Product Description

An audacious concept album about life on the road, this is a mix of in concert performances and informal sessions tapedin various hotel rooms (see "Shaky Town", although it's hard to believe that Browne, by then a major star, was actuallystaying at a Holiday Inn). It's very '70s--the overall auraof cocaine-fueled decadence is almost palpable--but it works far better than you'd expect, and the songs are consistently memorable, even if Browne didn't write them all.
High points include a stunning half hotel/half concert version ofDanny O'Keefe's "The Road", still the best song ever written about the life of a travelling musician, and the closing medley of the roadie anthem "The Load-Out" and Maurice Williams and the Zodiac's doo-wop classic "Stay". The hard rockingtitle tune features typically lyrical yet stinging slide guitar from long time associate David Lindley.

Track Listing

1. Running On Empty
2. Road
3. Rosie
4. You Love The Thunder
5. Cocaine
6. Shaky Town
7. Love Needs A Heart
8. Nothing But Time
9. Load Out
10. Stay

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #26070 in Music
• Released on: 2003-01-13
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
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 light-hearted 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 realises that Browne was much more comfortable on the road than off. --Jaan Uhelszki

Customer Reviews

Running through my mind.
I recently stumbled across Jackson Browne's music and what a discovery it was!! This album has been the first addition to my collection, and it was an impressive enough introduction to keep me coming back for more.

When the audio started, I heard some audience sounds, and now having read other reviews here I can see that it was recorded live, at least in part. It's a concept that certainly works here as Browne gives a very sharp and polished performance.

The music really touches me and makes me believe everything that is being conveyed inside it. I'd recommend this CD to anyone who likes music with a heart and soul, and to give you a better perspective, other similar artists I love include James Taylor, Neil Young, Neil Sedaka, Neil Diamond, The Eagles, Don Henley (solo), Elvis Costello (to name just a few), so if you like these sorts of people, I am confident this will appeal to you too.

Rough around the edges but great sounds
I'm not particularly a Jackson Browne fan but I really like this album with its rough and ready production, part live album recorded on stage and also including tracks recorded in hotel rooms and on buses. It is less dark and intense than his previous two albums and everyone sounds as though they are really enjoying themselves. However, at the heart of many of the songs there is still the melancholy that had been the main emotion of the previous records but here that melancholy is obviously lifting and you get a real sense of a corner having been turned.

One of the things that makes it such a compelling record is the songs, it comprises all new material, albeit including a rewrite of Gary Davis's 'Cocaine' (complete with some great David Lindley blues violin) and an affectionate cover of the old Maurice Williams and Zodiacs 'Stay'. Browne also co-writes a number of the songs which brings a certain freshness and variety. For me the standout track is 'The load out' the the beautiful melodic song in praise of roadies, which also has that rare thing a good synthesiser solo! But really there isn't a bad track on the whole record and there are many really good songs like guitarist Danny Kortchmar's 'Shaky town', 'Love needs a heart' co-written with Lowell George and Valerie Carter and the wonderful 'Rosie' co-written with Donald Miller. Great stuff!

Superb
An absolutley superb live album....the standards such as the title track and stay are excellent but it's the rest that make the album for me...Shaky Town, Rosie etc just listen and enjoy.