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Rating: Twilight.
It's the first definition that comes to mind when I think of what I consider to be the greatest masterpiece of West Coast music. I'm talking about "Late for the Sky," the ever-changing work of Jackson Browne, or "Brother Jackson" to his friends. Not just to his friends, to be honest.
Anyone who has grown up with his music feels him, after so many years, like a sort of distant brother, yet ultimately so close to the existential torments and vicissitudes of us common folk.
Twilight, I was saying. It's the time of day evoked by the stunning cover clearly inspired by the genius of Magritte.
A house photographed at dusk in a contrast of lights that is indicative in itself of the themes addressed in the songs included in the album. Parked in front of the house is a beautiful Chevrolet. Here, from the ecstatic observation of this image, this melancholic and intimate journey into the work of the Californian singer-songwriter must necessarily begin because already in those contrasts between light and dark, we find the clues of a strong opposition. Evening is approaching; the lights outside the house are already on. However, the sky is still painted a deep blue, maybe it's a glimmer of hope still lit, or perhaps it definitively represents the memory of what the past could have been.
Which wasn't.
Meanwhile, perhaps inside that house, a drama is unfolding. A relationship that is fading. A sentiment that slowly vanishes. These are the first clues.
"Late for the Sky" is a journey through suffering, and Jackson asks us to follow him, to accompany him on this descent into the abysses of existential torment. But it is a journey aimed at catharsis, not self-destruction. The interpretative key of the profound literary work achieved here by the singer-songwriter is represented by that feeling of sharing that ultimately makes the human being a little less alone. Because sooner or later, everyone in life loses something. A love, a loved one, a job (more and more often, even the job), and there comes a time when each of us has to come to terms with our personal abyss. And we come to terms with the past, in the
hope of finding the tools for ascent. Which must come, and in this respect, Browne shows us the right path, illuminating the listening of the album with happy insights both from a purely musical and a lyrical and poetic point of view.
"Late for the Sky" is not a "depressive" work. Over the years, I have often come across comments highlighting this tragically melancholic side in Jackson Browne's songs, but I find instead that these songs are ultimately a sort of collective psychodrama in which the author bares himself and asks us to witness his suffering. This is already a way to positively overcome negative moments. I believe that never in any other album has Jackson represented himself with so much honesty and sensitivity.
Getting into the point, it's challenging to fully describe the emotions that emerge from the grooves of this record.
The initial sequence is breathtaking. The title track is a gem of unsurpassed beauty in the exhilarating blend of instruments that make it a sort of undisputed symbol of the West Coast sound. We are in 1974, at the creative peak of a very fertile artistic-musical period, and in this album, not by chance, we find the top representatives of that sound. Starting with David Lindley, a skilled multi-instrumentalist who places his signature in "Late for the Sky" with delightful phrases and an unapproachable guitar solo.
And then that gentle organ in the background. In the following years, I had the opportunity to listen to countless versions of that song, but the original has now become an unattainable archetype. On an emotional level, the final crescendo of the track is certainly worthy of note, where Jackson climbs higher and higher in expressing his pain: "How long have I been sleeping, How long have I been drifting alone through the night, How long have I been running for that morning flight Through the whispered promises and the changing light of the bed where we both lie...late for the sky".
After holding our breath following Jackson in the final verses, we just have time to recover. But it's a brief moment because Brother awaits us at the turn with a sequence that dazes: "Fountain of Sorrow", "Farther On", "The Late Show". The introspective journey continues through memories, nostalgia, suffering associated with incommunicability and hypocrisy.
In "The Late
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Late for the Sky (05:39)
The words had all been spoken
and somehow the feeling still wasnt right
and still we continued through the night
tracing our steps from the beginning
until they vanished into the air
Trying to understand how our lives had led us there
Looking hard into your eyes
there was nobody I'd ever known
such an empty surprise
to feel so alone
Now for me some words come easy
but i know that they dont mean that much
Compared with the things that are said when lovers touch
you never knew what I loved in you
i don't know what you loved in me
maybe the picture of somebody hoping i might be
Chorus
Awake again I can't pretend
and i know I'm alone and close to the end
of the feeling we've known
How long have I been sleeping
how long have i been drifting alone through the night
how long have i been dreaming I could make it right
if I closed my eyes and tried with all my might
to be the the one you need
Chorus
How long have i been sleeping
how long have i been drifting alone through the night
how long have I been running for that morning flight
throught thte whispered promises and the changing light
Of the bed where we both lie
Late For The Sky
02 Fountain of Sorrow (06:50)
Looking through some photographs I found inside a drawer
I was taken by a photograph of you
There were one or two I know that you would have liked a little more
But they didn't show your spirit quite as true
You were turning 'round to see who was behind you
And I took your childish laughter by surprise
And at the moment that my camera happened to find you
There was just a trace of sorrow in your eyes
Now the things that I remember seem so distant and so small
Though it hasn't really been that long a time
What I was seeing wasn't what was happening at all
Although for a while our path did seem to climb
When you see through love's illusions, there lies the danger
