Running On Empty

After the success of Frampton Comes Alive, live albums became accepted business practice for all serious and commercially viable artists to repackage their back catalog and, for some, a chance to re-invigorate their material with the life that was lost in the sterile confines of the recording studio. Jackson Browne took a different tack. His live album, recorded during his 1977 summer tour, is actually a concept album about the road, recorded onstage, backstage, in hotel rooms and the back of the touring bus, featuring for the first time not just his own compositions, but contributions from his bandmates and even an old blues (Rev. Gary Davis' frighteningly topical "Cocaine"). None of the songs appeared on Browne's previous four studio albums. Browne sings about roadies ("The Load Out"),romance ("Rosie," "You Love the Thunder," "Love Needs A Heart") and his own disintegrating sense of self ("Running On Empty"), as the camaraderie of the road turns into a grind and relief is only found in the empathetic playing of multi-instrumentalist David Lindley, guitarist Danny Kortchmar and the high harmonies of backing singers Rosemary Butler and Doug Haywood."