Late for the Sky

Jackson Browne

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Original Release Date: September 1974
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Elektra / Wea
• ASIN: B000002GXU
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (72 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,557 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
His third album, and arguably his finest, Late for the Sky continues Browne's sincere self-analysis into positively grim territory. The title track concerns the lingering effects of a dead relationship and was featured in Martin Scorcese's film Taxi Driver. While "For a Dancer" confronts death head-on, "Farther On" explains the difficulties faced by us dorks who live life through books, films, or music; and "Before the Deluge" forecasts environmental gloom and doom. Guitarist David Lindley adds terrific counterpoint to Browne's musing, supporting the tracks with tasteful slide and fiddle work. --Rob O'Connor

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

49 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One Of Jackson Browne's Early Masterworks, July 9, 2000

By	Barron Laycock "Labradorman" (Temple, New Hampshire United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

What do you say about an album you had to replace twice on vinyl before finally scoring a hit on a CD that is still with you? That this is likely the single best album he ever produced? That the song cycle, singing, and instrumentation here is what still distinguishes Browne as a singular singer/songwriter/artist from all the others? That you still smile every time you hear the last several lines, "Look, you're standing in the window/ Of a house nobody lives in/ And I'm sitting in a car across the way /Let's just say an early model Chevrolet/ You go pack your sorrows/ The trash man comes tomorrow / We'll throw 'em on the curb/ And then just sail away"

This best-selling album will sail on forever. From "Late For The Sky" to "Fountain of Sorrow" and all the rest of the wonderfully intimate, strikingly autobiographical, personal, and evocative songs he introduced to the waiting world with this album, this is one everyone should have in their CD collection. It is a cleverly innocent Technicolor snapshot picture taken on clear, cool Southern California night, just like the album cover. It is a faithful, memorable, and absolutely artistic reproduction of a moment in contemporary culture made by someone who has built a whole musical career by being the ultimate self-acknowledged dreamer and world-watcher. Spin it and enjoy. I still do.

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars STILL HIS BEST, February 6, 2000

By	"craig_paul" (Pittsburgh, PA) - See all my reviews

After 26 years, LATE FOR THE SKY still stands as Jackson Browne's finest effort, and this a monumental statement, considering the body of work Browne has produced. The intensely personal lyricism evident here was virtually uncharted territory in 1974.

The classic title track, "Fountain Of Sorrow," the tear-jerking "For A Dancer" and the brilliantly phrased "The Late Show" are all examples of Browne's willingness to pour out his heart for the world to hear.

It was my pleasure to give this CD to a young musician friend, who was only vaguely aware of Jackson Browne, a couple of years ago. Since then, he has devoured all of Browne's recordings, as have many others over the past three decades.

This is an absolutely essential album by one of the great talents of our time.

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars SIMPLY THE BEST, June 8, 1999

By A Customer

Oh my oh my, what an achingly, devastatingly, stunningly beautiful piece of work this album is. While not wishing to offend my friends in the RUNNING ON EMPTY camp, there is no doubt in my mind whatsoever that LATE FOR THE SKY was, is and will always be Jackson Browne's masterpiece. Listening to it is such an sublime, tragic, raw, beautiful, purely EMOTIONAL experience. "For A Dancer", supposedly written in reaction to a friend's death (a la "Song For Adam") is the best song he's ever written--and one of the best songs ever written, period. Certainly one of the most poignant. Although "Dancer", "Fountain of Sorrow", the monumental title track, and the death-of-hippie epic "Before the Deluge" garnered the most attention, don't overlook the two songs at the end of side one--"Farther On" and "The Late Show" form a mini song cycle that entails some of the most deeply personal introspective songwriting imaginable. Even in the jaunty "throwaway" track, "Walking Slow", Jackson is thinking deep thoughts.

After twenty-five years, I could not imagine my life without this music.