First listen to Jackson Browne - Late for the Sky 

Late For The Sky was definitely his best work, everything else is the cherry on top. I have listen to him since the early seventies, I'm seventy years old now. Seen him several times in concert.

Imagine buying this in the seventies and finding that is possibly only the third best song on the album after Fountain of sorrow and For a dancer. He is incredible.

This, originally released in 1974 when I was only a few years older than you are now young Daniel . . . Fifty years later it is such a joy for this old man to see someone two generations younger discovering some of the music that shaped my life, and so many others . . .

David Lindley...magical. So missed. Jackson..incomparable.

'Love this entire album - BEFORE THE DELUGE FOR A DANCER

Jackson Browne is a master. I love seeing your expressions as you listen! I've been a fan for over 45 years and have met him - he's amazing!

Yeah, when you talk about Chapin, Croce, Lightfoot, Taylor, etc., Jackson Browne should enter the conversation, head held proudly.

Still gives me goosebumps after hearing it for the nine millionth time.

Jackson Brown is still dropping great original music on his RU-vid channel. Amazing singer songwriter. I saw him live in 2010 and he told some great back stories to his songs. ❤️

I've been listening to JB since the beginning, and this is him at his absolute finest. This entire album is brilliant; every song a masterpiece.

Jackson Browne is one of the "deepest" songwriter/storytellers of my earlier years.

The lyrics transcend age, place, time and context. ‘You never knew what I loved in you, I don’t know what you loved in me’ are beyond break-up words.

Glad you discovered Jackson, he's one of the finest singer songwriters there is. Some of his best: Your Bright Baby Blues, For A Dancer, Fountain of Sorrow, The Load Out/Stay, Doctor My Eyes, Looking Into You, Before the Deluge, The Pretender. All are killers.

Daniel…this whole album is gold…..so beautiful……but I can only revisit it occasionally because his voice and music is so full of pathos, pain, loss and yearning……He is the master of the minor scale..

I did...it was & still is one of the best albums I've ever heard.

During a depression myself this related to my circumstances and helped me cope. Thanks Jackson

I've been listening to Jackson since 1975. I love seeing young people enjoying his exceptionally beautiful poetry and second to none music.

I believe "the sky"is freedom. in the bed where both lie, late for the sky.beautiful. mr brown sang about the disillusionment of my generation ,was painful then is painful now. appreciate you ,a 70s child. thanks. you want to hear traffic,"low spark of high healed boys"

Dan Fogelberg was on backing vocals on this (amongst others)

David Lindley is the brilliant guitar player on this and most of his albums. THE BEST.

I read once that the late David Lindley had the electric guitar gain turned up so hot that the tubes were almost white. Some contributors to the album include the Eagle’s Don Henley, Dan Fogelberg and J.D. Souther. I still have my vinyl copy I brought in ‘75. Definitely my favorite JB album.

Enjoy the journey! Some gems found here for sure.

I went thru a relationship just like this that ended the same way. This song always makes me cry, especially the line, "looking hard into her eyes, there was nobody I'd ever known -- what an empty surprise, to feel so alone."

Thank you Daniel! I first heard this song when I was about 15 or 16, and had only heard Browne's song Doctor My Eyes (which had been a hit song with lots of radio play), which I'd loved but didn't prepare me for this. Like you, I was already IN just hearing that intro (David Lindley's hauntingly beautiful guitar work), but as soon as I heard the first couple of lines, it really hit me (I've been a huge fan of his ever since, and he's still making great music). Jackson has a way of songwriting that's so incredibly personal, and yet universal at the same time - he'll tell you enough so that you'll feel the rest as if he's describing your experience and not just his. The first side of this album might be my favorite album side ever - Late for the Sky, Fountain of Sorrow, Farther On, and The Late Show. They're thoughtful, sad, introspective, and simply gorgeous songs - check 'em out when you can.

The phrase "Late for the Sky" is so haunting and disquieting.

One of the greatest Albums of all time.

