Let's talk about JIMMY WEBB

I have ...And Someone... which is quite a good overview of his best-known stuff, and Archive, on which I agree with Jeff that's it kind of meh (though "Piano" is one of his best "songwriters" songs). He didn't really develop his voice as a singer until later on. Ten Easy Pieces, in which he performs a lot of his more widely-known stuff mostly solo, is for the most part incredible — the version of "Galveston" that opens it is positively Schubert-ian in its conception and execution.

i really love comparing the george martin-produced "the highwayman" to the version by the highwaymen - you get candy-coated strings with martin, and that 80's country drum sound with messrs. cash, jennings, kristofferson and nelson....

http://image.com.com/mp3/images/cover/200/drf300/f383/f38380r9k0d.jpg

Pretty sure it's him -- Jimmy liked to go by "Jim" for a bit in the 70's, and that's his scene.

that glen campbell youtube of him doing wichita lineman in '07 (?) is great. nice guitar solo by glen. although, i hate to say this but... did glen have a stroke? his voice has that oddly clenched quality you sometimes hear in the speech of people who have suffered from strokes.

the comments (all 300+ of them!) on that youtube are funny. though, i must say, nostalgia is a fucking disease. dig:

I am 40-year-old mother of 4 and I was raised on this beautiful music...memories of how it used to be. Such a good simple time..no cell phones, no ipods, no remote controls, no cable...only HeeHaw on Saturday evenings and my dad cooking dinner. Wish my kids could go back in time and experience this wonderful time.

ah yes, the "simple" times of the mid-1970s....

S. Macarthur Park by Donna summer, Tony Christie, Four tops, Vic damone, Waylon Jennings, Grimethorpe colliery band. Wicheta Lineman, By the time I get to Phoenix, Galveston, Up, up and away. Both fifth dimension albums (esp paper cup, carpet man but most of the others too) , If you see me getting smaller I'm leaving, both Richard Harris albums (the yard went on forever and the aforementioned Macarthur park), loads of other great Glen Campbell stuff (check out the two early 70's albums for some hidden gems) Quite a few of his solo albums right up until the mid/late 70's have songs of real merit. Loads of other great stuff...Sinatra did some great versions of his songs, as did fellow genius Neil Sedaka. Glen Gregory does a pretty good version of Wichita lineman, as do, bizarely, the Kings singers, also, David Snell from his album, Harp transplant and Johnny Harris from his album, Movements although both are very hard to find. John Denvers version of By the time I get to Phoenix is better than you'd think, Isaak Hayes version is barely recognisable but superb and Kurt Edelhagen's version is odd but haunting and actually changes the song radically while still keeping its essence.
D. Very little really...some of the 80's stuff is a bit iffie and the general rule of thumb is to avoid anything by artists you already hate. The Mantovani version of Macarthur park is grim, as is the Nina version of Phoenix from her golden hour album.

I've got over 300 different versions of Jimmy Webb tracks on all formats so I guess you could call me a fan!

He's a genius...simple as that. If pop is slowly eating itself, Jimmy Webb (or the best part of him) remains at the back of the freezer, yet to be discovered and devoured...

― Kris England, Thursday, 5 May 2005 19:35 (4 years ago) Permalink

This was me years ago and I still love Jimmy Webb.

12 Easy Pieces is great and the Jools Holland live performances which are on Youtube are well worth a watch. So fragile, it seems the songs are going to collapse completely at any time but they never do.

Xpost. I meant 10 easy pieces.

"If These Walls Could Speak" as done by Amy Grant on her Lead Me On album is one of my favorite songs ever.

I am the hugest JW fan but let's just all be honest with ourselves and admit that MacArthur Park is a pile of shit and this is what people think of when they think of Jimmy Webb which is really sad. Did Richard Harris record anything worth listening to?

This might be a good time to remind people that all of the 5th Dimensions albums are available on mp3 whereas in the CD era they were hard to find!! Now there is no excuse for not having albums like "The Magic Garden"!

