On The Pretender, Jackson Browne took a step back from the precipice so well defined on his first three albums, but doing so didn't seem to make him feel any better. Employing a real producer, Jon Landau, for the first time, Browne made what sounded like a real contemporary rock record, but this made his songs less effective; the ersatz Mexican arrangement of "Linda Paloma" and the bouncy second half of "Daddy's Tune," with its horn charts and guitar solo, undercut the lyrics. The man who had delved so deeply into life's abyss on his earlier albums was in search of escape this time around, whether by crying ("Here Come Those Tears Again"), sleeping ("Sleep's Dark and Silent Gate"), or making peace with estranged love ones ("The Only Child," "Daddy's Tune"). None of it worked, however, and when Browne came to the final track -- traditionally the place on his albums where he summed up his current philosophical stance -- he delivered "The Pretender," a cynical, sarcastic treatise on moneygrubbing and the shallow life of the suburbs. Primarily inner-directed, the song's defeatist tone demands rejection, but it is also a quintessential statement of its time, the post-Watergate '70s; dire as that might be, you had to admire that kind of honesty, even as it made you wince. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
Graham Nash (Harmony), Mark Howlett (Engineer), Lowell George (Slide Guitar), Jackson Browne (Guitar (Acoustic)), Val Garay (Mixing), Paul Black (Assistant Engineer), Russ Kunkel (Drums), Bernie Grundman (Mastering), Bonnie Raitt (Harmony), Don Henley (Vocals), John Haeny (Engineer), Chuck Rainey (Bass), Jeff Porcaro (Drums), David Lindley (Guitar (Steel)), Jim Gordon (Drums), Jackson Browne (Photography), David Lindley (Lap Steel Guitar), Chuck Findley (Horn), Roberto Gutierrez (Guitarron), Jackson Browne (Producer), Bonnie Raitt (Vocal Harmony), David Campbell (Arranger), Mark Hammerman (Management), Quitman Dennis (Horn), Arthur Gerst (Arranger), Luis Damian (Vocals), David Crosby (Harmony), Jon Landau (Notes Editing), David Lindley (Guitar), Bob Glaub (Bass), Luis Damian (?), Jon Landau (Producer), Greg Ladanyi (Engineer), Jim Horn (Arranger), David Campbell (Viola), Don Henley (Harmony), David Lindley (Violin), David Lindley (Slide Guitar), Mike Utley (Keyboards), Fred Tackett (Guitar (Electric)), Jim Horn (Horn), Tom Kelley (Cover Photo), Mike Utley (Organ), Richard Hyde (Horn), Gary Burden (Art Direction), Rosemary Butler (Vocal Harmony), Graham Nash (Vocal Harmony), Jackson Browne (Piano), Roberto Gutierrez (Violin), Craig Doerge (Piano), David Crosby (Vocals), Roberto Gutierrez (Vocals (Background)), Lowell George (Vocal Harmony), Greg Ladanyi (Mixing), Dennis Kirk (Mixing Assistant), Arthur Gerst (Harp), Howard Burke (Photography), Gary Burden (Design), J.D. Souther (Vocal Harmony), Jon Landau (Vocals), Jim Gordon (Organ), Albert Lee (Guitar (Electric)), Albert Lee (Guitar), Graham Nash (Vocals), David Crosby (Vocal Harmony), Chuck Finley (Horn), Lowell George (Guitar), Bill Payne (Organ), Arthur Gerst (?), Fred Tackett (Guitar (Acoustic)), Paul Black (Assistant), Lowell George (Vocals), J.D. Souther (Vocals), Bill Payne (Keyboards), Roberto Gutierrez (Vocals), David Lindley (Fiddle), Don Henley (Vocal Harmony), Bill Payne (Piano), Roberto Gutierrez (Guitar), Jackson Browne (Guitar), Bonnie Raitt (Vocals), David Hyde (Horn), Luis Damian (Vocals (Background)), Rosemary Butler (Harmony), Luis Damian (Guitar), John Haeny (Recorder), Dennis Kirk (Assistant), Leland Sklar (Bass), Craig Doerge (Keyboards), Fred Tackett (Guitar), John Hall (Guitar), Arthur Gerst (Vocals (Background)), Jackson Browne (Keyboards), Jackson Browne (Vocals), Rosemary Butler (Vocals), Roy Bittan (Piano), Lowell George (Harmony), David Campbell (String Arrangements), Gary Coleman (Percussion)
The Pretender was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1978, but did not win. In 2003, the album was ranked number 391 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll says 'its sense of despair is derived in part from the suicide of his first wife, Phyllis, in 1976, two and a half years after the birth of their son, Ethan'.