Jackson Browne is an American treasure, absolutely brilliant songwriter performer. Damn! I don't know what he says about this song, but to me it's about that moment when you realize that your relationship/ love affair has ended or failed despite all of your efforts to keep the relationship going, to figure out how to get back to how it used to be. As if you could only think of the right words to say to your partner, then you could repair or reverse this drift apart. This song conveys the feeling of being completely untethered from the life you had been living with this other person. Like you are floating away. Like in that movie cast away when Tom Hanks finally has to give up and let Wilson the volleyball float away forever. That sinking sick realization that this is it, nothing worked. I would like to know what Browne meant by "late for the sky." It strikes me that being late for the sky is not a real thing, how are we late for the sky? We missed our appointment? No, it's not like we can be on time for the sky if we tried, so the inverse is also true. But being late for the sky encapsulates perfectly that helpless feeling of working and trying, lying to yourself even, just to get back to what you thought you had before, to what you felt before, with this person, but finally having to admit failure. Or, maybe I am just talking out of my a$$ and need to go back to singing: "late for this guy." 😊😊😊

I don’t think I’ve heard this one before, good choice, great reaction. Thanks

One of the very few songs that I connected with at first listen ❤️

Great song! Saw Jackson this past Tuesday in concert, in Kansas City. It was a really good show. He is still in good voice. This song was a crowd favorite.

Im glad you did this one. It was great to hear your take on the lyrics. Another devastatingly beautiful track from this same album (and one of the many major career highlights from Jackson) is “For A Dancer.” If you’re hungry for more JB, and if you haven’t heard For A Dancer yet, I think the lyrics and beauty of the track would blow your doors off. :)

This seemed familiar and then I realized this was in the movie Taxi Driver when he was watching American Bandstand. It really fit the mood of the scene. His voice carries emotion well.

Oh Jackson. I’ve been in love with him since college. His lyrics are just so relatable and brilliant. I’m so glad you like him too.

Born in ‘69 I was literally raised on JB. He’s always been my favorite. Fountain of Sorrow was the first song I ever really tried to figure out the meaning of, and I was like 5. This is my most favorite of his records. I think it’s the greatest album of all time. For A Dancer has always been my favorite song and think it the greatest song of all time.

In the summer of 1978, I drove from Phoenix to Cordes Junction to see Jackson Browne and David Lindley perform at Arcosanti. I remember when Jackson Browne and David Lindley began the show with "Take It Easy" and a bunch of folks up front began getting rowdy and Browne told them to sit down and be quiet. A little strange. I left the stage area and found a nice place to sit about 200 yards away. I could hear the music perfectly and turning my head, I could watch a distant thunderstorm with lightning about 100 miles away while above me spread a blanket of stars. A lovely night.

What a pleasant surprise finding Jackson Browne here again cannot wait for your reaction a wonderful Thoughtful song love you

Context: Jackson’s wife left by way of suicide 2 years after this was released. Their son was only 3. Doctor my eyes.

The great guitar work you heard is David Lindley. He teamed up with Jackson on this album and later albums.

One of my fav JB tunes. Great guitar as well.

Are you up early or is one I didn't hear yet? Love the music but a sad song. Hope your family had a good supper out. One of the best songs. I saw the was a hard one to you Daniel.

Linda Ronstadt used to hang out with Jackson Browne (& the Eagles) back when they were both starting out & years later (1999) she recorded For a Dancer (a song which comes from this album) in Arizona with Emmylou Harris - it's found on Western Wall: The Tuscon Sessions. Worth checking out (it's one of the few songs that Jackson has sung ever since he wrote it up until the present day ; written as a tribute to a friend who died suddenly).

I am a songwriter. I think Jackson is a modern day Shakespeare.

Thank you for reviewing my favorite Jackson Browne album! So happy to see the younger generation getting into music that I loved when I was young. One thing I like about your reviews is that you look into the lyrics more than most reviewers do.

THANK YOU SO MUCH :)) "running on empty" and "the load out/stay live 1978" would be great for the future reactions to come! "the load out/stay" is a really nice song on the album buttttt the live version is just so much more fun to watch and experience. and another good/lyrically heartbreaking song from this album is "for a dancer"

Thank you for this..... I appreciate you.

Great song Daniel. As you're into lyrics, a recommendation for you is a great classic country number from a few years ago called 'What Colour Is The Wind' by Charlie Landsborough. Beautiful voice and an even more stunningly beautiful song with very moving lyrics.

Thanks. For me, my fav Jackson Browne song. Saying something because he has so many good ones.

Thanks Daniel. Anytime you want to dissect Jackson, I’m here for it.

Great video again thank you. Hey just a reminder these themes run all through Joni Mitchell’s album blue. Boy I bet your fans would love a album listen of that one. You even hinted at it at one point love you

this song was used in the movie classic, Taxi Driver, starring Robert DeNiro and Jodi Foster. This is a very mature song about relationships ending

Hey Daniel....just saw Jackson with James Taylor this spring here on the Rock in NL..........he still sounds fantastic !