MacArthur Park still sucks. Stop pretending you like it.

I'd recommend his book Tunesmith: Inside the Art of Songwriting.

http://tnjr60204230231.widec.jpg

let's talk about this jimmy instead!

damn. little jimmy dickens but my picture didn't show up

sort of agree re. macarthur park.

"sort of"?? I listened to that thing over and over again and I am convinced it has no redeeming value. It is truly awful. I don't even think you can convince me that parts of it have merit. Especially the Richard Harris record, it is one record I am sorry I have. It doesn't even have comedic value. I wonder if anyone can defend it.

re: Harris, and worthiness - "The Hive" is awesome.

Whatever happened to Zumpano?

is jody beth rosen still around? i bet she would defend it.

xp

the association was offered macarthur park before any other act, but they turned it down. too bad, probably could have come up with something a lot more exciting than r. harris

Is there a Jimmy Webb boxset? There should be.

Rhino Handmade had one in a limied edition (as they do), but I just went to their web site (ha ha) and it looks as if it's long gone....

yup, i managed to download that sucker, though.

what do people think of his solo records anyway?

i must say his voice is an acquired taste i haven't fully acquired.

!!

Hang in there, and (if you're like me) you'll start to appreciate the records for the flawed gems that they are. His limited vocal range actually becomes one of his greater assets.

the comments (all 300+ of them!) on that youtube are funny. though, i must say, nostalgia is a fucking disease.

Youtube comment boxes in general are absolutely filled with the worst excesses of nostalgia. People could be talking about Shed fucking Seven and still it will be all, "Music just isn't the same anymore...This was back when moral certainties still existed etc etc..."

hey, his first proper solo LP (words and music) is kind of super-awesome. his voice really needs to grow on you, and i still recognize that it's not a great instrument. but man do those songs stick the fuck in your head.

I love "Saturday Suit" but I think I'd take Art Garfunkel's breezy melancholia over Cass's, which (though still vg obv) feels a bit overdone by comparison. I am always a sucker for an electric piano.

Yeah that version is great. I just thought I'd share Cass Elliot's version because of how underrated/unknown it is.

Oh yeah, I was very pleased to hear that version, I didn’t know it existed.

Jamie, your solo Webb playlist is really nice, with just a couple of glaring omissions. I would have included "Met Her On a Plane" from And So: On, which I think is an utterly perfect recording of one of the greatest psychedelic country songs--the truest "Cosmic American Music" by anyone not named Gene Clark. I also would add "Crying In My Sleep" from Land's End (his best album imo). It definitely goes hand in hand with "Just This One Time" from the same album--sad-bastard music par excellence, with some of his most emotional vocal performances.

I'm glad you included so many tracks from Suspending Disbelief, which is one of the only Webb albums I'm not familiar with, along with Angel Heart. I'm really digging it so far. Any thoughts on Angel Heart? Looks like the only album not represented on your playlist.

One fun thing about Jimmy Webb albums from the 70s is that they're full of amazing industry-clout flexes, despite their utter commercial failure. Like, "NBD, just having Joni Mitchell sing backup on a few songs, getting my buddy George Martin to produce" lol.

I'm glad you looked at it! I didn't add "Met Her On A Plane" because I was never really that fond of the vocals and humming in it. I just thought it was a bit exaggerated. I see why it can be much liked though; the lyrics are very poetic and the piano is really nice. "Crying In My Sleep" I never really grew to love that song because to me it feels slightly self-pitying, but I guess we all look at lyrics differently. And I think "Just This One Time" has to be one of his most powerful songs.
Suspending Disbelief is one of my favourite Webb albums. The production is amazing (thanks to George Massenburg and Linda Ronstadt) and the song lyrics are so meaningful. It shows just how much Jimmy had grown as a songwriter at that point and how well he can connect with listeners through music.
Angel Heart, on the other hand, has some really drawn-out and tiring songs on it. At least the first 2 times I listened to Angel Heart all the way through I was zoned out for half the time. I haven't really analysed the lyrics in the songs yet though, and that might change my opinion in the future.
Again, thanks for responding. I might change the playlist around if my taste changes and I start discovering more tracks I like.
And yeah, he was very all-in in the 70s lmao. Did you know he had Ringo Starr and Elton John's backing band accompanying him on his album Land's End?

