CoronaVinyl Day 261 (B): Hold Out by Jackson Browne

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Today's CoronaVinyl category is "B," and my recent lot of records I obtained from my neighbor included a few Jackson Browne albums.  We're going to keep it in 1980 for a second day in a row, with Browne's sixth studio album, Hold Out.

I've always been pretty tepid on Jackson Browne.  For whatever reason, his music never really did it for me.  That's not to say I don't like some of his songs.  He's obviously a great songwriter.  That said, his stuff was always just a step above soft rock, but not quite hard enough for what I would consider "rock" music.  

Browne started off writing songs for other artists, including co-writing The Eagles' hit "Take It Easy," and then released his first solo album in 1972 and had success throughout the '70s and early '80s.  Hold Out was one of his most successful albums, and it was his only album to reach #1 on the Billboard album chart.  It also went double platinum in the U.S., making it his third consecutive multiplatinum album, and the sixth of seven consecutive platinum or multiplatinum albums for him.  Given its #1 status on the album chart, you would have expected it to have some huge hits, but it only yielded two Top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, neither of which charted higher than #19 ("Boulevard" went to #19 and "That Girl Could Sing" went to #22).

Browne has continued to make music since then.  All told, he has had 11 Top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, including two Top 10s.  He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004.

Favorite song on Side 1:  "Boulevard"
This is one of the harder rocking of Browne's songs, which is probably why I like it.

Favorite song on Side 2:  "Hold On Hold Out"
The last track on the album is just over 8 minutes, and it's kind of a Springsteen-esque extended jam with pianos, keyboards, and female backing vocals.