Wow your the first to dive into Brownes less known but still awesome songs. I loved Jackson and his music up till his album with the song Somebody's Baby. Everything before that I cherish.

Jackson Brown and James Taylor have the same effect on me. Their voices are heartbreakingly beautiful. Jackson is such a gifted songwriter. They could sing "If You're Happy And You Know It" and I'm a puddle on the floor. Lyrics are one thing but, the sound of the voice is another. Is it the tone? I love them both. What do people do at Adele concerts? Good god. 40 thousand whimpering little puddles?

Wonderful number from one of the all-time great songwriters. So glad you like him, Daniel.

The Last Nail is very much a comparator... an excellent observation. Both JB and DF's first 4 albums have their most heart felt angst and yearning. For those of us coming of age while these records were fresh, it was reassuring that even our beloved artists were processing the same painful relationships we were. These songs remain as resonant now as they did then. Keep spreading the word...

Most depressingly touching sad song I'ver ever heard, and every time I listen to it, it makes me a little emotional. Okay, maybe more than a little.

This is probably his best song and album, it’s a masterpiece

just subscribed to your site....i had this album when it first came out and could have written a number of the songs, and..oddly enough my name is jackson too...i like the fact that it's evident you get what is being described here and are such a young man...but then again, i may have been younger than you, and i felt the full force of this one too....jackson

when i was about 11 i heard my aunt tell my mom "i love that Late For The Sky album but it's just so depressing." well it says something about me that i immediately thought "i have to check this out NOW." seventeen years later and this album and particularly this song have soundtracked every little dark night of the soul i've had. it's built for the late night blues, the angst and the crises. when i hear it now it feels like looking in the mirror. thanks for your reaction, daniel. "how long have i been sleeping?" a perennial question to ask one's self...

Beautiful song

UUUUUUUU, GREAT SONG DANIEL AND JACKSON HAD MANY FOR SURE! :) THAT VOICE AND HIS PIANO :)

This may be my favorite Jackson Browne album. They are all great but this song brings back so many memories of grownup in the 70’s. Best era for music.

Incredibly beautiful, as always. Such an amazing artist. I love ALL of Jackson Browne's music. Thank you, Daniel. ;-)

Probably his greatest composition from arguably his best album. If you liked this, try several other tracks from this album: Fountain Of Sorrow; For A Dancer; Farther On; Before The Deluge are all masterpieces.

Browne was part of the Laurel Canyon crowd . . . Joni Mitchell, Steven Stills, David Crosby and so on. And he always had the very best of the 70's LA studio musicians around him. BTW, it's usually him on piano. One of the top song writers of his generation. He's still performing and putting out records.

Hes my favorite too

It's The Pretender, I think, that reminds you of taxi driver? (Or Billy Joel's The Stranger?) In any case... his lyrics are like these brilliant gems pouring out of an old leather pouch. You know they will be good but the quality is startling every time.

This album is the bomb ♥️♥️♥️ love it so much

I think the song you were thinking of was the Pretender not the Stranger which is a Billy Joel song. Both are awesome songs. Love your reactions so considered and heartfelt.❤️😎

The scene in Taxi Driver where this plays while Travis watches Soul Train...sheesh. Devastating

Listen to the second song on the album; Fountain Of Sorrow. This album is probably one of the best albums ever recorded. Jackson's lyrics are genius and David Lindley's guitar work is pure brilliance.

Dig it.

Probably the best, saddest falling-out-of-love songs I've ever heard. Saw him live last summer and he played this, and I cried like I did when I first heard it in my teen years. ♥️😭💔

First thanx for playing the whole song, some don't, I bought this album in 1974 after the For Everyman album. I have a very wide range of music to take to that desert island but this would be one of them. I could see the effect it had on you and I hope you experience Jackson further. Side note; check out Scorsese’s Taxi Driver for pleasant surprise.......

