The record in context

Jackson Browne’s official discography dates his self-titled debut to 1972. It precedes For Everyman in the five-album route selected here.

Listen closely

A songwriter’s identity can be heard in more than the subjects of the songs. The shape of a melody, the pace of a line and the amount of room left after a thought all help establish a point of view. Browne’s music invites attention to those connections between craft and feeling.

Listen to the accompaniment as a way of organising emotional time. A piano or guitar figure can keep a song moving while the vocal seems to consider what it is saying. That difference between steady motion and reflective phrasing gives an accessible melody a more complicated inner life.

As a starting point for the collection, the album is best heard without demanding a fully formed summary of the artist. Let individual musical choices establish themselves. Carry one remembered detail into For Everyman and notice whether the later setting strengthens, changes or simply reframes it.