And your perfect lover just looks like a perfect fool
So you go running off in search of a perfect stranger
While the loneliness seems to spring from your life
Like a fountain from a pool
Fountain of sorrow, fountain of light
You've known that hollow sound of your own steps in flight
You've had to hide sometimes, but now you're all right
And it's good to see your smiling face tonight
Now for you and me it may not be that hard to reach our dreams
But that magic feeling never seems to last
And all the future's there for anyone to change, still you know it seems
It would be easier sometimes to change the past
I'm just one or two years and a couple of changes behind you
In my lessons at love's pain and heartache school
Where if you feel too free and you need something to remind you
There's this loneliness springing up from your life
Like a fountain from a pool
Fountain of sorrow, fountain of light
You've known that hollow sound of your own steps in flight
You've had to hide sometimes but now you're all right
And it's good to see your smiling face tonight
Fountain of sorrow, fountain of light
You've known that hollow sound of your own steps in flight
You've had to struggle, you've had to fight
To keep understanding and compassion in sight
You could be laughing at me, you've got the right
But you go on smiling so clear and so bright
03 Farther On (05:19)
In my early years I hid my tears
And passed my days alone
Adrift on an ocean of loneliness
My dreams like nets were thrown
To catch the love that I'd heard of
In books and films and songs
Now there's a world of illusion and fantasy
In the place where the real world belongs
Still I look for the beauty in songs
To fill my head and lead me on
Though my dreams have come up torn and empty
As many times as love has come and gone
To those gentle ones my memory runs
To the laughter we shared at the meals
I filled their kitchens and living rooms
With my schemes and my broken wheels
It was never clear how far or near
The gates to my citadel lay
They were cutting from stone some dreams of their own
But they listened to mine anyway
I'm not sure what I'm trying to say
It could be I've lost my way
Though I keep a watch over the distance
Heaven's no closer than it was yesterday
And the angels are older
They know not to wait up for the sun
They look over my shoulder
At the maps and the drawings of the journey I've begun
Now the distance leads me farther on
Though the reasons I once had are gone
I keep thinking I'll find what I'm looking for
In the sand beneath the dawn
But the angels are older
They can see that the sun's setting fast
They look over my shoulder
At the vision of paradise contained in the light of the past
And they lay down behind me
To sleep beside the road till the morning has come
Where they know they will find me
With my maps and my faith in the distance
Moving farther on
06 For a Dancer (04:44)
Keep a fire burning in your eye
Pay attention to the open sky
You never know what will be coming down
I don't remember losing track of you
You were always dancing in and out of view
I must've thought you'd always be around
Always keeping things real by playing the clown
Now you're nowhere to be found
I don't know what happens when people die
Can't seem to grasp it as hard as I try
It's like a song I can hear playing right in my ear
But I can't sing
I can't help listening
I can't help feeling stupid standing 'round
Crying is they ease you down
'Cause I know that you'd rather we were dancing
Dancing our sorrow away
(Right on Dancing)
No matter what fate chooses to play
(There's nothing you can do about it anyway)
Just do the steps that you've been shown
By everyone you've ever known
Until the dance becomes your very own
No matter how close to yours
Another's steps have grown
In the end there is one dance you'll do alone
Keep a fire for the human race
Let your prayers go drifting into space
You never know what will be coming down
Perhaps a better world is drawing near
Just as easily it could all disappear
Along with whatever meaning you might have found
Don't let the uncertainty turn you around
(The world keeps turning around and around)
Go on and make a joyful sound
Into a dancer you have grown
From a seed somebody else has thrown
Go on ahead and throw some seeds of your own
And somewhere between the time you arrive
And the time you go
May lie a reason you were alive
That you'll never know
08 Before the Deluge (06:20)
Some of them were dreamers
And some of them were fools
Who were making plans and thinking of the future
With the energy of the innocent
They were gathering the tools
They would need to make their journey back to nature
While the sand slipped through the opening
And their hands reached for the golden ring
When their hearts they turned to each other's hearts for refuge
In the troubled years that came before the deluge
Some of them knew pleasure
And some of them knew pain
And for some of them it was only the moment that mattered
And on the brave and crazy wings of youth
They went flying around in the rain
And their feathers, once so fine, grew torn and tattered
And in the end they traded their tired wings
For the resignation that living brings
And exchanged love's bright and fragile glow
For the glitter and the rouge
And in a moment they were swept before the deluge
Let the music keep our spirits high
Let the buildings keep our children dry
Let creation reveal its secrets by and by, by and by
When the light that's lost within us reaches the sky
Some of them were angry
At the way the earth was abused
By the men who learned how to forge her beauty into power
And they struggled to protect her from them
Only to be confused
By the magnitude of her fury in the final hour
And when the sand was gone and the time arrived
In the naked dawn only a few survived
And in attempts to understand a thing so simple and so huge
Believed that they were meant to live after the deluge
Let the music keep our spirits high
Let the buildings keep our children dry
Let creation reveal it's secrets by and by, by and by
When the light that's lost within us reaches the sky
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Other reviews
By Grasshopper
Jackson Browne’s ability to write cultured and refined lyrics paired with melodic inventiveness reflects a state of mind between serene and resigned.
The splendid cover, with Magritte-like play of light, is an additional touch of class for a splendid album, very relaxing yet never boring.
