For Everyman

by

Jackson Browne

Edit

Another step in the maturation of the young JB, "For Everyman" is a musical leap forward. The opening medley of "Take It Easy" and "Our Lady of the Well" is a quiet tapestry of sound textures. Though the lyrics to "Take It Easy" are Glenn frey's, Jackson sings the song with far more subtlety, and with an appropriate road-weariness that the Eagles' version lacked. Jackson's own poetry is, of course, evocative: "It is a dance we do in silence/far below the morning sun/you in your life, me in mine we have begun/Here we stand and without speaking/draw the water from the well/and stare beyond the plains to where the mountains lie so still". "Colors of the Sun" rounds out what I've aways referred to as the "Desert Trilogy". I cannot hear these songs without thinking of the seemingly endless drives through northern Arizona to which they'd once provided a soundtrack. . .

"For Everyman" continues Jackson's fascination with the end of the world as we know it ("They've seen the end coming 'round long enough to believe they've heard their last warning"), and deals as well with the struggle of day to day existence--"But don't think too badly of one who's left holding sand/he's just another dreamer dreamin' 'bout everyman".

Other highlights: the moving, erotic duet with Bonnie Raitt, "The Times You've Come"; the rollicking "Redneck Friend", with an uncredited Elton John on the ivories; and the deeply tender "Thought I Was a Child"

Just lovely music. But nothing here could possibly prepare the listener for the monumental achievement of the following year--LATE FOR THE SKY is simply one of the ten greatest albums of all time--right up there, in my estimation, with BLONDE ON BLONDE, REVOLVER, PET SOUNDS, MOONDANCE, DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN, BLUE RIVER, WARREN ZEVON, FOR THE ROSES and EVERYBODY KNOWS THIS IS NOWHERE.

The remainder of Jackson's recorded output pales--just a little--in comparison.