Jackson Browne: The Pretender (Asylum 7E-1079)

JACKSON BROWNE'S fourth and best album draws its power from a stunning tension of opposites: he continues to revise and refine many of the same musical and poetic elements explored on earlier records, yet he dramatically transforms his recorded style; his new songs sustain a high seriousness that inhibits even brief flashes of the wry humor that provided relief on past albums, yet he achieves a musical immediacy rivalling the most infectious pop singles; his perceptions strip away the mythology of romance from his new dramas, yet his performances are the most passionate of his career.