Every star has that album that made them who they are. The record that broke through the mold and brought an artist to new heights and defined their sound. For singer/songwriter Jackson Browne that album is hands down "Late for the Sky," a masterpiece in 70s soft rock storytelling and a timeless classic that is still revered to this day.
The album has achieved about as much acclaim as one could receive, including a glowing endorsement from Bruce Springsteen who during Jackson Browne's Rock Hall induction called the album his "masterpiece." The album was so significant to the times it was written that it was added to the Library of Congress in 2021 as a significant historical recording. That's some real prestige.
So what does the actual album entail? How does a record live up to that hype? I would argue that it almost immediately meets those expectations with its phenomenal opening track, the eponymous "Late for the Sky."
The song is a serenade to a dying love that may have never existed in the first place. It tackles the heartbreak of realizing you were in love with the idea instead of the person, and the way everything you've come to know crumbles around you as you grow older. It's a staggering maturity from an artist who hadn't turned 25 yet.
The song also features one of my absolute favorite guitar solos ever. About three minutes into the song, Browne drops out and we hear the most forlornly beautiful guitar ever recorded cry out for a love that never existed. It's incredibly powerful.
The next song I'd like to highlight is "The Late Show," a song about the inability to open up and the isolation that comes with that. We find Browne as a narrator pining for some sort of connection that he can't reach, and the song emotionally builds throughout the song the longer Browne goes on, until he can't bear the loneliness anymore.
The chorus comes towards the end of the song, and finds us in a longing fantasy for a different world where you can escape with someone who understands you.
Look—It's like you're standing in the windowOf a house nobody lives inAnd I'm sitting in a car across the way(Let's just say)It's an early model Chevrolet(Let's just say)It's a warm and windy dayYou go and pack your sorrowThe trash man comes tomorrowLeave it at the curb and we'll just roll away
This is all punctuated with the iconic sounds of the car door slamming, and the engine roaring away into the night. This exact scene is depicted on the album cover, which ties the experience of listening to the album together incredibly beautifully.
The final song I want to highlight is the closer, titled "Before the Deluge," which I have always interpreted as an ode to youth, and the almost apocalyptic experience of getting old.
"The Deluge" sang about through the song for me is the concept of maturing. The concept of the years beating you down and your youth becoming a memory. As somebody freshly in his '20s, it's a hard hitting subject that I can relate to a lot. Getting older is like staring some great horizon down, and before you know it, you're enveloped in its expanse, looking back where you used to stand. Browne expertly understands this and depicts it beautifully on this song.
"Late for the Sky" is a beautiful record about the pains of getting older, and it's one I appreciate more and more as the years go by. It is one of the greatest singer/songwriter albums ever made, and I think it is required listening for any music fan.
Related: 1978 Classic Rock Song, a Favorite of Bob Dylan's, Endures as a Comedic Masterpiece
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