The Pretender

The fourth album by Jackson Browne, one of the singer-songwriters who defined America’s West Coast in the 1970s. He brought in Bruce Springsteen producer Jon Landau, giving the sound more prominence than on his first three albums and an impression of strength throughout. The musicians are lavishly chosen, with many members of the LA rock circle; Lowell George and John Hall contribute particularly well-judged guitar work.

Browne’s wife died while this album was being made, and he reportedly threw himself into the recording as if work might distract him from the sorrow. Some songs had been written before her death, so the feeling is not uniform, yet a deep emotional tremor runs through the whole record. The title song embodies it: a rather resigned view of society and, coming before that, an unsettled emotional state.

Around days off during a busy period of my own, I found myself listening almost exclusively to this song. I had no clear answer for why; I think its vagueness was exactly what drew me.