Late for the Sky
Encyclopedia
Late for the Sky is the third album
by American
singer/songwriter Jackson Browne
, released in 1974 (see 1974 in music
). It was nominated for a Grammy Award
in 1975. It peaked at #14 on Billboard's Pop Albums chart. It is considered by many fans, critics and musicians to be his best and most influential album.
. The album itself contains the credit, "cover concept Jackson Browne if it's all reet with Magritte." The original photograph was shot on a South Pasadena residential street, several miles from Browne's childhood Highland Park, California home. Designer and front cover photographer Bob Seldemann said, "I spoke to Jackson in 1980 and he told me he thought it was his favorite cover. Lest the jacket appear too funereal, a mood-defusing photo of a relaxed Jackson, almost smiling and looking as though he has a surprise to share, occupies a small square of the back cover."
The title track was featured prominently in the 1976 Martin Scorsese film Taxi Driver
.
In his speech inducting Browne into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
, Bruce Springsteen
called Late for the Sky Browne's "masterpiece" and referred to the car doors slamming at the end of "The Late Show".
In 2003, the album was ranked number 372 on Rolling Stone
magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time
, Browne's highest ranking.
The album was certified as a Gold record in 1974 and Platinum in 1989 by the RIAA
.
rated the album 5 of 5 stars also and stated it "strengthens and solidifies Browne’s approach; it’s the quintessential Browne album. The metaphorical complexity of “Fountain of Sorrow” and the clear-eyed poignancy of “For a Dancer” would be a tough act to follow... when his songwriting is sharp, the mellowing trend in his music dulls the impact."
The original Rolling Stone
review in 1974 by music critic Stephen Holden
highly praised the album, calling it "...his most mature, conceptually unified work to date." and called it Browne's best to date, noting that the "... open-ended poetry achieves power from the nearly religious intensity that accumulates around the central motifs; its fervor is underscored by the sparest and hardest production to be found on any Browne album yet... as well as by his impassioned, oracular singing style." A 1999 Rolling Stone review of For Everyman called Late for the Sky Browne's "masterpiece".
However, music critic Robert Christgau
gave the album a B- grade, writing Browne's "linguistic gentility is inappropriate, his millenarianism is self-indulgent... This, of course, rather conveniently forgetting that artistic criticism is also highly self-indulgent, as is art." Musichound Rock: The Essential Album Guide, called it "a bit mopey, but it hangs together as Jackson Browne's strongest and most melodious album, with a couple of rockers thrown in to perk up the listeners."
Production notes:
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
by American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
singer/songwriter Jackson Browne
Jackson Browne
Jackson Browne is an American singer-songwriter and musician who has sold over 17 million albums in the United States alone....
, released in 1974 (see 1974 in music
1974 in music
-January–April:*January 3 – Bob Dylan and The Band kick off their 40-date concert tour at Chicago Stadium. It's Dylan's first time on the road since 1966.*January 17...
). It was nominated for a Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
in 1975. It peaked at #14 on Billboard's Pop Albums chart. It is considered by many fans, critics and musicians to be his best and most influential album.
History
Browne has publicly acknowledged that the acclaimed cover art for Late for the Sky was inspired by the 1954 painting "L'Empire des Lumieres" ("Empire of Light"), by Belgian surrealist René MagritteRené Magritte
René François Ghislain Magritte[p] was a Belgian surrealist artist. He became well known for a number of witty and thought-provoking images...
. The album itself contains the credit, "cover concept Jackson Browne if it's all reet with Magritte." The original photograph was shot on a South Pasadena residential street, several miles from Browne's childhood Highland Park, California home. Designer and front cover photographer Bob Seldemann said, "I spoke to Jackson in 1980 and he told me he thought it was his favorite cover. Lest the jacket appear too funereal, a mood-defusing photo of a relaxed Jackson, almost smiling and looking as though he has a surprise to share, occupies a small square of the back cover."
