Jackson Browne
For Everyman

THE REVIEW

"For Everyman", third work by Browne released in '73, opens with "Take It Easy", brought to fame by the Eagles. The track, with a rather cheerful tone, as can be easily inferred already from the title, immediately outlines the characteristics of the album's sound: a solid folk rock structure, with the acoustic guitar (later also the piano) supporting everything, and the precious embellishments of the slide by the inseparable David Lindley.

Without interruption, it moves to "Our Lady Of The Well", with a drier and acoustic sound, featuring a melancholic and strongly evocative text. This is one of the tracks on the album that touches me the most, with beautiful images skilfully placed on chord changes with descending bass lines quite frequent in Browne. In this piece, I believe I recognize one of the features that, in my opinion, make Browne's work more personal and make it easier to identify with his stories: the ability to make the ordinary events of everyone's life seem epic, romantic, worthy of being sung in a great song and to evoke great emotions. In the same vein "I Thought I Was A Child", with the recurring themes of regret for something lost, missed opportunities, and feelings not fully followed.

In "These Days", the desire to look forward despite past disappointments emerges. The piece is characterized by truly masterful work by the usual David Lindley on the slide, with a chilling final solo.

The conclusion is entrusted to "Sing My Songs To Me", a splendid piece about the imaginative power of music, which after a funky-flavored break flows into the long title track, a classic universal elegy by Browne about disillusionment, closed by an instrumental coda with, once again, Lindley leading the dance.