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Reunited with Jimmy Webb

Glen Campbell - Reunited with Jimmy Webb Audio CD

A fair review of the Glen Campbell "Reunited with Jimmy Webb" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Glen Campbell reviews here, or go back to the Glen Campbell tabs.

Band: Glen Campbell
Title: Reunited with Jimmy Webb
Rating:

Release Date: 2001-11-30
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Roll Me Easy 2: Just This One Time 3: You Might as Well Smile 4: Wishing Now 5: About the Ocean 6: Ocean in His Eyes 7: Moon Is a Harsh Mistress 8: I Keep It Hid 9: Adoration 10: It's a Sin (When You Love Somebody) 11: Christiaan No [*] 12: Early Morning Song [*] 13: Highwayman [*] 14: Love Song [*] 15: In Cars [*] 16: Still Within the Sound of My Voice [*] 17: For Sure, For Certain, Forever, For Always [*] 18: Lightning in a Bottle [*] 19: If These Walls Could Speak [*] 20: More Than Enough [*] 21: Brand New Eyes [*] 22: Light Years [*] 23: Almost Alright Again [*] 24: Our Move [*]

A Perfect Match
Although his material often borders on, and, on occasion, crosses the "corny" line. Say what you will about Glen Campbell the man has one heck of a voice. Not so in his collaborations with the great Jimmy Webb. For a more perfect marriage of songwriter and singer, you'd have to go to Bacharach/Warwick or Carole King/Dusty Springfield.

This album is a veritable treasure trove of some of the most beautiful, yet obscure, Jimmy Webb songs. Webb's lyrics have always astounded me - so much depth for such a young man(barely out of his teens at the time). Jimmy Webb wrote some of the most poignantly mature lyrics(and, to an extent, melodies)to ever be recorded in the 20th Century. There are songs on this album - "The Moon's A Harsh Mistress", "You Might As Well Smile" - which are so sophisticated yet heart rending that you just might find your eyes welling up.

In the late 60's and early 70's, Jimmy Webb had no real competition when it came to writing songs of lost love. And, Glen Campbell's huge vocal range just serves the songwriter's intent like a hand in a glove. It's nothing short of a blessing that these 2 men worked together so well.

If you purchase no other Jimmy Webb and/or Glen Campbell album, you owe it to yourself to savor this musical feast. It's that good! But, don't take my word for it - hearing is believing. .

Dylan has the Byrds & Jimmy Webb has Glen Campbell

This CD is made up of the 1974 Campbell-Webb "Reunion" album and fourteen "bonus" tracks. Of all the great song writers whose work is best interpreted by someone else, only the Byrds doing Bob Dylan can outdo Glen Campbell's covers of Jimmy Webb tunes. (You get a lot for your money. )

On a solid CD full of great music, "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" stands out as the best, as beautiful a song as any that Jimmy Webb has ever written, and Glen Campbell's version sends shivers up the spine. "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" reminds me a lot of Gordon Lightfoot's "The Last Time I Saw Her Face" (which Campbell has covered), and, like the Lightfoot song, the lyrics are stronger than the music.

Another stand out track is "Christiaan No," Webb's ode to his son (Campbell's Godson).

This is one of those CDs that you can listen to from beginning to end without skipping a tune. Sitting back and enjoying music like this is one of life's great pleasures.

.

Pop at it's best...
While you can make the argument that Campbell - at his peak - was not a country singer (and make a valid point at that), it is also true that his influence on country music has been significant (especially in the role of introducing a nation to country music via his late 60's classics and TV show). Just got word that Glen Campbell is finally being inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

All the hub-bub of his induction took me back to a record I feel is his best (though I doubt anyone on the CMHF induction committee has even heard it). "Reunion" (the original title of the LP before all the extras got thrown in with the late 90's re-release on CD) is that rarest of efforts - a classic very few people are aware of. Country Music immortality may be where GC is headed, but at his best (like here) he was more accurately a peer of The Beach Boys, The Mamas and the Pappas, Harry Nielson, Joni Mitchell, Jimmy Webb (the performer) and that particular brand of late 60's pop that came out of southern California.

This is a pop record in the best sense of that much maligned word. Webb's music and input is obviously central. He wrote most of the tunes and his hand can be heard in arrangement sense and in Campbell's brilliant delivery (as Webb related material always seems to bring out the best in the singer). The Little Feat tune "Roll Me Easy" opens the set and you would think it was written for Campbell. The lyrics are a little off his standard fare ("eloquent profanity just rolls right off my tongue"), but he nails it. The standouts here are "Wishing Now", "Ocean In His Eyes" and "The Moon's A Harsh Mistress".

Listening to the intricate lyrics amongst the lush arrangements, one would think Webb the lyricist and Campbell the vocalist invented wistfullness (in the pop music sense). These songs juxtaposed to the kind of music one is likely to hear on radio now days (from the overtly dumb "art form" of rap, to the overtly calculated pop music of today, to the equally calculated "modern" country) blows the mind. To think so much ground has been lost in the thirty or so years since "Reunion" was released is sad indeed (though a reflection of everything else lost in that time period).

Be warned, on first listen, this record might leave you scratching your head. It is upon repeated listenings that the pearl is delivered. The songs are not as easily accessible as "Wichita Lineman" and the other mega-hits from the Campbell/Webb catalogue, but they are every bit as brilliant and the tougher-to-access character makes the payoff all the better. Campbell has been largely known as a "singles" artist, having made some uneven and quickly produced LP's (though some of those LP's delivered some unforseen minor classics - see "Reason To Believe", "I Don't Believe You" and "Love Is Not A Game", to name a few). It is the very fact that this LP appears to have been made with focus on the whole as opposed to ensuring there is an obvious single (there is not) that makes it even more unique. A million people (though I doubt that many have heard these songs) could blah-blah forever about it. Bottom line is this is classic pop music and is recommended highly. .

The Reborn Glen
Liner notes speak of Campbell's 'raw, impassioned quality' on those initial 30 minutes. The assiduous Glenn A Baker has again dug deep into the archives to unearth 14 bonus tracks to tack onto the superb,'Reunion' album of Webb and Campbell from 1974. With Webb more restrained at the keyboard, the balance with the singer is just right. The album kicks off with a sensational reading of Lowell George's,'Roll me Easy'. He could not have avoided hearing George's sumptuous, swaggeringly sensual version, doing the rounds at the time. Campbell triumphs, however, with a vigour I'd never heard from him until this moment. Until Webb's,'Archives' was released(with the unavailability of his masterly,'Land's End') it was difficult to access the superb,'Just This One Time'. 'The Moon's A Harsh Mistress' is another achingly sweet work, every bit as seductive as the better known version by Art Garfunkle. And,'It's a Sin' is a scorching finale to the original set. The bonus stuff is not up to its meter. 'Highwayman' and'Love Song' are both more convincing on Webb's CDs. Only,'Light Years' and,'If These Walls Could Speak' hint at the glory attained in the preceeding, reunion. They are not poor pop or country by current standards. But they are not the high octane Campbell of this one outing which cut him from the plethora of competent cowboy singers of his day.

70's memories
But I had the cassette of this album and played it in a shoebox player until it broke. I have very little in my head from the 70's. I probably have every song in my head still. I wish more singers would create cds of special writers songs like this.

You can see a complete list of all Glen Campbell discography, or go back to the Glen Campbell tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.