Glen Campbell 1936 - 2017 RIP

[Lat-Literal]

Jimmy Webb is my favourite songwriter and Glen Campbell was one of his finest interpreters.

Beautifully put - succinct unlike me and very well suited to the ability of each at economy. One of the strangest things - I would be very interested indeed to hear suggestions of parallels from forum members in both the popular and classical music worlds - is Webb's eternal struggle, given his instinctive musical brilliance, to find an adequate singing voice. The results could be touching or alarming, depending on the moment, and a key part of Glen's gift was in enabling Jim to be sung as he hears music and cleverly designs. That point can hardly be underestimated. I do have, though, an especial liking of "Driftwood" which is very late in the canon and from an album that was critically pooh-poohed. But did Campbell ever record it?

Jimmy Webb - Driftwood - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIZ1ZIDhIwY

The country dimension:

Glen and Jimmy - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gy4N3gmkpWw

Dolly and Charlie - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0GAgz5hKJs

Deleted, as might have caused upset.

That's a very sensitive action although the comment didn't upset me. I was, though, a little perplexed by it. Presumably it relates to the line "Campbell did as much as anyone to capture American manhood at a time of change: insecure, uncertain, committed to nothing, but searching for something more". That, I think, is quite a profound statement from a liberal newspaper in that it half-recognises and even appreciates the pressures on identity some men felt at a time of social change. What you said didn't necessarily indicate to me a complete contradiction with that point. And actually that point may be overstated. For those of us who came very late to country and could only do so initially via the liberal sensibilities of, say, a Gram Parsons and a Nanci Griffith, deep conservatism had always been the stumbling block. The sort in which men were men if they had troubles in their relationships and were inclined to get themselves into trouble while wearing a cowboy hat. Somewhere in that mix there was always a prettier-than-a-picture wife who was also an Annie-Get-Your Gun because she needed to be. Needed to be tough, needed to be resilient, needed often to be the mainstay while at the same time never being able to be depicted other than as little, kindly in its way.

What transpired, I think, in the sixties was both a counter to it all and a reinforcement. Liberalism provided women with much more in terms of identity and potential for influence. The female instinct was thus incorporated into the professional. The strong weak man was given free reign to be rather weaker. But you gain some and you lose some. In each case, the character lost any toughness it might have had and frequently became emotionally harder and harsher but more brittle. The lovely Dolly - really lovely - wholly works because she is traditionally feisty along with a women-can-do-it-better business woman. See also Loretta Lynn. Campbell worked not because he dragged just being in the sticks into big business combined with religiosity but because he depicted the common man with enhanced sensitivity and if anything liberal-upon-conservative travails. The fact that this should be the subject of some discussion says all you need to know about that era and its immense significance in the long term. As for symbols, Joe on the street tries today but at best he earns a wage.

As a steadfast non-relationship person, I should have gone into sexual politics in a studious sense really. One of my main ambitions was to outdo Greer and Masters and Johnson.
I think the innovation that would have been there is that I would have been truly fair-minded and always in essence with the intention of being wholly, non-agenda based, humane.

People are what they are - and have to be.

Glen Campbell - Rhinestone Cowboy - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kAU3B9Pi_U

[Lat-Literal]

A few clips:

Don't Think Twice - It's Alright - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aP_Q85Wngw
Understand Your Man - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClIsCzBKCG4
Buzz Saw - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNiIdczZPTQ

These Days - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBexPuk-qK8
I Feel The Earth Move - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnMjkJ3uoho
Dueling Banjos from Deliverance - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5vfw5f1CZo

[Lat-Literal]

Can't keep this going to the end of next week. Still, a milkman, 52, rang a station to say he had previously thought of Glen as cheesy but he had surprisingly become all emotional about the news. That, he was told, was about his age and to some extent no doubt. They played several songs. I had wanted from the word go to include something by the so underrated and fascinating person that is the still alive but reclusive Bobbie Gentry. But the content can be difficult for other people and so I sidestepped it earlier on. Well, the station played this which does not necessarily escape all harsh judgement but it is wonderful - especially re her and that is saying something but then she always did - if you are prepared to meet it on its terms.

Glen Campbell and Bobbie Gentry - Little Green Apples - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySclTiD-KZU

There is also a 2006 BBC R2 moment (the year before the onset of his illness?) which went out in the early hours - Ken Bruce : Tracks of My Years - I will post it when/if I find it.

