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Late for the Sky

 
Album Review: Late for the Sky

  • Artist: Jackson Browne
  • Rating: StarStarStarStarStar
  • Release Date: 1974 09
  • Total Time: 40:38
  • Genre: Rock

Review

On his third album, Jackson Browne returned to the themes of his debut record (love, loss, identity, apocalypse) and, amazingly, delved even deeper into them. "For a Dancer," a meditation on death like the first album's "Song for Adam," is a more eloquent eulogy; "Farther On" extends the "moving on" point of "Looking Into You"; "Before the Deluge" is a glimpse beyond the apocalypse evoked on "My Opening Farewell" and the second album's "For Everyman." If Browne had seemed to question everything in his first records, here he even questioned himself. "For me some words come easy, but I know that they don't mean that much," he sang on the opening track, "Late for the Sky," and added in "Farther On," "I'm not sure what I'm trying to say." Yet his seeming uncertainty and self-doubt reflected the size and complexity of the problems he was addressing in these songs, and few had ever explored such territory, much less mapped it so well. "The Late Show," the album's thematic center, doubted but ultimately affirmed the nature of relationships, while by the end, "After the Deluge," if "only a few survived," the human race continued nonetheless. It was a lot to put into a pop music album, but Browne stretched the limits of what could be found in what he called "the beauty in songs," just as Bob Dylan had a decade before. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide

Tracks

Track TitleComposersPerformersTime
Late for the Sky (Lyrics) Jackson Browne Jackson Browne (5:36)
Fountain of Sorrow (Lyrics) Jackson Browne Jackson Browne (6:42)
Farther On (Lyrics) Jackson Browne Jackson Browne (5:17)
The Late Show Jackson Browne Jackson Browne (5:09)
The Road and the Sky Jackson Browne Jackson Browne (3:04)
For a Dancer (Lyrics) Jackson Browne Jackson Browne (4:42)
Walking Slow (Lyrics) Jackson Browne Jackson Browne (3:50)
Before the Deluge (Lyrics) Jackson Browne Jackson Browne (6:18)

Credits

Clarence White (Keyboards), Jackson Browne (Guitar (Acoustic)), Jackson Browne (Guitar), Jackson Browne (Piano), Jackson Browne (Keyboards), Jackson Browne (Programming), Jackson Browne (Vocals), Jackson Browne (Producer), Jackson Browne (Slide Guitar), Jackson Browne (Main Performer), Dan Fogelberg (Vocals), Dan Fogelberg (Harmony Vocals), Don Henley (Vocals), Don Henley (Harmony Vocals), David Lindley (Fiddle), David Lindley (Guitar), David Lindley (Violin), David Lindley (Guitar (Electric)), David Lindley (Guitar (Steel)), David Lindley (Slide Guitar), Terry Reid (Vocals), Terry Reid (Harmony Vocals), Joyce Everson (Vocals), Joyce Everson (Harmony Vocals), Beth Fitchet (Vocals), Beth Fitchet (Harmony Vocals), Doug Haywood (Bass), Doug Haywood (Harmony Vocals), Doug Haywood (Harmony), Jon Douglas Haywood (Bass), Jon Douglas Haywood (Vocals), Greg Ladanyi (Mastering), Perry Lindley (Vocals), Perry Lindley (Harmony Vocals), Kent Nebergall (Engineer), Tom Perry (Engineer), Fritz Richmond (Jug), Fritz Richmond (Engineer), Al Schmitt (Producer), J.D. Souther (Harmony Vocals), Larry Zack (Percussion), Larry Zack (Drums), Jai Winding (Organ), Jai Winding (Piano), Jai Winding (Keyboards)
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Wikipedia: Late for the Sky
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Late for the Sky
Studio album by Jackson Browne
Released September 1974
Recorded 1974, Elektra Sound Recorders - Hollywood Sound Recorders - Sunset Sound Recorders
Genre Rock
Length 40:38
Label Asylum
Producer Jackson Browne,
Al Schmitt
Professional reviews
Jackson Browne chronology
For Everyman
(1973)
Late for the Sky
(1974)
The Pretender
(1976)

Late for the Sky is the third album by American singer/songwriter Jackson Browne, released in 1974 (see 1974 in music).

Late for the Sky was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1975, but did not win. It peaked at #14 on Billboard's Pop Albums chart. It is considered by many fans, critics and musicians to be his best and most influential album.

Browne has publicly acknowledged that the acclaimed cover art for Late for the Sky was inspired by the 1954 painting "L'Empire des Lumieres" ("Empire of Light"), by Belgian surrealist René Magritte. The album itself contains the credit, "cover concept Jackson Browne if it's all reet with Magritte."

The title track was featured prominently in the 1976 Martin Scorsese film Taxi Driver.

In 2003, the album was ranked number 372 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

Contents

Track listing

All songs by Jackson Browne

  1. "Late for the Sky" – 5:36
  2. "Fountain of Sorrow" – 6:42
  3. "Farther On" – 5:17
  4. "The Late Show" – 5:09
  5. "The Road and the Sky" – 3:04
  6. "For a Dancer" – 4:42
  7. "Walking Slow" – 3:50
  8. "Before the Deluge" – 6:18

Personnel

Additional personnel

Charts

Album - Billboard (North America)

Year Chart Position
1974 Pop Albums 14

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Album Review. Copyright © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. Content provided by All Music Guide ®, a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Late for the Sky" Read more

 

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