The title track was featured prominently in the 1976 Martin Scorsese film Taxi Driver
Taxi Driver
Taxi Driver is a 1976 American drama film directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Paul Schrader. The film is set in New York City, soon after the Vietnam War. The film stars Robert De Niro and features Jodie Foster, Harvey Keitel, and Cybill Shepherd. The film was nominated for four Academy...
.
In his speech inducting Browne into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum located on the shore of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is dedicated to archiving the history of some of the best-known and most influential artists, producers, engineers and others who have, in some major way,...
, Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band...
called Late for the Sky Browne's "masterpiece" and referred to the car doors slamming at the end of "The Late Show".
In 2003, the album was ranked number 372 on Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time
The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
"The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" is the title of a 2003 special issue of American magazine Rolling Stone, and a related book published in 2005.Related news articles:...
, Browne's highest ranking.
The album was certified as a Gold record in 1974 and Platinum in 1989 by the RIAA
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...
.
Reception
Late for the Sky received mainly favorable reviews. In his review for Allmusic William Ruhlmann focuses on the themes of Late for the Sky as "love, loss, identity, apocalypse and, amazingly, delved even deeper into them... Yet his seeming uncertainty and self-doubt reflected the size and complexity of the problems he was addressing in these songs, and few had ever explored such territory, much less mapped it so well." Rolling StoneRolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
rated the album 5 of 5 stars also and stated it "strengthens and solidifies Browne’s approach; it’s the quintessential Browne album. The metaphorical complexity of “Fountain of Sorrow” and the clear-eyed poignancy of “For a Dancer” would be a tough act to follow... when his songwriting is sharp, the mellowing trend in his music dulls the impact."
The original Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
review in 1974 by music critic Stephen Holden
Stephen Holden
Stephen Holden is an American writer, music critic, film critic, and poet.Holden earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Yale University in 1963...
highly praised the album, calling it "...his most mature, conceptually unified work to date." and called it Browne's best to date, noting that the "... open-ended poetry achieves power from the nearly religious intensity that accumulates around the central motifs; its fervor is underscored by the sparest and hardest production to be found on any Browne album yet... as well as by his impassioned, oracular singing style." A 1999 Rolling Stone review of For Everyman called Late for the Sky Browne's "masterpiece".
However, music critic Robert Christgau
Robert Christgau
Robert Christgau is an American essayist, music journalist, and self-proclaimed "Dean of American Rock Critics".One of the earliest professional rock critics, Christgau is known for his terse capsule reviews, published since 1969 in his Consumer Guide columns...
gave the album a B- grade, writing Browne's "linguistic gentility is inappropriate, his millenarianism is self-indulgent... This, of course, rather conveniently forgetting that artistic criticism is also highly self-indulgent, as is art." Musichound Rock: The Essential Album Guide, called it "a bit mopey, but it hangs together as Jackson Browne's strongest and most melodious album, with a couple of rockers thrown in to perk up the listeners."
Track listing
All songs by Jackson Browne- "Late for the Sky" – 5:36
- "Fountain of Sorrow" – 6:42
- "Farther On" – 5:17
- "The Late Show" – 5:09
- "The Road and the Sky" – 3:04
- "For a Dancer" – 4:42
- "Walking Slow" – 3:50
- "Before the Deluge" – 6:18
Personnel
- Jackson Browne – acoustic guitar, guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, pianoPianoThe piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
, keyboardKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
, vocalsSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
, slide guitarSlide guitarSlide guitar or bottleneck guitar is a particular method or technique for playing the guitar. The term slide refers to the motion of the slide against the strings, while bottleneck refers to the original material of choice for such slides: the necks of glass bottles... - Joyce Everson – vocals, harmony vocals
- Beth Fitchet – vocals, harmony vocals
- Dan FogelbergDan FogelbergDaniel Grayling "Dan" Fogelberg was an American singer-songwriter, composer, and multi-instrumentalist, whose music was inspired by sources as diverse as folk, pop, rock, classical, jazz, and bluegrass music...
