Lawyers in Love is the seventh album by American singer-songwriter Jackson Browne, released in 1983 by Asylum Records. It was Browne's fourth straight Top 10 album and stayed on the charts for 33 weeks, peaking at No. 8 on the Billboard 200. Out of eight tracks, four were released as singles. The title song reached No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100[1] and was accompanied by one of Browne's first music videos released on MTV.
Co-producer and engineer Greg Ladanyi explained the album's unusual recording sessions: "For this record, Jackson wanted to be downtown, where the people were. So we found a warehouse in downtown L.A., and just turned it into a studio. We set it up so that the band could play without the distractions of a normal studio because, for the most part, Jackson was writing the songs – in terms of the key changes and chord changes – based on what he was hearing when the band was playing. There was no 'Okay, it's take one or take two.' We kept the tape rolling just about all the time. And there are very few overdubs."[4]
Critic Robert Christgau called the album "a satire on, celebration of, and lament for the upper-middle classmates an Orange County liberal knows like he knows his neighbor's backyard".[5]Rolling Stone critic Christopher Connelly felt that the record was "a more nervy, intelligent LP than its predecessor" and "a welcome widening of perspective that allows Browne to escape, once and for all, the L.A. albatross that has hung around his neck." However, he despised the "wretched" 5:20 of "antinuke agitprop" that is "Say It Isn't True" for displaying the worst traits of the album: "No quarrel here with the sentiments he's expressing, but to gravely intone, 'There always has been and always will be war,' over a 'Kum BaYa'-like coo of 'Say it isn't true' — surely, you say to yourself, he can't be that stupid."[6]
In a retrospective review for AllMusic, William Ruhlmann referred to Browne's often overlooked songcrafting, but wrote "the craft, and the familiar tightness of Browne's veteran studio/live band, couldn't hide the essentially retread nature of much of this material."[2]
Commercial
Lawyers in Love reached No. 8 on the Billboard 200.[8] The album was certified as a gold record in 1983 and platinum in 2001 by the RIAA.[9]
Track listing
All tracks composed by Jackson Browne, except where noted.
