Jackson Browne Albums Ranked (Amity Tracks  

I was high school in '75, a friend turned me on to Late For The Sky. Jaw-dropping, and still sounds relevant to me today. Great episode here, luved it

LATE FOR THE SKY Excellent!!!

I think I'M ALIVE is brilliant. In the top 2 or 3. The melodies are so strong, and the lyrics as good as ever.

Largely agreeing with the order. To keep it simple: I would have switched "I"m alive" and "Lawyers in love"

Great list! I agree - Standing In The Breach is perhaps his strongest post-70s/80s peak album (though I would've put I'm Alive a bit higher!). Also, you don't see World In Motion that high up on other lists, but solely Enough Of The Night validates it.

Put some Goo Gone on that label with a q-tip. Let it soak for 5 minutes. It should peel right off his best album, The Pretender.

Jackson Browne is one of my all time favorites!! He’s actually the artist I’ve seen the most times in concert. “ Late for the Sky” is my all time favorite studio album of his as well. I have a soft spot for “I’m Alive”, as that was the album that came out the first time I saw him at the age of 7.

I still have no idea what the practical function of it was, but I saw an actual "saturate before using" bag hanging on the outside of a car while driving through California desert circa 1972, exactly as it appears on the cover of Jackson Browne's debut album. I thought it might be some sort of odd canteen because of the word "saturate." But ultimately it was promo for his soon to be released album, because when I later came across the album I recognized it immediately. True story. I bought his first three albums and they remain my favorites, 'Late for the Sky' being, as you indicate, one of the very best musical statements of the 70s. The next two are very good too but after that I was off to other musical adventures I guess. So I appreciate your guidance with later releases, which I'll look into. But I do have the "Solo Acoustic" albums. Great !

I heard 'The Prentender' as a song of resignation and disillusionment for those who came of age at the end of the 60s or early 70s and experienced first hand the dashing of a lot of utopian hopes and dreams. After Watergate and Nixon's resignation, the oil crisis and recession of '74/'75, and the fall of Saigon, much of Western pop culture was retreating into nostalgia for an imagined past that bypassed the turmoil of the late '60s and the lingering impact of the Vietnam war (the 50s as re-imagined through 'Happy Days' or the Depression years as re-imagined through 'The Waltons'). I experienced 'The Pretender' as a song about someone trying to find some kind of solace in becoming just another anonymous face in the crowd, and hoping he just might find some meaning in surrendering to being a cog in the wheel ('I'm going to be a happy idiot, and struggle for the legal tender...where the Ads take aim and lay their claim, to the heart and soul of the spender'). I don't think Browne meant to come across as 'condescending', but more like someone feeling a little defeated but well past trying to fight the dominant social current of the time: escapism.

My top 5 with no other album coming close to these 5 1. For Everyman 2. The pretender 3. Self titled 4. Late for the sky 5. Running on empty

Late for the Sky is a very dear album to me, being one of two albums I listened to the night my grandmother died (the other being Spirit in the Dark by Aretha Franklin). Since, I don't know that I have ever been able to listen to the song, For a Dancer, without the tears leaking out. Fountains of Sorrow has some of the best lyrics ever written.

Jackson Browne no matter what era you dig from this legendary artist he has something for everybody personally I really enjoy his 80s work especially lawyers in love and hold out love side one of that album so I think what might've inspired his political period could be Canadian rock legend Bruce Cockburn whom I'm a massive fan of by the ways released an album in 1984 called stealing fire which had the 2 massive hits lovers in a dangerous time and the controversial if I had a rocket launcher because both of these artists started off as folk artists in the 70s and in the mid 80s became highly aggressive and political this is just an observation

Yes i agree, Late for the Sky with the great late David Lindley is so so perfect.

Thanks for ranking such a great artist. I think you missed the mark on lives in the balance and I’m alive . Too high on boulevard and lawyers in love . Totally agree his music hasn’t flourished into the 21century like Neil Young also .

The Pretender, for me, is about someone caught in the grip of depression. I don't think he is condescending about society. I've always thought he was describing a state of depression where very little in life seems to have any meaning. There are times when we feel dead inside and we have to put on this fake face and go through the motions of life. Society can seem unreasonably demanding for someone seriously depressed, especially when one is struggling to fulfill one's own needs.

I was hoping you were going to explain what Doctor My Eyes is about.

To me they are all pretty rank :)

In the 70's he had two of the greatest session musicians in Russ Kunkel on drums and Leland Sklar on Bass as part of the studio gang that helped him cut his albums. I dig all his stuff and the political songs are dead on. For a So. Cal boy to do tunes about what was going on then, is amazing. He wants us to wake up and become informed to the truth. A song that does NOT appear on any studio album: Somebody's Baby was a huge hit for him. Totally under rated musician and songwriter. Got everything you showed in this video. He is one of a very few artists that I have his full discography. Love his work through and through!!

Hello, another interesting ranking. My first LP from Jackson Browne was "Lives In The Balance" when it came out back in 1986; a friend gave it to me. I love this album to this day so much; it's definitely my favorite JB-Album (i will not say, that this is the best). I think it's more the emotional connection. What a great start with "For America"; for me this is JB's "Born In The U.S.A."; the song has so much drive and power. I know, it's controverse, but for me all songs are great. Oh, i love "Lawless Avenues", "Till I Go Down", "Black And White" and the title track. The following "World In Motion" was a huge disappointment at that time und it's still the weakest in my opinion. Luckily "I'm Alive" was again a very strong album. I like all the albums through the 70's and specially "Hold On" from 1980. When i heard "Hold On, Hold Out" it get's me to tears. For me "Running On Empty" is a little bit overrated; the title track is maybe JB's best song ever, i love it... but the rest? As you said; this song is so strong, the rest can't reach it. I think, generally the 80's music had the greatest influence on me, we were young and heard the music so intensively... "Seems like yesterday but it was long ago" 🙂Greetings from germany; bye and take care. My personal and pure subjective ranking of the albums: 1. Lives In The Balance 2. Hold On 3. I'm Alive 4. The Pretender 5. Late For The Sky 6. For Everyman 7. Jackson Browne 8. Lawyers In Love 9. Running On Empty 10. Looking East 11. Standing In The Breach 12. Time The Conquerer 13. Naked Ride Home 14. Downhill From Everwhere 15. World In Motion

Hold On was his best selling album followed by Running On Empty and his 3rd bestselling album was his best album, The Pretender.

I think that any condescending vibes one could get from "The Pretender" probably comes from what a painful experience this album was after the death of his wife or live-in or whatever. As awesome as he is, the guy was pretty sarcastic and uninspired through some of that record. Anyway, that's what I've heard over the years.

I'm not sure I want to sit through 30 minutes of Jackson Browne. Maybe a Top Ten would have been better. I think his best is The Pretender. I made it to the end.

As a big Jackson Browne fan I find it strange someone claiming to be a fan spends a lot of time actually knocking over half of his albums. Also a real fan wouldn't have to study the back of the album covers to know what songs are on them. Name a Jackson Browne song and I will tell you exactly what album it's on. By the way, Naked Ride Home is way better than Lawyers In Love, which is easily his worst record.

JB's Take It Easy > Eagles

How Jackson brown ever sold one mediocre album is beyond me. His music is absolutely boring. Kind of like this video.

I love Jackson Browne but he's not really an albums artist to me. He's a singles/songs artist. I agree w/you that he only has one LP (Late for the Sky) that gets beyond 4 stars, into classic territory. "Doctor My Eyes" and "Running On Empty" are amongst the very greatest pop songs ever written.