Various - Looking Into You: A Tribute to Jackson Browne

  by Malcolm Carter

published: 22 / 3 / 2014

Label: Music Road Records
Format: CD X2

intro

Impressive tribute album to Jackson Browne, which includes covers from Don Henley, Lyle Lovett, Lucinda Williams and Bruce Springsteen

‘Looking Into You’ is the first tribute album honouring Jackson Browne, which is a little strange considering how many lesser artists have already received the ‘tribute’ treatment. Browne released his first album way back in 1972, but he was already known as a songwriter of no little talent much earlier than that. For many of us, although Browne was an early member of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, he first caught our attention as the writer of two songs on Nico’s ‘Chelsea Girl’ album, contributing both ‘Somewhere There’s a Feather’ and ‘These Days’. The latter Browne stated some years later he actually wrote when he was just sixteen years of age. That song, like much of Browne’s work, has been covered many times by many different artists through the years and has achieved classic status, but even now it’s almost shocking to think that it was originally the work of someone so young. Browne’s songs have always been amazingly melodic. While many focus on Browne’s lyrics very few of his songs fail to capture the listener’s attention immediately and, initially at least, that is down to his ability to write striking melodies. Having sold more than 18 million albums in the United States alone and despite the eagerness of other artists to cover his work, most of Browne’s followers will see his original takes as the definitive ones. There have, admittedly, been a few surprises along the way, this writer still finds the Jackson 5’s version of ‘Doctor My Eyes’ the most successful, and while Nico had a point about the strings on her version of ‘These Days’ the icy-coolness of her vocals wins me over every time. It can’t be claimed that too may of the twenty three songs chosen for this tribute album are radical reworkings of Browne’s songs, but the twenty two artists (Lyle Lovett gets two songs) all bring something to their contribution. It’s a pretty cool selection of artists; just a glance at the list of those taking part will be enough for any Browne fan to part with their cash. The first song on ‘Looking Into You’ has already taken a couple of critical knocks, a version of ‘These Days’ by Don Henley with Blind Pilot that, given my comments about the Nico take above, isn’t the best that’s filled this room but it’s far, very far, from being either a badly sung or played effort. Henley, as expected, turns in a heartfelt vocal, and while the brass is a little intrusive and doesn’t really benefit this version in any way it’s a comfortable opener. Bonnie Raitt and David Lindley’s ‘Everywhere I Go’ embraces and enhances the reggae lilt of the original. Like many of the songs on ‘Looking Into You’, it stays true to Browne’s original version while still injecting enough of the featured artists own vision to keep things interesting. Not for the last time is the listener going to consider if Browne’s originals are now the most satisfying versions. There are songs here where even the vocals aren’t too dissimilar to those of Browne. Griffin House who takes on ‘Barricades of Heaven’ comes close to emulating Browne vocally and adds a little extra warmth to the song; it’s strange, if we take this particular song as a perfect example of what to expect on this collection then nothing has really been added or taken away from Browne’s original yet still the song has taken on a new lease of life. It’s like hearing the songs for the first time again and falling in love with them for a second time. As soon as Lyle Lovett opens ‘Our Lady of the Well’, it’s obviously apparent why he was allowed two selections here. The way Lovett interprets both ‘Our Lady Of The Well’ and ‘Rosie’ is, especially to those who were never really touched by his own music, a revelation. For all the excellent work the well-known names on this collection have given to it, it would appear that Lovett has a feel for Browne’s work that just gives him the edge over his fellow musicians. Lovett covering ‘Rosie’ also brings back memories of debates on what the song is about; for years I was convinced it was about a groupie, while others went for the story about the guy who mixed the monitors onstage before Browne said that the song really was about masturbation. Given Lovett’s heartbreaking vocal performance here I’ll still stick with the groupie theory. But it’s pointless trying to focus on just one song here as a highlight. Lucinda Williams comes close with a smouldering take of ‘The Pretender’, Shawn Colvin wrings every last bit of emotion out of her vocals on ‘Call It a Loan’, Keb Mo’ flavours ‘Rock Me on the Water’ with a little southern soul and gospel flourishes while maybe the biggest surprise comes from Bruce Hornsby with his version of ‘I’m Alive’, another superb vocal performance and imaginative arrangement. Bruce Springsteen and Patti Sciafa’s Spanish-influenced ‘Linda Paloma’ is going to be the song that garners most attention purely because it’s the Boss taking the lead vocals, but although it’s an expectedly fine effort it’s not the most captivating cut on the album. It’s testament to Browne’s songwriting talents that such a vast array of artists can take songs that span thirty or so years and make them both sound as fresh as the day they were first recorded and that the songs don’t have to be drastically rearranged to sound contemporary. ‘Looking Into You, A Tribute To Jackson Browne’ is, without a doubt, near the top of any ‘best tribute album’ list and that’s just as much due to Jackson Browne’s timeless songs as it is to the amazing collection of artists who wanted to take part in this project.

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