DISC ONE:

Barricades Of Heaven (BBC-TV 11/9/96; A)

Take It Easy (Madrid 3/25/99; A)

Sky Blue and Black (Eugene, OR 1994; B)

Sleeps Dark And silent Gate (Montreaux 7/18/82; B)

The Only Child (Amsterdam 12/9/76; B)

Too Many Angels (Eugene OR 1994; B)

Anything Can Happen (ditto)

Our Lady Of The Well (Santa Cruz CA 5/19/87; A)

Everywhere I Go (Hamburg 10/28/93; B)

Doctor My Eyes (Essen 3/18/86; B)

For Everyman (Berkeley CA 10/77; A)

Lives In The Balance (Essen 3/18/86; B)

Before The Deluge (Dublin 6/27/94; B)

DISC TWO:

Jamaica Say You Will (Stonybrook NY 2/24/72; A)

Rock Me On The Water (Amsterdam 12/9/76; B)

The Girl Could Sing (Montreaux 7/18/82; B)

Something Fine (Amsterdam 12/9/76; A)

Crow On The Cradle (Santa Cruz CA 5/19/87; A)

The Next Voice You Hear (Solvang CA 9/12/00; B)

In The Shape Of The Heart (Madrid 3/25/99; A)

These Days (San Francisco 2/2/02; B)

Don’t You Want To Be There (Austin 10/9/02; B)

Culver Moon (ditto)

Late For the Sky (Eugene OR 1994; B)

The Pretender (ditto)

DISC THREE:

Walking Slow (Providence RI 2002)

Late For The Sky (Richmond VA 2000)

Fountain Of Sorrow (Shreveport LA 2000)

Farther On (Berkeley CA 1997)

For A Dancer (Paris 1996)

Before The Deluge (Richmond VA 2000)

Your Bright Baby Blues (Shreveport LA 2000)

Linda Paloma (Richmond VA 2000)

Here Come Those Tears Again (Topeka KS 2000)

Sleep’s Dark And Silent Gate (Berkeley CA 1997)

The Pretender (Barcelona 1996)

Running On Empty (Paris 1996)

Rosie (Barcelona 1996)

The Road (Providence RI 2002)

You Love The Thunder (Omaha NE 2000)

NOTE: On Discs 1 and 2 the letter “A” denotes “solo acoustic” (guitar or piano) and the letter “B” indicates the song is Browne accompanied by his band. Disc 3 is all solo material.

This is the second of two (so far) Brown Other Side volumes, essentially non-chronological collections of live rarities and/or choice nuggets. (Live Wire has done similarly with other artists such as Neil Young and Eric Clapton. There’s also a separate 3-CDR Browne collection of duets/collaborations titled When Friends Come To Play.) While Vol. 1 was all-acoustic, for this anthology Live Wire pulled assorted acoustic and full-band tracks for two of the three discs. In a sense, that’s a curious strategy; why not let Vol. 1 be all-electric? That said, it all hangs together quite nicely, and unlike Vol. 1 there’s a wider range of years/tours represented here, including1976, 1982 and 1986.

Note that Disc 3 reverts to the all-acoustic mode, and of the four acoustic discs spread across both volumes, this one is, by my way of thinking, the best of the batch. If nothing else, the inclusion of “Fountain Of Sorrow,” an outstanding solo piano version with perfect sound, practically makes it a must-own.

 Both volumes boast excellent sound quality barring the stray track here and there.

Live Wire added more complete source/date info for the tracks on this volume compared to its predecessor. That’s nice, but it would be nicer if labels would simply add the exact venue/city/date info for everything they release since nowadays most of the info is available on the web; why should the people who pay for the product have to do that work after the fact?

Usual Live Wire nominal-but-tasteful packaging, just a pair of one-sided tray panels with photo on front and full tracklisting on back. – OSWALD