' (1989)
A series of increasingly political records and waning public interest throughout the decade led to Browne's most disappointing album to close the '80s. Not that 1986's Lives in the Balance was particularly subtle, but World in Motion is mostly relentless protest music for more than 45 minutes; general observations about homelessness, war and the Iran-Contra scandal get weary over time. Worse, the songs are unmemorable.
14. 'Lives in the Balance' (1986)
Browne's first unrestrained political album, and eighth overall, rides the currents of the era, criticizing Ronald Reagan's modification of America and offering hope for a better future. Some personal songs are here, too - "In the Shape of a Heart" is his last charting single - but Lives in the Balance lays out its intent in the title. Studio pros make it all glisten, but for an artist whose stock-in-trade is relationships, this is grimly heavy.
13. 'Looking East' (1996)
Following a swing back to the more personal form of songwriting found in his best work on 1993's I'm Alive, Browne took another detour on his 11th album, returning to the politicized songwriting of his '80s material. Looking East's 10 songs include mostly cowrites with his backing band, making this less a Jackson Browne album and more a collaborative project with trusted friends. Like those '80s LPs, Looking East sinks under the weight.
12. 'Hold Out' (1980)
After five increasingly popular albums, Browne finally landed his only No. 1 with the sixth. Hold Out was a link between the '70s and '80s, a throwback to his best work's emotional pushes and pulls and a sign of the creatively troubled decade ahead. Songs such as "Disco Apocalypse" and "Boulevard" find an artist running close to empty on ideas. The epic eight-minute closer, "Hold On Hold Out," fittingly says goodbye to the '70s.
11. 'Lawyers in Love' (1983)
If 1980's Hold Out seemed more tied to the '70s and a final word on the decade and his place in it, 1983's Lawyers in Love introduced a new era, and some new perspectives, to Browne's playbook. The album arrived a year after the soundtrack single "Somebody's Baby" gave him his biggest-charting song; Lawyers in Love uses it as a springboard for songs that target a skewed eye at L.A. superficiality and introduce more politics.
10. 'Time the Conqueror' (2008)
After a six-year break, Browne returned with his 13th album, a collection that confronts personal and political matters. With the Iraq War and the remnants of Hurricane Katrina on his mind, Browne surveys the 21st landscape and contemplates how things have changed, and remained the same, over decades. Sparsely recorded and filled with current-event imagery, Time the Conqueror lacks the timelessness of his best work.
9. 'The Naked Ride Home' (2002)
Never one to stray too far from his past, Browne's 12th album and the first of the 21st century settles into a comfortable spot after much of the '80s and '90s was spent linking the head and the heart, not always gracefully. The Naked Ride Home sounds like a Jackson Browne album, that's the good news; however, he doesn't always seem too sure where he's headed. He'd work that out over the next few albums. This is a start.
8. 'Standing in the Breach' (2014)
Another six-year break between records, Browne's 14th LP again balances the personal and political, but unlike the expiration-stamped Time the Conqueror, Standing in the Breach doesn't seem forced. The effortless in his songwriting hails a return to form, a classic-sounding Jackson Browne album for modern times. If it doesn't quite match his best work, the album at least finds new relevance for the singer-songwriter.
7. 'I'm Alive' (1993)
For much of the '80s, Browne saw both his critical and commercial favor decline. After a four-year break in recording (his longest at that time), his 10th album put aside contemporary politics (for now, at least) as he once again surveyed matters of the heart. Released during alt-rock's boom, I'm Alive is often a sweet, nostalgic revisit of the musical and lyrical themes that made Browne one of the best singer-songwriters of his generation.
6. 'Downhill From Everywhere' (2021)
At 72, Jackson Browne isn't about to turn a corner on his past. His 15th album retreats to familiar places - songs of hope, love and despair amid political and personal highs and lows - while a trusted group of musicians (many around since the '70s) helps bring in a safe landing. Downhill From Everywhere rarely strays from its destined path, soft-rock songs not so much updated as chiseled to fit a new decade. His best work in years.
5. 'For Everyman' (1973)
Browne's second album sometimes appears to be a placeholder between his debut and Late for the Sky, but a closer listen reveals an artist coming to terms with his past as he embraces his future. Older songs "Take It Easy" (a hit for his friends in Eagles) and "These Days" (covered in 1967 by girlfriend Nico) are For Everyman's entry points, but the addition of guitarist David Lindley to the lineup begins a long, fruitful relationship.
4. 'Jackson Browne' (1972)
After his rise over the past half-decade as one of rock's most celebrated and covered songwriters, Browne was signed by David Geffen as the first artist on his new Asylum label. The pieces are already in place: "Doctor, My Eyes" (a Top 10 hit) and "Rock Me on the Water" are expertly honed L.A. soft rock that helped set a template for the decade. Jackson Browne (aka Saturate Before Using) is one of the era's most refined debuts.
3. 'The Pretender' (1976)
Eight months after his wife died by suicide, Jackson Browne shared his grief on an album informed by sorrow and heartbreak. But The Pretender is also a solitary work by an artist working through growing pains as he struggled to move on with both his life and the next stage of his career. The title song pulls the mask from his hurt, while "Here Come Those Tears Again" (cowritten with his late wife's mother) slips into darkness.
2. 'Running on Empty' (1977)
Browne went high concept on his fifth album: a record of songs about the road recorded while he was on tour in dressing rooms, on tour buses, on stages and in hotels. It's a masterful piece of record-making, too, with some of his best songs and performances, from the autobiographical title track to the closing "The Load-Out" and "Stay" medley that sums up the project more succinctly than most albums before or after it. A classic.
1. 'Late for the Sky' (1974)
The tao of Jackson Browne can be summed up in the 40 minutes of his third album. An expert distillation of the despair ("Fountain of Sorrow"), apocalyptic doom ("Before the Deluge," "Late for the Sky") and romanticism ("For a Dancer") that made up much of his first decade as a recording artist, Late for the Sky is nonetheless wrapped in the glistening Los Angeles singer-songwriter scene of the '70s, making it an archetypal record of the era. Browne has never been as sharp lyrically or as melodically as he is here. For better or worse, he's been running from it, and living up to it, ever since.