Forty Year Friday (1983) – JACKSON BROWNE “LAWYERS IN LOVE”
It’s Forty Year Friday again. For more information on this series, please read the opening paragraph of the first post, which featured Never Surrender by Triumph.
Posted on my Facebook page November 21, 2013:
This week’s Thirty-Year Thursday album is JACKSON BROWNE’S “LAWYERS IN LOVE.” It’s not one of his most enduring releases, but it has a few songs worth revisiting. Before discussing the music, I should ask about the title as well as the album cover: What’s up with the man in a suit paddling a partially submerged sedan with a giant moon on the horizon behind him? Any ideas? Was Jackson Browne moving past the hippie Laurel Canyon idealism of the ’70s for a slicker, more capitalist approach in the new decade…or was he merely being ironic? Whichever is correct, the artwork is eye-catching and the music is pretty good. Certainly his voice was as strong and distinctive as ever.
I remember “For A Rocker” getting a lot of airplay when the album was released, although I doubt it’s on many playlists these days. It’s not a terrible song but it’s also not terribly memorable; like something Bruce Springsteen would write in his sleep & consign to a b-side. “On The Day” is somewhat dramatic during the instrumental sections but very radio-friendly elsewhere. I’m surprised it wasn’t released as a single. “Tender Is The Night” is the closest the album comes to a traditional Jackson Browne ballad, and it’s no surprise that it was a successful single on several charts. The title track, “Lawyers In Love,” is simple, fun & just a little silly (especially the call & response falsetto/whistling section), and was the song I immediately responded to at the time. Had he chosen to include the previous year’s “Somebody’s Baby” (best known for its inclusion in the movie Fast Times At Ridgemont High) this album might have approached “minor classic” status, but as is it’s a decent album with a few standout tracks. Here’s the appropriately ridiculous video for the title track. Happy 30th anniversary to LAWYERS IN LOVE. [Note as of November 2023: the original music video for “Lawyers In Love” is only available on YouTube via a poor quality unofficial version, so I’ve decided not to include it here. If anyone can find a high-quality version, please let me know and I’ll embed it below. Thanks.]
I previously wrote about his 1977 album Running On Empty in the first Forty Year Friday series about my favorite releases of that year. Lawyers In Love isn’t in the same league as that record, or really anything he had previously released, but I always love listening to his voice and even his lesser songs are worth checking out. Who else enjoys this record?
6 comments on “Forty Year Friday (1983) – JACKSON BROWNE “LAWYERS IN LOVE””
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KamerTunesBlog 
One of my laments in the early 90s was the lack of a good Jackson Browne hits compilation. Instead, I had to purchase Lawyers in Love, Running on Empty, and the Fast Times soundtrack to get the songs I wanted. When The Next Voice You Hear came out at the end of the decade, it came close, but still didn’t have all the hits. I think there is now a better one out there. As you say, it was too bad the some of these 80s soundtrack songs like “Somebody’s Baby” were exclusive only to those records and not able to be put in context with the artist’s other contemporary songs.
As I’ve commented with many of these, I remember watching the video for this one on MTV. Very much in line with the USA vs. USSR/Rocky IV type messages of the day. What the heck, throw in some weird aliens too to capture the spirit of ET and Close Encounters. BAM! Video101 in the 80s. Ha ha.
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I didn’t see many videos from this era, other than the biggest hits, because we didn’t have cab;e TV on Staten Island. I had to wait for Friday Night Videos for my 60 (or was it 90?) minute block of music videos. You’re spot-on regarding the “Lawyers In Love” video. I wish I could have included it here but the version on YouTube is mediocre quality at best.
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I like the song, “Lawyers in Love” but I agree that the album isn’t nearly as good as “Running on Empty.”
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I’m glad we’re in agreement about that. He followed this album up with two politically-driven albums that were much more serious than Lawyers In Love or anything else he had released. It took me years to appreciate those records, yet they’re still not among my favorites. I’m glad he returned to his classic sound on I’m Alive in 1993. If you’ve never heard that one, I highly recommend it.
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I haven’t heard the full album, but based on his singles, Browne stayed relevant in the early 1980s better than most of his contemporaries. Lawyers in Love is great- plenty of irony, right?
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I always thought he lost some relevance with this album, at least in the eyes of critics, after a decade of classics and then starting the ’80s with the wonderful Hold On album. He won many critics back in the mid- to late-’80s with two more serious political albums. It took me a while to appreciate those, and they’re still not among my favorites, but I like them a lot more now than I did at the time.
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