FlashBack! - Jackson Browne - Running on Empty (1977) (album stream)

Running on Empty is the fifth album by American singer-songwriter Jackson Browne. Released in 1977, the album reached #3 on the Billboard Pop Albums chart in 1978 and stayed on the charts for 65 weeks. The single for the title track, "Running on Empty", peaked at #11 and the follow-up single, "The Load-Out"/"Stay", reached #11 on the Billboard Pop Singles chart.

The album produced two Grammy Award nominations in 1979: one for Album of the Year (the winner being Saturday Night Fever: The Original Movie Sound Track) and the other for Pop Male Vocalist for the lyrics to the song "Running on Empty" (the winner being Barry Manilow for the lyrics to his song "Copacabana (At The Copa)").



History
In addition to tracks recorded on-stage during concerts, it also contains songs recorded in hotel rooms, on the tour bus, and backstage. It is unusual among live albums, in that none of the tracks had ever appeared on a previous studio album. Browne composed only two of the songs himself, co-writing four others and covering another four. Many of the songs deal with touring. In a Rolling Stone interview about the tour during which the album was recorded, Browne expressed pleasure at finally being able to afford the session musicians he wanted to go out on the road with him.

The album was certified platinum in 1978 and is Browne's best selling album to date.

The album was certified as a Gold record in 1977 and Platinum in 1978 by the RIAA. It reached Multi-platinum in 1997 and 2001.

Reception
The original Rolling Stone review in 1978 by music critic Paul Nelson praised the album, writing "What I really like about Running on Empty probably has little to do with the generosity or genius of its dual concepts, with the songwriter's craftmanship skill, with how much I admire the music of David Lindley and the Section, but rather with Jackson Browne himself. In other words, as impressed as I am with Jackson Browne's art, I'm even more impressed with the humanity that shines through it. Maybe they're inseparable, but I doubt it."

In his review for Allmusic William Ruhlmann called the album "Browne's least ambitious, but perhaps most accessible, the album ironically became his biggest seller. But it is not characteristic of his other work: for many, it will be the only Browne album they will want to own, just as others always will regard it disdainfully as "Jackson Browne lite.""

Rolling Stone rated the album 5 of 5 stars writing "The album exudes intimacy, revealing the empathetic, flexible bond between Browne and his audience." Music critic Robert Christgau gave the album a B+ grade: "Jackson sounds relaxed verbally, vocally, even instrumentally... I consider this his most attractive album. But his devotees may consider the self-effacement a deprivation." Blender gave the 2005 reissue a 4 of 5 star rating, stating it "cuts deeper than most road sagas partly because Browne had the brilliant notion of recording on the fly... It also works because he tapped the culture’s circa-1977 sense that it was running on empty, feeling like a trashed Holiday Inn room—Empty is about something larger than the misery of room service."

Bill Shapiro called the album "Audio verité—one of the most conceptually fascinating recordings in the history of rock & roll." In 2004, in The 100 Best-Selling Albums of the 70's, Hamish Camp wrote: "Entering somewhat of a creative lull following some sterling albums... Running On Empty was regarded by many as lacking ambition but was nevertheless Browne's most commercially successful of his career to date, peaking at Number Three in the US and reaching Number 28 in the UK." At that time, it was the twenty-third best-selling album of the 1970s.

Track listing
"Running on Empty" (Browne) – 5:20
- Recorded live (8/27/77), Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, MD
"The Road" (Danny O'Keefe) – 4:50
- Recorded in room 301 (8/27/77), Cross Keys Inn, Baltimore, MD (first — 2:58) and live (9/7/77), Garden State Arts Center, Holmdel, NJ
"Rosie" (Browne, Donald Miller) – 3:37
- Recorded backstage (9/1/77) "in the big rehearsal room," Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Saratoga Springs, NY
Doug Haywood and tour photographer Joel Bernstein sing harmony.
"You Love the Thunder" (Browne) – 3:52
- Recorded live (9/6/77), Holmdel, NJ
"Cocaine" (Browne, Reverend Gary Davis, Glenn Frey) – 4:55
- Recorded in room 124 (8/17/77), Holiday Inn, Edwardsville, IL
"Shaky Town" (Danny Kortchmar) – 3:36
- Recorded in room 124 (8/18/77), Holiday Inn, Edwardsville, IL
Danny Kortchmar sings harmony.
"Love Needs a Heart" (Browne, Valerie Carter, Lowell George) – 3:28
- Recorded live (9/17/77), Universal City, CA
"Nothing but Time" (Browne, Howard Burke) – 3:05
- Recorded "on a bus (a Continental Silver Eagle) somewhere in New Jersey" (9/8/77)
Russ Kunkel is credited as playing "snare, hi-hat, and cardboard box with foot pedal." The song was recorded aboard the band's Continental Silver Eagle tour bus (hence the lyrical reference to "Silver Eagle") while en route from Portland, Maine to their next gig in New Jersey. The bus's engine is audible in the background throughout, and its downshift and acceleration can be plainly heard during the bridge.
"The Load-Out" (Browne, Bryan Garofalo) – 5:38
- Recorded live (8/27/77), Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, MD
"Stay" (Maurice Williams) – 3:28
- Recorded live (8/27/77), Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, MD

Personnel
Jackson Browne – guitar, piano, keyboard, vocals
Rosemary Butler – vocals
Craig Doerge – keyboard
Doug Haywood – bass, background vocals
Danny "Kootch" Kortchmar – guitar, percussion, vocals, harmony vocals
Russ Kunkel – drums, snare drums, cardboard box, hi hat
David Lindley – fiddle, guitar, violin, steel guitar, vocals, lap steel guitar
Leland Sklar – bass
Joel Bernstein – background vocals (on "Rosie")

Production notes:
Jackson Browne – producer
Greg Ladanyi – engineer, mastering

Links
http://www.jacksonbrowne.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jackson-Browne/54896067086
http://www.last.fm/music/Jackson+Browne