Search - Jackson Browne :: World in Motion

Uneven, but still a number of excellent songs

Dave | United States | 10/21/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Jackson Browne's 1989 album "World In Motion" does have some excellent tracks on it, though it's highly flawed--based on the other reviews so far, this record appears to have a strong cult following, but it's clearly not an overall masterpiece, & that's coming from myself, a huge Jackson fan. One positive thing here is that he almost completely ditches any traces of the arena rock sound that was highly prominent on isolated tracks from his previous two albums (e.g. "For A Rocker", "For America"), and in that sense, the record somewhat points the way to his 1993 masterpiece "I'm Alive". Also, I don't find the record to be nearly as politically preachy/ lyrically excessive as a couple of the reviews I've read suggest. There is a string of excellent songs on the album. The reflective character examination "Enough of the Night" (infectiously melodic & reminiscent of "Somebody's Baby") & the wishful "Chasing You Into the Light" (lyrically reminiscent of "That Girl Could Sing") are both irresistibly catchy uptempo tracks. Also a gem is "How Long", an eloquent cry for peace & change from the government, with moody, contemplative acoustic lap steel guitar from David Lindley--it's one of the most hauntingly melodic songs Jackson's ever written. Also strong are the bluesy, exhorting title track & the splendidly melodic ballad "Anything Can Happen". Jackson, one of my favorite singers in all of music, is in his usual excellent, passionate form vocally on all of these aforementioned tracks. However, like I said, there are a considerable amount of problems, even on a couple of overall strong tracks. "Enough of the Night" is ever so slightly marred by the annoyingly blurry & partly incomprehensible background vocals (a very minor complaint). The title track features some excessive slamming "drum" sounds that clutter up the song (be sure to check out the worthwhile live version of the track from the Japanese version of his "Looking East" CD), & "Anything Can Happen" has too much of a generic adult contemporary sound. Musically, "When the Stone Begins to Turn" is a rather listless & sluggish attempt at reggae despite the presence of Sly & Robbie on the track. The Little Steven-penned "I Am A Patriot" is an incredibly slight, half-baked ode to freedom, loyalty to one's country, & family values, & "Lights and Virtues" is a dull, tossed off attempt at a positive, uplifting album closer. The somewhat Latin-flavored "My Personal Revenge", written by Tomas Borge & Louis Enrique Mejia Godoy (& translated to English by Jorge Calderon) is rather dull as well, & "The Word Justice", though pretty good, is a bit aimless & lacking in conviction. It seems that Jackson was perhaps having a bit of a case of writer's block with this album, which leads to what I think is the album's key problem--lack of strong song material. Production-wise I think the album is overall pretty good & tasteful, & I certainly don't question Jackson's sincerity, but, to put it simply, he had trouble here on numerous tracks getting messages across as effectively as we're used to from him. On the other hand, he still accomplishes some great songs on here. This is certainly not an album you should feel compelled to avoid--flawed though it is, any really big Jackson fan needs it."