Search - Glen Campbell :: 1974-88: Reunited With Jimmy Webb

Dylan has the Byrds & Jimmy Webb has Glen Campbell

JamesNYC | New York, NY USA | 10/10/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"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.



This CD is made up of the 1974 Campbell-Webb "Reunion" album and fourteen "bonus" tracks. (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...

kerouac's ghost | the void | 09/05/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Just got word that Glen Campbell is finally being inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. 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).



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."