First, as a 20 year fan of jackson browne, I think that i may be a bit unusual. I love his earlier stuff and own every one of his cd's plus many on vinyl, plus a few extremely hard to come by copies of some of his concerts. I will not argue with anyone about how his early work is sheer genius, but this album needs to get some more credit. Looking east and his other recent albums are very good also, but this one really stands out above them in my mind. The first few times i listened to the album i wasn't overly impressed with it. I instantly liked "night inside me" and "the naked ride home." As for the other songs, it took a few listens to really get into them. With some of the songs you really have to listen to them when you are in a certain mood to truly appreciate them. I have to disagree with one of the reviewers who decided to slam "for taking the trouble." The guitarwork on this song is amazing, and i wasn't surprised to see that it was keb" mo" playing on this track. It really takes a master like that to put that kind of feeling into a song. Anyways, this cd is excellent for a casual fan, dedicated fan, or just someone looking for some good tunes.

I'm no newcomer. I've been listening to Jackson since 'Doctor My Eyes' was first released. Yes, my favorites by him are his love stories, ballads, and acoustic paintings of life. I've also liked his rock 'n roll. For me, this is better than some of his more recent outings, and actually has some new blood to it. Casino Nation and Walking Town, for instance, are some of the most listenable tunes I've heard in a while. Jackson has been a rock 'n roller all along, and these are some of his best to date. He has assembled a band that has allowed him to do what he does best. I think some of the reviewers here don't really know what he's about. This is still it!!!!!!

I've been listening and buying Jackson's music for 30 years, and I've never had a more disappointing experience.

Do I expect him to come out with the same kind of music? Absolutely not. Do I expect the music to be listenable? Absolutely yes.

It's like they just kept a tape machine running while he screwed around in the studio....the songs are a hodgepodge of muddled arrangements. I kept expecting the next song to be the keeper, but found every single song is a throwaway, a half assed attempt made solely to fulfill an album committment. All the songs end up sounding exactly the same...more like a jam session than a complete product. I'm peeved that I spent the cash, but my loyalty is probably the culprit....this is why record companies don't want people sampling the music before they buy...because this cd would never sell if it was heard prior to it's purchase. I'm disgusted, and ashamed of him.

I know the man is getting older, but so is James Taylor...I think probably that there wasn't anyone in the studio that had the guts to look at him and say, hey, this stuff is crap, you are NOT ready to go into the studio and record....time to surround himself with the producers of yesterday, who obviously were more honest with him.

Time to wait another 6 years for the next cd, and hope he worked a little harder.