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Recorded onstage, backstage, in three different hotel rooms, and on a Continental Silver Eagle tour bus during a cross-country 1977 tour, Running on Empty is a paean to life on the road. Jackson Browne's sense of camaraderie extended to the road crew, if "The Load Out," a love song to his roadies, is to be believed. Browne is much more blithe here than in his earlier outings. But Empty also represents a fleeting lighthearted moment for the singer-cum-poet whose concerns became more political than personal after its appearance. Beneath its flippant surface, this disc is a look at the lengths Browne and his friends went to avoid facing the demands of the touring life. What with the frequent drug references, misogynistic references to on-the-fly pairings with women, and the sobering line in the title track--"I look around for the friends I used to pull me through / Looking into their eyes, I see them running, too"--one realizes that Browne was much more comfortable on the road than off. --Jaan Uhelszki

Tracks - Disc 1

• Running on Empty
• The Road - Jackson Browne, OKeefe, Danny
• Rosie
• You Love the Thunder
• Cocaine - Jackson Browne, Davis, Gary [1]
• Shaky Town - Jackson Browne, Kortchmar, Danny
• Love Needs a Heart - Jackson Browne, George, Lowell
• Nothing but Time
• The Load-Out
• Stay - Jackson Browne, Williams, Maurice

More Information

• Studio - Elektra / Wea
• Publisher - Elektra / Wea
• Label - Elektra / Wea
• Binding - Audio CD

Amazon Product ID: B000002GW5