Jackson Browne - For Everyman (Remaster) (1973/2024)

Jackson Browne faced the nearly insurmountable task of following a masterpiece in making his second album. Having cherry-picked years of songwriting the first time around, he turned to some of his secondary older material, which was still better than most people's best and, ironically, more accessible — notably such songs as "These Days," which had been covered six times already, dating back to Nico's Chelsea Girl album in 1967, and "Take It Easy," a co-composition with the Eagles' Glenn Frey that had been a Top 40 hit for the group in 1972. Browne unsuccessfully looked for another hit single with the up-tempo "Red Neck Friend," reminisced about meeting his wife and starting a family in the coy "Ready or Not," and, at the end, finally came up with a new song to rank with those on the first album in the philosophical title track, which reportedly was his more positive reply to Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young's "Wooden Ships." (David Crosby sang harmony.) Musically, the album was still restrained, but not as austere as Jackson Browne, as the singer had hooked up with multi-instrumentalist David Lindley, who would introduce interesting textures to his music on a variety of stringed instruments for the next several years. All of which is to say that For Everyman was a less consistent collection than Browne's debut album. But Browne's songwriting ability remained impressive.

-William Ruhlmann

Tracklist
01. Take It Easy (Remastered)
02. Our Lady of the Well (Remastered)
03. Colors of the Sun (Remastered)
04. I Thought I Was a Child (Remastered)
05. These Days (Remastered)
06. Red Neck Friend (Remastered)
07. The Times You've Come (Remastered)
08. Ready or Not (Remastered)
09. Sing My Songs to Me (Remastered)
10. For Everyman (Remastered)