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JACKSON BROWNE
Late For The Sky

as reviewed by Jack Crompton at Amazon.com, April 30, 2008

Intelligent, Prophetic Songwriting at it’s Best.

Jackson Browne earned the respect of the music world right from his first release, ‘Saturate Before Using’. Filled with personal and penetrating acoustic based songs, that release spoke volumes the of treasures to come. And come they did with the prophetic idealism of ‘For Everyman’.

In this, Jackson’s third album release he has created his masterpiece of intelligent, honest storytelling and poetry set to wonderful music. From what I understand of Jackson’s personal history, there was more to the song ‘Fountain of Sorrow’ than the articulate song betrays. Apparently his wife committed suicide coinciding with this time period which resulted in the song, ‘For a Dancer’. Hence, ‘Late For The Sky’ is inbued with both the heavy trauma of personal, tragic sadness and the cathartic relief of expressing it . And express it, he does... quite beautifully and eloquently.

‘Late For the Sky’ steps away a bit from the ‘earthiness’ of his first two albums to include more thoughtful arrangements and instrumentation. The result is a fuller, and more electric sound, yet it is never artificial. It is his vocal storytelling that still drives the songs. Here, it is a perfect balance. In his lyrics, Jackson reveals penetrating insights into both personal relationships and global concerns. And he has a real gift for expressing them in words. ‘Late for the Sky’ covers a great deal of serious ground for only eight tracks on the LP. But each song is filled with Jackson’s transparent passion for life.

True to his prophetic nature, the album concludes with apocalyptic ‘Before the Deluge’, a scenareo where he acknowledges the inevitable geo/political changes that must come to the planet, resulting in a death and a rebirth of civilization. Not light stuff. Yet, the anthem is sung with the passion and fervor of one who knows. Perhaps we are that gate he spoke of now. Time will tell. Either way, we have some great music to ride the waves with.

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