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.
(by William Ruhlmann, All
Music Guide)
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