Author Topic: "Jackson Browne Solo Acoustic Vol I" CD (Read 275 times)

kmh364 · « **on:** October 25, 2005, 06:33:30 PM »

Just got the new Jackson Browne disc. It's a series of solo performances from tours over the past three years. JB plays steel string acoustic (with a little slide thrown in...perhaps a dobro?) and piano. It appears to be minimalistically miked, with JB front and center in the sounstage.

The sound is excellent, the acoustic instruments sound like acoustic instruments (the piano sounds good too, but is not acoustic) and he is in fine form vocally and instrumentally. The tracks are all consistent in tone, volume and balance as well. It hardly sounds like he's aged at all...his voice is still awesome! Nice intimate settings without excessive hall reverb or other acoustic artifacts added.

The songs are mostly culled from his early albums, which I feel is his best stuff, with a couple of 90's songs thrown in for good measure. Certain songs don't translate as well to the solo vocal with single instrument accompaniment, but even the lesser versions are excellent. I wouldn't have minded hearing David Lindley slide in on a few songs, LOL! What can you say about this guy's storytelling/songwriting that hasn't already been said...he's arguably up there with the all-time greats!

Fountain Of Sorrow, These Days, Your Bright Baby Blues are amongst my faves...The Pretender is excellent as well.

Small criticism: a considerable amount of the songs have a 2-3min. spoken intro. While Jackson comes off as a completely unpretentious nice guy, we could really do without the idle banter in order to get a couple more songs. He offers little in the way of background for any of the songs, which would have been a welcome addition.

At any rate, if you love Jackson's music, you owe it to yourself to get this one! If you're a hi-fi nut, this one makes a nice vocal and acoustic stereo demo disc, LOL!

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

$11.99 delivered at deepdiscountcd.com

Enjoy!

Kevin

lbpesq · « **Reply #1 on:** October 25, 2005, 08:07:20 PM »

My wife and I were lucky enough to catch Jackson at a restaurant in downtown Berkeley a few months ago. (A benefit for Wavy Gravy's Camp Winnarainbow.) Jackson played for an hour and a half. He had about 20 acoustic guitars(!) as well as his electric piano. (It's good to have roadies - LOL). He switched guitars for each song, but still most went untouched. Bonnie Raitt was there and sang a couple of songs with him. He was great. For several of the songs, he did a talking intro where he explained the circumstances under which the song came to be written. My wife is getting the new CD for the holidays.

Bill, tgo

(Message edited by lbpesq on October 25, 2005)

jacko · « **Reply #2 on:** October 26, 2005, 12:47:46 AM »

He does a nice duet with Bonnie on her 'Road Tested' DVD and CD and also reappears at the end to add to the male harmonies on Angel from Montgomery. I've not listened to much of his work but will now ;-)

Graeme

kmh364 · « **Reply #3 on:** October 26, 2005, 05:27:48 AM »

Yeah, there's 20 guitars on the back and interior CD cover...one of those fold-out cheap, cheesy cardboard jobs in lieu of a proper jewel case. That's another small criticism...I HATE those cheap cardboard CD cases! More record company greed to maximize their profits! Seriously, how friggin' much does it cost a record company to use a jewel case...a few cents?

borisspyder · « **Reply #4 on:** October 26, 2005, 05:31:39 AM »

Many artists insist on the cardboard for environmental reasons. The jewel cases aren't biodegradable though they certainly are more durable.

kmh364 · « **Reply #5 on:** October 26, 2005, 05:44:23 AM »

Well, JB is an environmental activist of sorts, but my other JB CD's all have the jewel case. They are, at least, recyclable. Unless they're broken, they don't usually get tossed. Even if I buy another case, at about a buck, I have no insert or artwork to stick inside. That doesn't make me a happy camper, especially at today's CD prices. And the greedy record companies wonder why their profits are down! Give the consumer a good product at a resonable price, and they won't steal it off the net for free!

borisspyder · « **Reply #6 on:** October 26, 2005, 06:03:59 AM »

Unfortunately, everything gets tossed eventually, thats the problem. And delivery of content in CD's/DVD'd is dead long term anyway. It will all be on demand, on line within the next decade.

kmh364 · « **Reply #7 on:** October 26, 2005, 07:05:47 AM »

Understood, but I still want my jewel case until CD's dry up, LOL!

Hell, I still buy vinyl and I'm not giving that up anytime soon. As long as analogue still sounds superior to digital, they'll still be people willing to buy and manufacturers willing to make the stuff.

