Customer Reviews

Running on Empty

5 star:		(37)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When this album came out in 1977 I was a roadie on tour with another artist. We heard this record when we came home on a short break a few weeks after it was released and I couldn't believe it...an album that commemorated life on the road. Although "Running on Empty" has been played to death it still holds up as a great rock anthem. The best song on the CD is definitely "Rosie" which captures the true essence of the roadie life (losing the girl to the drummer). The sleeper track is "The Road" a melancholy reflection on the horrible loneliness that is prevalent on the road. Finally the song "Cocaine" hits WAY to close to home for those of us that were seduced by its charms back then. Running on Empty is a must have CD for anyone that experienced the concert scene in the 70's (or wishes they could have). I give this CD 5 stars (attached with gaffer's tape)

Until Running on Empty, Jackson headlined in mid level arenas. For the Running on Empty Tour, with a tremendous assist from his opening act Karla Bonoff, Browne moved into the big sports arenas playing to 20000 a night. Running on Empty was his highlight from a financial standpoint.

An interesting concept at the time and some of the songs, like Running on Empty and the Load Out/Stay became big hits. Load Out/Stay is the mandatory end to a Jackson Browne concert, as it was when Bruce Springsteen and the E street band performed the song along with Jackson at the No Nukes concert in 1980.

You Love the Thunder, with Rosemary Butler as a tremendous backup voice, is a good song and Rosie, despite its unique subject matter, is a decent song that gets a lot of airtime still.

I could probably do without the song about big 18 wheelers but it fit the concept.

The album is only not great when compared to other Jackson Brown albums. Late for The Sky, Pretender and For Everyman are masterpieces and Running on Empty is a notch below that. I think the hard core Jackson Browne fan was glad when the Running on Empty frenzy died down and you could see Jackson in a concert hall, where he belongs.

Don McNay...

Jackson Browne has always been one of the best songwriters of his time, and with his live album, Running On Empty, he really proved it. He certainly wasn't running on empty when he released this album, because it is spectacular. The whole time I was listening to it, I felt a peace of mind, and I saw why he used to be so popular and why he was such an influential artist. One thing's for sure, if you ever want an album that is good while you're driving, this is one of them. All the songs are great, and Jackson Browne seems like a great live singer. It has two big hits with "Runnin' On Empty" and "Stay." My favorites from the album are those 2 songs, "Love Needs A Heart, "The Road," and "Shaky Town." I liked all the songs, but those were the best ones in my opinion.

If you like classic rock, great live albums, or good driving music, you need to get Running On Empty, it's a classic in my book.

For a recording artist, there is probably no trial of fire like taking the new music out on the road, and hearing fans' reactions to it. As a litmus test, a tour can make or break an artist, particularly one just starting out. Of course, when Browne released this album, he was already a grizzled veteran of playing stadiums; still, he felt compelled to lay down a permanent record of what road life was like. "Running on Empty" is a live recording, but unlike one ever made before. Some of the tracks were recorded backstage, away from the glare of the audience, some on tour buses...some even in hotels. It is as stark a view as one is able to get of the bumps in the road for a travelling band. The title track was a brand new song when it was played before an audience; it is still a radio classic. "The Road" is a song that specifically addresses the artist's concern about how his material will be treated by the fans, while maintaining one's sanity amidst the grueling touring schedule. The album is peppered with references to other realities familiar to the recording artist: groupies and drugs. "Cocaine" is an acoustic blues number featuring Glenn Frey of the Eagles. "Rosie" is a great double-entendre song about a groupie showing up backstage; Browne tries to pick her up, but the drummer sweeps "that girl away", leaving Browne to, ahem, take matters into his own hands, shall we say. "Love Needs a Heart" is a great ballad that demonstrates the singer-songwriter's virtuosity. "Nothing But Time" was recorded by Browne and Company on their tour bus after leaving a show in Portland, Maine, and shows Jackson in very lighthearted mood. "You Love the Thunder" is the outstanding rocker on the album, but the mood is mainly subtle throughout. Browne's images are extremely evocative, and he is at the peak of his career here. The album ends with the excellent FM classic, "The Load-Out/Stay", which the author reveals to a live audience he is just performing it for the first time. The live tracks played in front of crowds feature very little of the crowd response, almost like studio music accepted in first takes. "Load-Out" may be the only exception to the rule. Browne incorporates the Zodiacs' '50's song "Stay", featuring guitarist David Lindley's brilliant falsetto. This album is an essential for any rock enthuiast; each moment is thoroughly enjoyable. Do yourself a big favor, and definitely pick this one up.

