The DVD-Audio world was rocked on Monday with news that Jackson Browne’s ‘Running on Empty’ had finally been released! On the pending list for what seems like forever, the title has now made it into stores in the form of what Warner calls a “double disc” pack, essentially a DVD-Audio/Video disc with an accompanying CD. The two-disc set features re-mastered and original, previously unreleased tracks, a surround mix and over two hundred previously unseen photographs.
Thanks to Warner Music Group for the following information:
Fuelled by his dream to create an album about the road on the road, Jackson Browne went on tour with a remarkable collection of musicians in 1977 and came home with ‘Running on Empty’, a musical portrait of life on tour that is as brutally honest as it is achingly beautiful. In collaboration with Rhino Records, Jackson Browne tops off the tank with a host of special features for the expanded and re-mastered edition of this live classic.
The two-disc set includes a CD featuring the original album re-mastered, plus a DVD with the album remixed by Greg Ladanyi (the original engineer) in 5.1 DVD-Audio surround sound, and produced by Browne. The DVD also includes a pair of unreleased songs – the instrumental ‘Edwardsville Room 124’ composed by keyboardist Craig Doerge and ‘Cocaine Again’, plus more than 200 photos taken by Joel Bernstein during the tour including a ‘Running On Empty’ video montage and a behind-the-scenes tour photo album accompanied by an instrumental medley of tracks from the album.
Featuring 12 live performances recorded between August 17 and September 18, 1977, the deluxe edition of ‘Running on Empty’ is available November 15 at retail outlets (links below) and at www.rhino.com and www.jacksonbrowne.com for a suggested list price of $24.98.
For the album, Browne and his band – Danny Kortchmar on guitar; David Lindley on fiddle and lap steel guitar; Doerge on keyboard; Leland Sklar on bass; Russ Kunkel on drums; and Doug Haywood and Rosemary Butler on background vocals – recorded previously unreleased songs in natural settings, such as a Holiday Inn hotel room, a backstage rehearsal space, on a tour bus, and on stage. Selling more than 7 million copies, ‘Running on Empty’ became Browne’s biggest selling title and includes the Top 40 hits ‘Running on Empty’ (the title track) and ‘The Load-Out/Stay’.
In addition to liner notes penned by respected music critic Anthony DeCurtis, the set features an essay about Bernstein’s photography by music journalist-turned-filmmaker Cameron Crowe. “His work on the 1977 tour has rarely been seen outside the lives of the participants – it’s a painstaking and rollicking and utterly real portrait of that great trip across country. As one lucky enough to be a long-time collaborator with Bernstein, I’d seen some of these photos and proof-sheets in his archives,” Crowe writes. “When the time came to make a movie about my own experience in the world of early ‘70s rock ’n’ roll, Almost Famous, some of these very images were meticulously re-created in the film, partly as an homage to Joel, but mostly because inside his photography is the elixir I’d hoped would seep into the movie. This is how it felt to be there.”
Track List:
- Running On Empty
- The Road
- Rosie
- You Love The Thunder
- Cocaine
- Shaky Town
- Love Needs A Heart
- Nothing But Time
- The Load-Out
- Stay
- Cocaine Again *
- Edwardsville Room 124 *
* previously unreleased DVD-only tracks.
More information:
High Fidelity Review can confirm the resolution and content of the DVD-Audio tracks. The surround mix is presented at 96kHz 24-bit and stereo-only listeners will be delighted by the presence of a dedicated 192kHz 24-bit two-channel track.
Retail outlets offering discounts on the ‘Running on Empty’ DVD-Audio/CD set include Amazon.com at $20.99.
Jackson Browne’s ‘Running On Empty’ finally released on DVD-Audio