Sorry for the late response, I don't really use this website.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IB81zWfxZGs
The band in this is amazing.

I've had 5:30 Plane stuck in my head all day. Such a good song.

Wichita Lineman is the song of his i love most

I still have problems with Webb as a solo artist in the 70s but I’m listening to this playlist and liking it.

Some funny things I’m observing: both And So: On tracks are ... kind of wild jammy guitar fests? I somehow never noticed this. Meanwhile, the production on the Land’s End tunes is kind of typical 70s but for some reason the tom toms are positively thunderous (I still can’t get with his vocal on ”Just This One Time,” it’s way outside his range – unfortunately I find Glen Campbell’s version on Reunion weirdly bombastic).

“Where the Universes Are” I didn’t really know, great tune.

There’s always a good excuse to share my favorite version of P.F. Sloan, the Cassell Webb version from the late 80s: https://youtu.be/Y8cBEZG0S7Q

The chorused (Dean Parks?) guitar and slapping backbeat on “Too Young To Die” are kind of shocking when they first hit. This is a great example of how he grew into his voice.

Tales from the Crypt, LOL (actually, a pretty good instrumental!)

Paul Gaugin in the South Seas – I’ve never heard this. Wow.

Thanks for sharing!

If you like the Clientele then you'll like their version of "Where The Universes Are", which sounds just like The Clientele.

https://mergerecords.bandcamp.com/track/where-the-universes-are

https://genius.com/Jimmy-webb-old-wing-mouth-lyrics

Okay I found a song on the Angel Heart album that I actually like! Very true message to this and I recommend looking into this.

Another very underrated Webb song, sung by Mary Kent.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_oYv4eyWCo

Okay I found a song on the Angel Heart album that I actually like! Very true message to this and I recommend looking into this.

Yup, best song on that record by a mile. Great backing vocals from McDonald and Loggins too.

What do you all think of Jimmy's The Naked Ape soundtrack album? I've heard the movie's not that great but I think the music is great.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5WXAUcAUrc

Does this link work for anyone? http://dianyingxin.com/watch/zd-acApBrfA?fbclid=IwAR2fO0b7fkJr0YFzijpHA1zPqJXRZUF9oFUq7nS8MGi6Q2Kb74FX03KA33g
It's supposed to include Jimmy singing Didn't We with K.T. Oslin in 1993 (according to Jimmy's Facebook page), but the link doesn't work for me. If anyone could maybe convert it to .mp4 and send it here, or reupload it to YouTube, I would really appreciate it.

I have to admit some of the stuff I’ve read about Jimmy’s personal life is pretty disturbing. I saw a few years ago that Sally Field discussed how he forced himself on her when she was passed out one time. But I just discovered that his first wife was a cover girl he met when she was 12 and married her where she was 16 or 17 and pregnant. And despite being married for 22 years he didn’t mention her in his memoir.

Yes it was the 60s and 70s and kill yr idols and all but this all bums me out.

Yes, I knew there was something a bit weird about his marriage but I couldn't remember what it was. A stalker-ish obsession with an ex-girlfriend seems to be present in a lot of his 60s songs.

I did a high school student exchange with one of his kids. He was never around and I never met him but I visibly remember the dark cloud that passed over people’s faces when his name was mentioned.

I love this cover:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81pP7zCMgI8

Wait, so you are saying you stayed in his kid’s room? In the house of his ex-wife?

Ooooh, had never read about his dark cloud personal life aspects before

xpost I guess so? I wasn’t aware he had a famous dad at the time but put it together later

Def changes that Gaughin tribute on that 10's album of his for me.