CD's will have a tougher time of surviving. Most consumers don't care about lossy digital compression, as long as they can download MP-3's onto their computer and/or i-Pod. Plus, lossless digital stuf is available. The audiophile community may keep SACD and/or DVD-A around for a while longer, if there's enough demand.

Personally, I miss full size album covers, fold-out and inserts. CD's are OK in that regard, but still not like LP's. When the stuff is purely digital, we'll probably have to forego the artwork.

kmh364 · « **Reply #8 on:** October 27, 2005, 04:56:24 AM »

The more I listen to this disk, the more I love the music, and the more I dislike the babbling, LOL! Par Example, on one track, he congratulates whatever city he's in as being named the Best Place To Live In The World or something like that. He continues making a joke about those who are dissatisfied with the (unnamed) city who may now REALLY be depressed as this is a good as it gets, LOL!

Lets hope for a Vol II SOON! Make mine babble-less...OK, Mr. Record Co. Exec? LOL! Unless what he says gives meaningful insight to the song(s) he's about to sing...PLEASE!

FWIW: at least they had the foresight to make the rambling song intros into separate tracks so that you can just skip 'em...and I do! LOL!

Cheers,

Kevin

David Houck · « **Reply #9 on:** November 03, 2005, 10:20:53 AM »

Kevin; just copy the songs onto your computer and then copy them back onto another disk without the commentary. My guess is that there are probably people out there who really like the commentary; probably reminds them of being at a show.

Bill; Jackson Browne and Bonnie Raitt at a restaurant!!

kmh364 · « **Reply #10 on:** November 03, 2005, 10:30:56 AM »

No big deal, Dave. I just skip the babble. At least they had the foresight to make 'em separate tracks so they can be programmed out if desired.

FWIW, I've been spreading the word around about this disc, and while a lot of us old codgers like JB, women especially mention that he's a wife beater, LOL! I was aware that he beat-up Darryl Hannah (full story unknown to me) when they were cohabitating, but I wasn't aware of any other incidents. Regardless, whether he's a mass-murderer or not, I like his music, and I like this disc.

lbpesq · « **Reply #11 on:** November 03, 2005, 05:01:56 PM »

As for the Darryl Hannah rumours, I have no personnal knowledge, but in a fight between the two, I'd bet on Darryl, she's a big girl.

The show we saw was originally to be held at the home of a guy near here who built an amphitheater in his backyard and puts on fundraisers. At the last minute some neighbors apparently complained and the show was moved to the Downtown Restaurant on Shattuck Avenue in Berkeley. (Rumour has it that Jackson is a part owner). We saw the story in the paper about the feud with the neighbors and on a hunch called up the Camp Winnarainbow people and got tickets ($200 each - ouch!). But it was for a good cause, and how often do you get to see Jackson in a restaurant? He was literally playing about 10-12 feet from our table. Very cool. He did a meet & greet afterwards, but I don't like to impose in those situations. The poor guy is standing there while everyone waits in a line to have 30 seconds with him. I say leave him alone. The funny thing is that I was wearing an Alembic T-shirt. A guy comes up and tells me his friend is getting an Alembic and then brings him over. Turns out it was Scott Law whose Further is linked to mine in the FTC thread! Small world.

I've had a lot of luck in seeing shows in small venues lately. Last week Jeff Flaxman (flaxattack) came out from NY and he, Valentino and I saw Phil Lesh and Friends at Bimbos, a 650 capactiy nightclub in the North Beach area of San Francisco. Tomorrow night my wife and I have tickets for Stanley Clarke at Yoshi's, a japanese restaurant which an excellent, fairly small jazz club. Then, of course, Saturday night my band plays in Sebastopol. Ain't music great?

Bill, tgo

dadabass2001 · « **Reply #12 on:** November 03, 2005, 05:21:38 PM »

Bill, your having a heck of a fall season! Good on ya!
Mike

kmh364 · « **Reply #13 on:** November 04, 2005, 04:42:20 AM »

You know...I deserve the D'uoh! Award...it didn't occur to me that you were THE Bill in the pix Flax has posted whenever he visits Alembic. All I needed to do was click on your screename! Oh well, you earn sumpin' new each day, LOL!

Yeah, Darryl is an Amazon...I'd bet she could kick my *ss as well, and I'm 6', 225# with a 50 chest and a 34 waist! Actually, judging by how good she looked in her recent photo spread, I'd actually like her to try, LOL!