Browne falls flat on East

by Tom Jackson

Daily Cougar Staff

Jackson Browne stretches out on his black, crushed-velvet sofa overlooking the Hollywood Hills and wonders what happened. Where did it all go? The fame, the great songs he used to write, Daryl Hannah...

How could he have written an album like this new one? Oh, it was so much easier in the '70s. Easier to gel laid, easier to score some pot, easier to write a hit song. Now there's all this techno crap to contend with.

Still, what WAS he thinking? Even the title cut, "Looking East," is a retro rock bore. How could he have come up with cheesy tunes about living in Culver City and going to Lakers games? And whatever possessed him to write the cornball "Nino," about a Latino kid in L.A.?

But his worst moment has to be when he thought it would be clever to pen a ditty using lines from popular television commercials called "Information Wars."

Jackson shakes his head in sorrow. What was he doing in the studio all this time? Sure, this is easy-listening rock for aging baby boomers, but even Bonnie Raitt could have come up with more exciting stuff than this.

He ponders the future. What's next? Writing syrupy theme songs for movies? Penning horrifying tunes for TV sitcoms? No! No! He refuses to become the male Carly Simon.

Jackson looks out over the California wasteland and thinks about life and love. Ah, well, at least he still looks pretty good for his age. Maybe it he called up Daryl, she'd consider coming back to him. Oh yeah, she's still kind of angry over that black-eye incident.