There are some albums in your collection that have an amazing ability to create a mood or energy....they are timeless and when you go back to them you are always rewarded with a sound that can sweep you away !! Running on Empty is one of those albums. I like this one more for the songs that no one ever heard on the radio....songs like "The Road" which features some of the best acoustic guitar ever recorded, is an amazing snapshot of life on the road as a musician. Jackson is able to create vivid pictures of what its like....his images of the positives of being a big time rock star are juxtaposed well with the mind numbing time spent in between shows....and best of all the song is memorable and you can sing along with him as he goes thru it all !! Another classic is "Rosie" a song created from a sound technicians/roadie's perspective....you can't help feel the feelings of rejection this poor guy goes thru....he get's this girl great seats to a concert only to lose her to the drummer....but again the sadness is tempered with a little humor...."Rosie you're all right....you wear MY ring"...great stuff !!

"Cocaine" is a classic blues riff that captures a time in the American culture when the white stuff ruined many a musician...this is not the glorified "Cocaine" of Clapton...but a somber blues perspective of the highs and true lows of this little white powder.

And last but certainly not least...."The Load Out" which blends nicely into a memorialized version of "Stay" again offers vivid imagery of life on the road. Here the piano is the focal instrument and the "live" element here offers something magical you can't capture in the "retake" environment of a studio.....this is the best this song has ever sounded and they miraculously and fortuitiously caught it on tape.....the chord progressions bang into your soul and give you chills !!

This album can be picked up for very little cash...pick it up....put on some candles and listen to it with someone special...it is pure music magic !! Thank you Jackson Browne !!

Jackson Browne recorded some great music in the 1970s, culminating with "Running on Empty," the most ambitious "live" album in rock history. All of the songs are new and many were recorded in unusual locations (such as a hotel room). The title track is Browne's best known song, but there are many other classics here, culminating with "The Load Out/Stay," which turns into a surprise duet. This is a must have album for anyone interested in 70s rock.

This is the only Jackson Browne cd I've got and I really don't care if certain fans dismiss it as bland or catchy - everytime I play it (very often by the way) takes me somewhere I'm only while listening to it. Great singing by Browne and a top notch band. It's a very original concept album (Recorded live either on stage, in the tour bus, in hotel rooms and backstage too) about life on the road.

Highlights for me include the title track, The Road, Shaky Town and especially Nothing But Time - how moving is Browne's introduction and his performance (On piano and vocals) is unlike anything else you may have heard. The other tracks are great too - listen to the weary and stoned singing on Cocaine, for instance. The only complain I have is that Stay was cut off.

All in all, a very emotional and enjoyable album. Get it.

Here JB has put into song all the reasons those of us who tour love this business, and Hate it.. Nothing can be said that does justice to a man who can take all the emotions, good and bad, of working to put a show up everyday and take it down everynight.. The load out and stay being the obvious tribute to his roadies and fans although we like to think it's to all of us.. Nothing But Time is as close as most people will ever be to the draining feeling of right now being on a 45' Eagle with nothing but time between here and the next gig, although I've never had trouble sleeping once that hum starts, it makes me think of all the good times we had just trying to pass the time in a 9' by 45' silver coffin doing 80! Rosie, Rosie, what can I say but he captures the emotion of going to bed alone every night, after being around thousands of gorgeous women who would gladly go to the bus with you, if only you were in the band instead of the monitor mixer.... This is the ultimate roadies companion and for those of you who always wanted to know what it was like being a roadie.. take it from me.. if you want to know.... buy the album, the pays better!

Where does one begin to review "Running on Empty"?

I wanted this album for years and years. The phrase - running on empty - has been a part of my life since 1977 when the album first came out and believe it or not, I heard the track (and the rest of the album) for the very first time in January 2000 when I finally found the CD in Tower Records, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia!! The CD has been in my car ever since and has never moved from it's No. 1 slot in the 10 CD Changer (The only one I have never removed). I don't think I've ever come home at night in all this time without it playing so loud that the windows shake! This is a masterpiece! Plain and simple. the title track is one of the most outstanding pieces of work in all the rock I have heard (and I've heard lots). One reviewer here said he didn't like it. If he isn't deaf he is most certainly tone deaf. What a song! What an absolutely impossibly amazing song! Rolling on to The Road, Rosie, You Love the Thunder, Cocaine (though competing against Cale's classic is a tough ask) Love Needs a Heart and finally to the downright thunderously spectacular Load Out/ Stay medley with it's 3 time signature changes, Bonnie Raitt on backing vocal... and you're hitting the reload button to play the whole album over again.

Months on the road tightens the sound of any band, and Jackson Browne's backing men (and women) are so tight they absolutely hum! The only other - on the road - album that occupies the same space as this one is - Frampton Comes Alive! (in my humble opinion).

Running On Empty is still my only Jackson Browne album. A flaw I have recently corrected by buying 5 more on Amazon!

Buy this album! If you don't like it, I'll pay for it.

Move over, Eagles - "Running on Empty" is '70s California country-rock at its best. The title track and "Load Out/Stay" are FM radio classics, but everything in between is equally strong, from the folk-blues of "Cocaine" to the summer anthem "You Love the Thunder." This is Jackson Browne at his best, the "road album" at its best, and '70s rock at its best. A truly essential recording.