Jackson Browne Lawyers In Love CD

Live Recording

Personnel: Jackson Browne (vocals, guitar); Bob Glaub (guitar, organ, bass); Rick Vito (guitar, background vocals); Craig Doerge (piano, synthesizer); Doug Haywood (organ, bass, background vocals); Bill Payne (organ); Russell Kunkel (drums).
Recorded at Downtown, Los Angeles, California.
Jackson Browne's messages had always seemed so important that one tended to overlook the sheer songwriting craft that went into his work, craft that was apparent, for example, on his 1982 single "Somebody's Baby," which became his biggest hit ever (and which appears on none of his albums, only being available on the soundtrack to Fast Times at Ridgemont High), and on songs like "Downtown," a street-life portrait on his seventh album, Lawyers in Love. The craft seemed all the more important because Browne was so intent on turning his back on the conundrums that had obsessed him in the past. On "Cut It Away," he sang of his desire to remove his "desperate heart" (a phrase he had used before), to rid himself of "this crazy longing for something more/This question that I don't have the answer for." In place of such ambitions, Browne substituted the beginnings of social concern ("Say It Isn't True") and, most imaginatively, a humorous look at contemporary trash culture in the title track, one of the more exhilaratingly silly moments in Browne's generally dour catalog. But the craft, and the familiar tightness of Browne's veteran studio/live band, couldn't hide the essentially retread nature of much of this material. ~ William Ruhlmann
After managing to sound romantically mawkish on 1980's Hold Out, Browne returned with this album. It showed he has a weird sense of humor when he puts his mind to it. ~ William Ruhlmann
This was Browne's New Wave album, which means you can expect (and get) a lot of tick-tock eighth note rhythms, catchy guitar riffs, and lyrics that are less personal and introverted than usual. There's also more pop, in the Brill Building sense.
The standout is the title tune, hands down the funniest song Browne ever wrote--admittedly, a short list. It's a gleeful skewering of Reagan era Cold War paranoia and yuppie greed, with a killer chorus hook and a neat falsetto break that may or may not be a homage to the Four Seasons. Also noteworthy are the hits "On the Day," "Tender is the Night," and "Downtown," a celebration of winos, bible thumpers and assorted other habitues of the urban jungle that includes a witty quote from Petula Clarke's '60s classic of the same name.