Random Record Rewind -

Hold Out – Jackson Browne [1980]

   A year or two ago I went on a Jackson Browne jag and bought most of Jackson’s 70s and 80s catalog. I was surprised in reviewing my purchases to find I was missing Jackson’s only # 1 album.

   Hold Out seems to be an unlikely album to be a number one even if it was just for one week. I mean that’s the year you have Pink Floyd’s The Wall [15 weeks], Bob Seger’s Against the Wind [6 weeks], Billy Joel’s Glass Houses [6 weeks], Queen’s The Game [5 weeks], Springsteen’s The River [4 weeks] and at the end John Lennon’s Double Fantasy. On the other hand, the Stones’ Emotional Rescue was also numero uno for 7 weeks along with greatest hits by Kenny Rogers, the Bee Gees and Donna Summer.

      What I found in exploring Browne’s catalog are a lot of songs with an amazing depth for someone so young. Add to that, he’s backed by all the best players. It seems like there are a lot of Jackson Browne’s songs that I know but really looking at the catalog there aren’t a whole lot that get radio play. But boy are the ones that do really good: Doctor, My Eyes, Rock Me On the Water, The Pretender, Here Come Those Tears Again, Running On Empty and The Load Out / Stay. And a couple to mentioned here in a minute.

   In the big picture, we find Hold Out sandwiched between two certifiably great Browne albums – Running On Empty [1977] and Lawyers In Love [1983]. To compare Hold Out to those is … well, comparing Emotional Rescue to Some Girls and Tattoo You. I mean it’s what you have at the time so yay but you aren’t 100% sold on it.

   The only two songs that get radio play, Boulevard and That Girl Could Sing are truly the best things on the record. Three of the remaining five songs are mid-tempo or slower. Disco Apocalypse is pretty generic rescued only by some great keyboard work by Little Feat’s Bill Payne. David Lindley is great on guitar on Hold Out but can’t rescue this song from syrupy lyrics. The finale Hold On Hold Out crosses into Springsteen territory lyrically and structurally and lengthwise at just a shade over eight minutes. But it doesn’t feel like it says much. It doesn’t make a statement.

   And that’s the problem with Hold Out in general. Nothing on the album makes a statement. There is no call to arms nor even a call to just stand down and Take It Easy.

   It feels like a placeholder album. Okay but not vital by any means.