![]() ![]() This album sold poorly, but it’s one of Browne’s most underrated albums. The gorgeous melodies and unusually optimistic lyrics of the side-closers “Anything Can Happen” and “Lights and Virtues” are both goose-bump-inducing and inspirational, while the fantastic “Enough of the Night” finds Browne returning to the sunny, sophisticated glossy adult-contemporary pop of Hold Out and Lawyers in Love to great results, and “Chasing You into the Light” is an incredibly addictive breezy acoustic rocker powered by what might be the coolest guitar riff in Browne’s catalog outside of “Lawyers in Love.” Browne also turns in a first-rate memorable cover of Little Steven’s “I Am a Patriot” that momentarily puts politics inside in favor of a vibrant and passionate display of nationalism that people of any persuasion can rally behind. That aside, the album boasts a large handful of the most criminally overlooked songs Browne’s ever written. ![]() “When the Stone Begins to Turn” is also just a little bit too topical, including a direct reference to Nelson Mandela’s imprisonment that has caused the song to age horribly. “Soldier of Plenty,” the Top 40 hit “For America,” the reggae-styled “Till I Go Down” and the Chilean-flavored, pan-piped-driven title track are the most political songs here, but there are also some lighter, more accessible moments in the rocker “Candy,” the gorgeous ballad “In the Shape of a Heart” (one of Browne’s most underrated songs), and the album closer “Black and White.” It wasn’t released as a single, but the catchiest song on here might be the incredibly impressive bilingual story-song “Lawless Avenues” the lyric is awfully heavy, but it’s coupled with an upbeat and vibrant rhythm track with an irresistibly infectious chorus and a playful arrangement that finds Browne and his band singing in Spanish for much of the final third of the song.īrowne’s final album of the Eighties is hurt only by the fact that Browne isn’t quite as successful here at fusing his more political lyrics to strong melodies, which gets the second side off to a slow start. The heated politics of the lyrics means the songs aren’t always obviously commercial, but the melodies are strong and memorable enough that the songs still sink in quickly and are fun to sing along to. ![]() The hooks just never let up, which is all the more impressive a feat when you consider that this is also Browne’s most overtly political album yet. In terms of sheer artistic ambition, Late for the Sky or Running on Empty may stand as Browne’s crowning achievement, but taken purely on a song-by-song basis, Browne may have never made a more solid album than Lives in the Balance, and for one simple reason: this may very well be the catchiest set of songs Browne has ever delivered to the public. ![]()
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