Personnel includes: Jackson Browne (vocals, guitar, piano); Dean Parks (acoustic guitar); Scott Thurston (guitar, keyboards, background vocals); David Lindley (guitar, oud, bouzouki); Mark Goldenberg, John Leventhal, Waddy Wachtel, Mike Campbell (guitar); Jai Winding (piano); Benmont Tench (organ); Kevin McCormick, James "Hutch" Hutchinson (bass); Mauricio Lewak, Jim Keltner (drums); Luis Conte, Lenny Castro (percussion); Sweet Pea Atkinson, Sir Harry Bowens, Valerie Carter, Jennifer Warnes, Steve Soles, David Crosby, Don Henley (background vocals).

Producers: Scott Thurston, Don Was, Jackson Browne.

Recorded at Groove Masters, Santa Monica, California.

I'M ALIVE won the 1995 Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album.

Jackson Browne abandoned politics for the war between the sexes on I'm Alive. "I have no problem with this crooked world," he sang; "...My problem is you." The album detailed the ups and downs of a relationship, starting with the defiant post-breakup title track and then doubling back to describe irritation ("My Problem Is You"), devotion ("Everywhere I Go," "I'll Do Anything"), increasing tension ("Miles Away," "Too Many Angels"), separation ("Take This Rain," "Two of Me, Two of You"), forgiveness ("Sky Blue and Black"), and finally acceptance ("All Good Things"). Longtime fans welcomed the album as a return in style to the days of Late for the Sky, but a closer model might have been Hold Out, a complementary album concerned with the flowering of an affair rather than the withering of one, since Browne eschewed the greater philosophical implications of romance and, falling back on stock imagery (angels, rain), failed to achieve an originality of expression. Just as, in Hold Out, one wasn't so much inspired as informed that Browne had found love, on I'm Alive, one wasn't so much moved as told that he'd lost it. While it was good news that he wasn't tilting at windmills anymore, Browne did not make a full comeback with the album, despite a couple of well-constructed songs. ~ William Ruhlmann

An album that saw Browne return to high-quality songs brought about by the familiar chestnut "relationship problems." Much media attention was given to his break-up with actress Darryl Hannah, and Browne seemed to come off worse. However, he deserves the last laugh because it prompted stellar songs such as the title track, "My Problem Is You" and the light reggae beat of "Everywhere I Go." Few contemporary songwriters can analyze and discuss their own problems and failings through songs as openly and, apparently honestly, as Jackson Browne. Anybody that wrote him off as one of "those 70s singer songwriters" should lend an ear to this album, especially those with marital problems.

Rolling Stone (11/11/93, p.74) - 3.5 Stars - Good Plus - "...[Jackson] Browne has successfully managed to resurrect his persona of 20 years ago. I'M ALIVE shudders with the pain of someone who's been soundly dumped..."

Q (1/94, p.84) - Included in Q's list of 'The 50 Best Albums Of 1993' - "...Yet more proof that personal misery makes for better art...."

Q (12/93, p.107) - 4 Stars - Excellent - "...After years of wistful dreaming, [Jackson Browne] drops a few odd hints about the joys of commitment and responsibility....the warmth of his voice counterpoints the agony in his lyrics..."

Musician (12/93, p.88) - "...Jackson Browne's first album in four years departs from the political/issues orientation of his last three, being a more introspective set of songs about love lost, remembered, obesessed over..."