Jackson Browne & David Lindley - Love Is Strange: En Vivo Con Tino - 2-CD live set (2010)

Love Is Strange: En Vivo Con Tino is the fourth live album by American singer-songwriter Jackson Browne, and 16th official studio or live album. A 2-CD live set released on the Inside Recordings label in 2010, the album documents a March 2006 tour of Spain that Browne and David Lindley took part in with Spanish percussionist Tino di Geraldo. The seven shows of the tour in Spain were followed by four in the United Kingdom. 

The album preserves performances by guest Spanish musicians flutist Carlos Núñez, vocalists Kiko Veneno and Luz Casal, and banduria player Javier Mas. Some songs have introductions spoken by Browne in Spanish.

The album won at the 2011 Independent Music Awards in the Live Performance Album category, and was nominated for a 2011 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album. 

It peaked at No. 46 on the Billboard 200 albums chart and No. 1 on the Billboard Magazine Folk Albums chart. It reached No. 17 on Billboard's Rock Albums chart and No. 5 on Billboard's Independent Albums chart.

While the song titles may be familiar to fans of both men, they don't begin to tell the musical story on display here. Lindley and Browne were accompanied on all dates by the great flamenco percussionist, rock drummer, and producer Tino di Geraldo, and on select concerts by well-known Spanish musicians including flutist Carlos Nunéz, vocalists Kiko Veneno and Luz Casal, and bandurria player Javier Mas. Beautifully recorded, this set shows what Browne is capable of when he has musical foils who will not allow him to simply rest on his laurels. 

Lindley is, as expected, brilliant in shaping the textures and surfaces of these songs as well as highlighting the more subtle melodic touches in them, and di Geraldo's rhythmic interactions push these two to play at their level best. 

The interplay between him and Lindley is near symbiotic, even on the most basic of tunes like "Mercury Blues" or "For Taking the Trouble," where the percussionist plays tablas to Lindley's bouzouki. The Latinization of "El Rayo X," with Browne on a baritone guitar and stellar harmony vocals by Lindley, is a high point. 

Lindley plays fiddle on "Take It Easy," and transforms it into something that envisions a Spanish bluegrass. "These Days," with Casal's heavily accented guest vocal, the fiddle, and di Geraldo's cajón, makes an already beautiful song exquisite. Lindley's Hawaiian guitar transforms "Running on Empty" from its former place as a rock anthem to '70s-era alienation into a haunted warning filled with regret and loss. 

A full-band performance of the nine-minute closer "The Next Voice You Hear," featuring Veneno on duet vocals, also includes the cajón, tres player Raul Rodriguez, Hawaiian guitar, Charlie Cepeda on baritone guitar, and Nunéz's whistle. It becomes a dry, arid, funky blues that sends the whole package off on a soaring though lonesome note. 

This could have been an experiment that failed miserably, drenched in nostalgia and excess; instead, it succeeds grandly because of a sparse, tasteful approach with excellent arrangements and genuinely inspired performances. 

DISC 1

1. "I'm Alive" (Jackson Browne) – 5:03
2. "Call It a Loan" (Browne, David Lindley) – 5:02
3. "Looking East" (Browne, Luis Conte, Mark Goldenberg, Mauricio Lewak, Kevin McCormick, Scott Thurston, Jeff Young) – 7:02
4. "The Crow on the Cradle" (Sydney Carter) – 6:01
   • Featuring Carlos Núñez
5. "Mercury Blues" (K.C. Douglas, Robert L. Geddins) – 5:16
6. "El Rayo X" (Lindley, Jorge Calderón) – 3:59
7. "Sit Down Servant" (Traditional) – 4:04
8. "Take It Easy" (Browne, Glenn Frey) – 4:13
9. "For Taking the Trouble" (Browne) – 4:38

DISC 2

1. "For Everyman" (Browne) – 5:36
2. "Your Bright Baby Blues" (Browne) – 6:40
   • Featuring Javier Mas
3. "Tu Tranquilo" (Browne, Frey, Kiko Veneno) – 6:04
   • Featuring Kiko Veneno
4. "Late for the Sky" (Browne) – 6:03
5. "These Days" (Browne) – 4:39
   • Featuring Luz Casal
6. "Running on Empty" (Browne) – 6:34
7. "Love is Strange/Stay" (Bo Diddley, Mickey Baker, Sylvia Robinson, Maurice Williams) – 7:46
8. "The Next Voice You Hear" (Browne) – 9:05
   • Featuring Kiko Veneno

Personnel

• Jackson Browne – vocals, acoustic piano, guitar, baritone guitar
• David Lindley – guitar, bouzuki, fiddle, Weissenborn lap steel, oud, vocals
• Charlie Cepeda – baritone guitar
• Kiko Veneno – guitar, vocals
• Javier Mas – banduria, archilaúd
• Raul Rodriquez – tres
• Tino di Geraldo – cajón, tabla
• Carlos Núñez – whistle
• Luz Casal – vocals

Production

• Jackson Browne – producer
• Paul Dieter – producer, recording, mixing
• Doug Sax – mastering
• Sangwook "Sunny" Nam – mastering

Notes

Release Date:  May 11, 2010 

Recording Location: 

   Galileo Galilei, Madrid 

   Palau De La Música, Barcelona 

   Sala Galvé Del Auditorio De Zaragoza, Zaragoza 

   Sala Santiago, Bilbao 

   Teatro Campoamor, Oviedo 

Genre:  Roots Rock, Tex-Mex

Duration:  1:46:33 

Label - Inside