JACKSON BROWNE : SOLO ACOUSTIC VOL. 1

  1. The Barricades Of Heaven
  2. These Days
  3. The Birds Of St. Marks
  4. Fountain Of Sorrow
  5. Your Bright Baby Blues
  6. For A Dancer
  7. Too Many Angels
  8. For Everyman
  9. Lives In The Balance
  10. Looking East
  11. The Pretender
  12. Take It Easy

Label : Inside Recordings

Length : 70:45

Venue : various USA and Europe

Recording Date : 2004-2005

Release Date : October 11, 2005

Review (AllMusic) : The opening 28 seconds of Jackson Browne's Solo Acoustic, Vol. 1 are massive crowd applause. Even its volume level gets boosted the way it did on live albums from the 1970s. Guess he wants you to know he still matters to people - and it's totally unnecessary. The music here speaks for itself. Whether or not one appreciates Browne's recorded catalog is immaterial; his gift as a songwriter is enigmatic, unassailable, and singular. There are 12 songs here from throughout Browne's career, ranging from "These Days" and "For Everyman" to "Lives in the Balance" and "Looking East" and all points in between. There are numerous spoken and instrumental intros to the material; Browne's a fine and comfortable communicator when it comes to sitting naked and alone in front of an audience, though sometimes his humor is cynical and borders on bitter. The versions of "For a Dancer" and "The Pretender" are deeply moving as are "These Days" and "Too Many Angels." It would be easy to live without all the intros, as they merely point toward Browne and what he has accomplished, when the songs so easily speak for themselves and for him. Perhaps on volume two he'll let that happen. Despite his many asides, this is a fine and necessary addition to Browne's catalog. Still one has to wonder, with the double-disc Rhino set that appeared earlier in 2005 and these live retrospectives, when there will be new material coming from a songwriter who has had something to say that mattered in each of the last four decades. Let's hope it's soon.

Review (Wikipedia) : Solo Acoustic, Vol. 1 is a live album by American singer-songwriter Jackson Browne, released in 2005. It reached number 4 on the Top Independent Albums chart and number 8 on the Top Internet Albums chart. Solo Acoustic, Vol. 1 was Browne's first live release since 1977's landmark Running on Empty. The performances were recorded at various locations in the United States and Europe during Browne's 2004 solo acoustic tour. The live version of "Lives in the Balance" from the album was released as a promotional single. "The Birds of St. Marks" was originally written in 1970 and sometimes played in live performances, but was not released on any recordings until this release. "The Rebel Jesus" is a bonus track on Australian and Japanese versions, and on special edition CDs bought in the U.S. at Best Buy. At 48th Grammy Awards Solo Acoustic, Vol. 1 was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album. Writing for Allmusic, music critic Thom Jurek wrote: "The music here speaks for itself... his gift as a songwriter is enigmatic, unassailable, and singular."