– vocals, harmony vocals - Doug Haywood – bassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, harmony vocals - Don HenleyDon HenleyDonald Hugh "Don" Henley is an American singer, songwriter and drummer, best known as a founding member of the Eagles before launching a successful solo career. Henley was the drummer and lead vocalist for the Eagles from 1971–1980, when the band broke up...
– vocals, harmony vocals - David LindleyDavid Lindley (musician)David Perry Lindley is an American musician who is notable for his work with Jackson Browne, Warren Zevon, and other rock musicians. He has worked extensively in other genres as well, performing with artists as varied as Curtis Mayfield and Dolly Parton...
– fiddleFiddleThe term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...
, guitar, violinViolinThe violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
, electric guitarElectric guitarAn electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
, steel guitarSteel guitarSteel guitar is a type of guitar or the method of playing the instrument. Developed in Hawaii in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a steel guitar is usually positioned horizontally; strings are plucked with one hand, while the other hand changes the pitch of one or more strings with the use...
, slide guitarSlide guitarSlide guitar or bottleneck guitar is a particular method or technique for playing the guitar. The term slide refers to the motion of the slide against the strings, while bottleneck refers to the original material of choice for such slides: the necks of glass bottles... - Perry Lindley (Actually David (Perry) Lindley) – vocals, harmony vocals
- Terry ReidTerry ReidTerry Reid is an English rock vocalist and guitarist. He has performed with high profile musicians, as a supporting act, a session musician, and sideman.- History :...
– vocals, harmony vocals - Fritz RichmondFritz RichmondJohn B. "Fritz" Richmond was an American musician and recording engineer. Fritz Richmond was considered the foremost washtub bassist in the world, and was also the most successful professional jug player....
– jug - J. D. SoutherJ. D. SoutherJohn David Souther is an American musician, singer-songwriter, and actor. He has written and co-written numerous hits songs recorded by artists such as Linda Ronstadt and Glenn Frey of the Eagles.-Singing career:...
– harmony vocals - Jai Winding – organOrgan (music)The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
, piano, keyboard - Larry Zack – percussionPercussion instrumentA percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
, drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
Production notes:
- Jackson Browne – producer
- Al SchmittAl SchmittAl Schmitt is a recording engineer and record producer.-Early career:Schmitt grew up in New York City. After serving in the U.S. Navy he began working at Apex Recording Studios at the age of 19. In the late 1950's Schmitt moved to Los Angeles and became a staff engineer at Radio Recorders on Santa...
– producer - Kent Nebergall – engineer
- Tom Perry – engineer
- Fritz Richmond – engineer
- Greg LadanyiGreg LadanyiGreg Ladanyi was an American record producer and recording engineer, known for his work with many musicians, including Jackson Browne, Warren Zevon, Type O Negative, The Church, Anna Vissi, Toto, Fleetwood Mac, Hollywood Undead, Don Henley and Jeff Healey.-Biography:Ladanyi co-produced the Behind...
– mastering - Bob SeidemannBob SeidemannBob Seidemann is an American graphic artist and photographer best known for the creation of several album covers and portraits of musicians in the 1960s and 1970s.Seidemann first gained notoriety in 1967 for a photographic interpretation of the Pietà...
– front cover, design - Rick GriffinRick GriffinRichard Alden Griffin was an American artist and one of the leading designers of psychedelic posters in the 1960s. As a contributor to the underground comix movement, his work appeared regularly in Zap Comix. Griffin was closely identified with the Grateful Dead, designing some of their best known...
– front cover lettering - Henry DiltzHenry DiltzHenry Stanford Diltz is a folk musician and photographer, who has been active since the 1960s....
– back cover photography
Charts
Album - Billboard (North America)| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1974 | Pop Albums | 14 |