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Review Summary: Jackson Browne misses the mark....Widely. This is the album where Jackson Browne began his gradual slide into irrelevance. Filled with supposed "statement" songs, Lawyers in Love has some of the blandest, most simplistic music of Browne's career. And the preachiness grates. The title song was, according to Browne, a "funny" take on modern society. Yeah...it's a yuk-fest alright, filled with pseudo-intellectual ramblings and meanderingly obtuse references that don't amount to one coherent thought. "On the Day" follows, however, and it's a broken-hearted love song with a driving beat that's irresistable; it remains a great cut. Unfortunately, "Cut It Away" is a synth-ballad with no melody that deserved to end up in the remainder bin. "Downtown" continues Brown's fascination with street smart sass that began with "Boulevard" but suffers from the same disconnect this El-Lay millionaire could not overcome.
"Tender is the Night" is the album's masterpiece and remains one of the best thing's Browne ever did. The loping melody, the sublime playing and Browne's heartfelt song-styling are superb. Sadly, "Knock On Any Door" follows and drags the album right back to square one. This melody-free debacle is utterly disposable and simplistic. Just junk. "Say It Isn't True" is Browne's anti-nuke plea, so the prettiness of the melody is constantly undercut by lyric doggeral. One of his worst. "For a Rocker" closes the album with the most unintentionally funny moment here. The only "rocking" thing about this humdinger is the title, and the bright pop sheen that surrounds the maudlin lyrics would have been tongue-in-cheek if Browne hadn't been so utterly serious.
So there you have it: two great cuts, to fair cuts, and four train wrecks. Not what one would have expected from a songwriter of Jackson Browne's caliber.
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Well I won't complain that this review has no personality or that it's boring, but here's a few things:
- Stop using the thesaurus. You don't need whacked words to beef up your review or make you look smarter. No one knows what meanderingly obtuse means. Here's a few of your insane words:
"obtuse, pseudo-intellectual, meanderingly obtuse, loping, sublime, debacle, doggeral, humdinger, maudlin"
- This site generally dislikes short reviews.
- This site generally dislikes track by track reviews
- This is still a good first review even if it is confusing and a little scatter-brained. I pos'd.
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oh god, i just glanced at this in the sidebar and thought it was for Nattens Madrigal.
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Great to see some more people reviewing Jackson. In my opinion, the most underrated musician of all time.
I love Tender Is the Night, but yeah, the rest of the record isn't his best work.
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oh god, i just glanced at this in the sidebar and thought it was for Nattens Madrigal. same
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"obtuse, pseudo-intellectual, meanderingly obtuse, loping, sublime, debacle, doggeral, humdinger, maudlin"
the only questionable word there is doggeral. Give him a break.
| | | Album Rating: 2.0
To pizzamachine:
Sorry my vocabulary is too much. Next time I'll try the old stand-bys:
Awesome!!, OMG!!, magical, ethereal, TOTALLY awesome, wicked, incredible
OR
it sucks, it stinks, it's whack, it's stupid, etc. etc.
Like, I mean I totally get that you don't get what the words mean and, like, you totally think I'm trying to be smart and all, like...you know? And like, I mean, I didn't use a thesaurus and stuff and I can't help how I think and all but, like, I won't do it anymore cause like, you know, I mean like I totally want to write just awesome reviews for this site and all. Like...you know?
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