Rock me on the water (Jackson Browne) (LP 762 - 767)

Jackson Browne  Jackson Browne (Vinyl, Asylum Records, 1972) **** 

Jackson Browne  For Everyman (Vinyl, Asylum Records, 1973) **** 

Jackson Browne  Late For The Sky (Vinyl, Asylum Records, 1974) *****

Jackson Browne  The Pretender (Vinyl, Asylum Records, 1976) **** 

Jackson Browne with David Lindley  Where The Shadows Fall - The classic 1972 broadcast (Vinyl, Let The Eat Vinyl, 2013) *** 

Jackson Browne with David Lindley  Live at The Main Point 15th August 1973 (Vinyl, Echoes, 2015) *** 

Genre: Pop/rock (I've collapsed most of the nationalities and sub genres into one now - makes it far easier to find things! Exceptions are New Zealand pop/rock, Southern pop/rock, San Francisco pop/rock) 

Places I remember: Marbecks Records for the studio albums, the two live broadcasts come from The Warehouse and JB Hi Fi.

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: For Everyman

Gear costume: Redneck Friend (For Everyman); The Road And The Sky, Before The Deluge (Late For The Sky); The Pretender.

Active compensatory factors: I've written about these albums a little in the past - the song For Everyman, and my favourite Jackson Browne albums, but I haven't included them in my collection countdown as yet.

The first two albums, Jackson Browne (a.k.a. Saturate Before Using) and For Everyman are like a double album. He had built up so many songs that it feels like his debut album - Volume 1 and 2.

Each album has its share of outstanding songs:

• Jackson Browne - Jamaica Say You Will, Doctor My Eyes, Rock Me On The Water, My Opening Farewell
• For Everyman - Take It easy, These Days, Red Neck Friend, Ready Or Not, For Everyman

Stunning songs!

By Late For The Sky, Jackson's first masterpiece, he sounds fully in command and the songs are of a piece - as in, it feels like a complete album, rather than a collection of brilliant songs.

The Pretender completes the first four albums in his canon. It's another excellent album - albeit a sad one - following his wife's suicide in 1976.

The songs take on the weight of that event, obviously. Here Come Those Tears Again, and Sleep's Dark and Silent Gate are tough to listen to. The Pretender is another outstanding song. He was on fire!

I've included two radio broadcasts from these early days. David Lindley and Jackson Browne make a great team live. They did a broadcast like this in NZ which I taped and listened to a lot. It included a few Warren Zevon songs and the interplay between Jackson and David was hilarious.

Where The Shadows Fall is from 1972 but includes songs from the first two albums. There is a lot of studio chat from Jackson and he rambles too much, but hey, he was a confident young guy!

Live at The Main Point is from 1973 and covers the same ground, and has a similar amount of chat, but with a lot of other cover songs as well. 

Both albums sound really good - it's often hit or miss with radio broadcast albums but these are crisp and clear sounding - especially the 1973 set, which also sounds better rehearsed.

Where do they all belong? More to come on vinyl and CD.