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The Pretender (album)

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The Pretender
Studio album by
Jackson Browne
ReleasedNovember 1976
Recorded1976
StudioSunset Sound (Hollywood)
GenreRock
Length35:07
LabelAsylum
ProducerJon Landau
Jackson Browne chronology
Late for the Sky
(1974) 		The Pretender
(1976) 		Running on Empty
(1977)

The Pretender is the fourth album by the American singer-songwriter Jackson Browne, released in 1976. It peaked at No. 5 on Billboard's album chart. The singles from the album were "Here Come Those Tears Again", which reached No. 23, and "The Pretender", which peaked at No. 58.

History

The Pretender was released after the suicide of Browne's first wife, Phyllis Major, and one of the album's songs "Here Come Those Tears Again" (co-written by Major's mother Nancy Farnsworth) is dedicated to her. The album has production by Jon Landau and a mixture of styles.

The title track was used in the 1995 film Mr. Holland's Opus.

The album was certified as a gold record in 1976 and platinum in 1977 by the RIAA. It reached multi-platinum in 1997 and 2006.[1]

The back cover of The Pretender shows Pablo Neruda's poem Brown and Agile Child, translated by Kenneth Rexroth, in its entirety.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Christgau's Record GuideB[3]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music[5]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[4]

The Pretender was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1978, but did not win.

In his review for AllMusic, William Ruhlmann was equivocal about the album, stating Browne "took a step back from the precipice so well defined on his first three albums, but doing so didn't seem to make him feel any better... The man who had delved so deeply into life's abyss on his earlier albums was in search of escape this time around."[2]

In The Rolling Stone Album Guide, Marc Coleman wrote, "...even when his songwriting is sharp, the mellowing trend in his music dulls the impact. Browne eerily predicts the rise of the yuppie on The Pretender's title track, only to have his point undercut by a creeping string section."[4] Music critic Robert Christgau gave the album a B grade, but explained, "This is an impressive record, but a lot of the time I hate it; my grade is an average, not a judgment" and "The shallowness of his kitschy doomsaying and sentimental sexism is well-known, but I'm disappointed as well in his depth of craft."[6] In 2012, the album was ranked number 391 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.[7] The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll says, "Its sense of despair is derived in part from the suicide of his first wife, Phyllis, in 1976, two and a half years after the birth of their son, Ethan." The single "Here Come Those Tears Again" was credited as co-written with Nancy Farnsworth, Phyllis Major's mother.

Track listing

All tracks are written by Jackson Browne except where noted.

Side 1

  1. "The Fuse" – 5:50
  2. "Your Bright Baby Blues" – 6:05
  3. "Linda Paloma" – 4:06
  4. "Here Come Those Tears Again" (Browne, Nancy Farnsworth) – 3:37

Side 2

  1. "The Only Child" – 3:43
  2. "Daddy's Tune" – 3:35
  3. "Sleep's Dark and Silent Gate" – 2:37
  4. "The Pretender" – 5:53

Personnel

Production

  • Producer – Jon Landau
  • Engineers – John Haeny (Tracks 1, 2 & 4–8); Greg Ladanyi (Track 3).
  • Additional recording – Mark Howlett
  • Assistant recording – Paul Black
  • Mixing – Greg Ladanyi (Tracks 1–6 & 8); Val Garay (Track 7).
  • Mix assistant – Dennis Kirk (Tracks 1–6 & 8)
  • Mixed at The Sound Factory (Hollywood, CA).
  • Mastered by Bernie Grundman at A&M Mastering Studios (Los Angeles, CA).
  • Management – Mark Hammerman
  • Art direction and design – Gary Burden
  • Back cover photo – Jackson Browne
  • Front cover photo – Tom Kelley
  • Other photography – Howard Burke, Peter Golden and Tony Lane.
  • Liner notes – Pablo Neruda and Kenneth Rexroth

Charts

Album – Billboard (United States)

Year Chart Position
1976 Pop Albums 5

Singles – Billboard (United States)

Year Single Chart Position
1977 "Here Come Those Tears Again" Pop Singles 23
1977 "The Pretender" Pop Singles 58

Certifications

Region Certification Certified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[8] Silver 60,000^
United States (RIAA)[9] 3× Platinum 3,000,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

  1. ^ RIAA Gold and Platinum award. Archived September 24, 2015, at the Wayback Machine Retrieved July 20, 2010
  2. ^ a b Ruhlmann, William. "The Pretender > Review". AllMusic. Retrieved June 4, 2010.
  3. ^ Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: B". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved February 22, 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
  4. ^ a b Coleman, Mark (2004). "Jackson Browne". The New Rolling Stone Album Guide. Fireside Books. ISBN 9780743201698.
  5. ^ Larkin, Colin (2007). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195313734.
  6. ^ Christgau, Robert. "The Pretender > Review". robertchristgau.com. Retrieved June 4, 2010.
  7. ^ "500 Greatest Albums of All Time". Rolling Stone. May 31, 2012. Retrieved August 6, 2019.
  8. ^ id MUST BE PROVIDED for UK CERTIFICATION.
  9. ^ "American album certifications – Jackson Browne – The Pretender". Recording Industry Association of America.
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