The first time that I heard “Late For the Sky" was when I sat alone in the room of an African American soldier who I had befriended working as a civilian in Berchtesgaden Germany. He had an incredible amount of albums, and I’d asked him if I could possibly spend the day in his room, making cassettes, to which he generously agreed. Upon his return that afternoon, I thanked him wholeheartedly for turning me on to these two epic Jackson Browne albums, “For Everyman” and “Late For the Sky.” His response was amusing; he said, “I haven’t yet listened to them. I bought them at the exchange because his name sounded like he was a brother…….he’s not?” Over the years I was to meet Jackson numerous times. In our first meeting I relayed the story to him on how I wanted to name my son Jackson, however, my former wife, like my friend above, thought it too “ethnic” sounding. Jackson’s response to me was, “I wanted to name my son James, and my former wife felt the same way!” 🤣 Years later I’d recount that meeting to Jackson and conversation about names, who reacted by stating, “That was really a true story……..” For those in the know; I ended naming my son, Severin. It apparently passed my former wife’s wall of ethnic sounds I guess……

Many of Brown's songs have a heavy Folk and Country influence. "These Days" is my favorite by him, but I had only heard Gregg Allman's version for decades. Browne did a nice version too, more country than Gregg's. He and Gregg were roommates at one time. "These Days" was written when Browne was 16.

I bet we all had that look when we first heard this.

Love this entire album!

So many great lyrics. Looking hard into your eyes there was no body I'd ever known, such an empty surprise, to feel so alone..." just, wow

First heard this Song in Movie Taxi Driver.

Jackson is one of these ssw who perfectly conveys the emotions in his singing of his songs. you should check out Fountain of sorrow if you haven't already.

Really loved your emotional response - just saw him play here in Perth - still a legend. I quoted a line from 'For a Dancer' - THE LAST DANCE YOU DANCE ALONE at the head of a chapter in my book "Music, Evolution, and the Harmony of Souls" He is just a genius - a giant

Definitely one of his best songs. Another singer songwriter you should react to is Dan Fogelberg with some of his legendary and hidden gems of his. He actually has a superior voice than Jackson’s. Here are the one I recommend;Netherlands, Old Tennessee, As The Raven Flies , Leader of The Band, Power of Gold and 2 of my favorite songs in Tell Me To My Face( written by The Hollies), and Since You’ve Asked, originally recorded by Judy Collins.

Please follow up with a few more Jackson Browne reactions: "Rock Me On the Water" and "Before the Deluge" are early JB songs that really resonate strongly with me still.

Lindley playing that beautiful up-front lead. RIP Dave. 😔

Great song! In case you'd like to check out another singer songwriter that really speaks to the heart, I'd recommend Songs: Ohia. Unfortunately, he passed away in 2013 but he made a ton of great, emotionally devastating songs. I wouldn't say he has the best voice, but definitely one of the most honest sounding. Farewell Transmission is his most popular song, but for me Blue Factory Flame will remain my favorite of his.

Can't forget After the Deluge.

Nice mellow song -- I think my favorite song on the Late For The Sky album is "Before The Deluge" - it seems with a Jackson Browne song, I always feel more at home with that violinist.

You need to do These Days. An amazing song written when he was sixteen. For Everyman and Late for the Sky are two amazing albums. They each deserve full album coverage. I lean toward For Everyman, but Late for the Sky gets more critical acclaim.

As Jackson said in his solo acoustic album his truly cheerful stuff there's not that much of it. But what there is is pure honesty and emotion

Gorgeous album that I coincidentally listened to yesterday.

You were mentioning the movie Taxi Driver in your reaction. Just wanted to make sure that you know that this song, Late For The Sky, is heard in a scene in the movie Taxi Driver . 😊

Try his song titled "Redneck Friend"

I want to request 'Compared to What' again, by Les McCann and Eddie Harris. Great Jazz, and you'll enjoy the lyrics. You also should listen to more of 'Kind of Blue' by Miles Davis. The next 2 tracks, 'Freddie Freeloader' and 'Blue in Green' are incredible. Then again, everything on that album is incredible. 'Blue in Green' will haunt your soul.

Huge Jackson fan. One of my favs. This was the song they used in Taxi Driver when DeNero went crazy in front of his mirror. Grounding.

His songs are always so complex and mature in their vocabulary. The song, “The Late Show” has backup singers, not just echoing what he sings, but also adding comments that rhyme. I mean, WHO DOES THAT? Jackson Browne.

Jackson!

Still trying to find that tone. RIP Mr Lindley.

The Late for the Sky album is a masterpiece!! My favourite album of all time....

We are all born innocent of knowing, but live most of our lives aware of what will happen in the end. And yet we manage to live, some moments more than others as if we don't. How do we do it?