Yep, here - not a huge fan of Bruce but this was very good:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08zqcyq

Maybe it was the way I was in the moment but the sixties stuff in here from a variety of artists - most so well known you could recite it in your sleep - not having listened to it for a while, it sounded absolutely magical in the dark and very much if one word could be used "radio". I wasn't even there - bits and pieces but my first substantial knowledge is of 1970!

[Richard Tarleton]

Today, and yesterday, we went past the sign to Yerbeston, Pembs. Depending on who's in the car, this normally prompts a chorus of

Yerbeston, O Yerbeston......

[Lat-Literal]

Today, and yesterday, we went past the sign to Yerbeston, Pembs. Depending on who's in the car, this normally prompts a chorus of

Yerbeston, O Yerbeston......

Better than Surbiton.

It's full of oil fields and he never went there.......Gaviscon.

[Stanley Stewart]

Fortuitously, BBC 4 changed the schedules after a sparkling production of Oklahama! last night and followed well into the witching hour with two features on Glen Campbell: a documentary on his troubled years, booze and depression, followed by a performance at the RFH in 1976 - the era of flared trousers and shoulder-length hair - my pleasure compounded when I recalled being at the concert, seated among the hoi polloi! Royal Philharmonic with Jimmy Webb as guest He performed all his chart successes and ended accompanying himself playing the bagpipes, a strangely moving rendition of Amazing Grace. Altogether, a remarkable evening. safely recorded on HD.

[cloughie]

Fortuitously, BBC 4 changed the schedules after a sparkling production of Oklahama! last night and followed well into the witching hour with two features on Glen Campbell: a documentary on his troubled years, booze and depression, followed by a performance at the RFH in 1976 - the era of flared trousers and shoulder-length hair - my pleasure compounded when I recalled being at the concert, seated among the hoi polloi! Royal Philharmonic with Jimmy Webb as guest He performed all his chart successes and ended accompanying himself playing the bagpipes, a strangely moving rendition of Amazing Grace. Altogether, a remarkable evening. safely recorded on HD.

I missed these. Did the RFH concert include him playing guitar on Classical Gas and MacArthur Park?

[Stanley Stewart]

Yes, indeed, cloughie. He kept MacArthur Park till the end of his programme and had the power of reserve to reach those high notes effortlessly. A strong but relaxed stage presence, too. Wore an expensive dinner jacket suit and looked immaculate. Nothing autopilot about his work and I admired his musical liaison with his three first class female back-up singers as well as the orchestra.

[cloughie]

Yes, indeed, cloughie. He kept MacArthur Park till the end of his programme and had the power of reserve to reach those high notes effortlessly. A strong but relaxed stage presence, too. Wore an expensive dinner jacket suit and looked immaculate. Nothing autopilot about his work and I admired his musical liaison with his three first class female back-up singers as well as the orchestra.

Thanks, Stanley, will check it out on iplayer - this concert needs reissue on CD as it was Glen at his best!

[Stanley Stewart]

Quite agree, cloughie. BBC 4 a bit peremptory in their scheduling and I was surprised
spot the changes when I went to set the Oklahoma! concert.

A lovely sequence in the documentary when GC rides into a circus enclosure, wearing a white outfit, as he sings, "Like a rhinestone cowboy riding out on a horse in a star-spangled rodeo".

However,...erm...I'll be in-touch by PM.

[Lat-Literal]

Thanks for mentioning the bagpipes, Stanley, which I now recall was a wondrous party piece because (a) it was absolutely and (b) we Angles were in our well-meaning zone. Has the word "style" been mentioned? Elms did it big and I am so 50-50 on him, That tends to zap to 75 given any radio competition (virtually zero at that time) but, anyone, please convince me otherwise. I'm ending my contributions on this thread with the vid I've posted three times since 2010. Because it is the Alz and wonderful younger people bringing out the best before it ever had personal meaning. I love the arty leanings. I don't just have my Dad. My best mate, Simon, true brother and that's all it ever has been : no one believes it not that it matters but ultra true - 35 years - has been with his Dad on this one for a decade. He knows it will come to him early, the media seemingly harsh and indifferent. I won't see it though:

Glen Campbell - Ghost on the Canvas - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7kw5zXVFVQ

Fourfer - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p059t7nq (around 1.04)

.............an only child.