Jackson Browne
Late For The Sky

THE REVIEW

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