Richard Harris - Webb Sessions: 1968-69
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Music CD Cover
Artist: Richard HarrisEdition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 1998-02-24
Music Label: Raven [Australia]
Soundtracks:
- Prelude/Didn't We?/Interlude
- Paper Chase/Interlude
- Name of My Sorrow/Interlude
- Lovers Such as I
- In the Final Hours
- MacArthur Park
- Dancing Girl/Interlude
- If You Must Leave My Life
- A Tramp Shining
- The Yard Went on Forever
- Watermark
- Interim
- Gayla
- The Hymns from the Grand Terrace
- The Hive
- Lucky Me
- That's the Way It Was
- One of the Nicer Things
Free Music Notes for Webb Sessions: 1968-69
Free Music Review: The Historic Webb /Harris Sessions Get A 2nd Hearing
Hit: 5 Stars
It's shameful that both "A Tramp Shining" (1968) & "The Yard Went On Forever"(1969) have both been out of issue for so many years in America. "The Web Sessions 1968-69" contain the entire content of collaborations between arranger/composer Jimmy Webb and Irish born singer Richard Harris in the late sixties. Often critically maligned, the sessions deserve a second hearing. Both albums are complex and enigmatic musical statements that have never been fully appreciated, on their own terms, as musical acheivements.
A venerable reissue label in New Zealand, Raven Records, has remedied the situation by reissuing both albums on a single CD, at a very reasonable price. The title is the "Webb Sessions 1968-69" by Richard Harris. Both "A Tramp Shining and "The Yard Went On Forever" are presented in their exact sequence as the original vinyl issues.
"A Tramp Shining" (1968) became a surprise international best seller (#2 in the USA) on the strength of songs like; "MacArthur Park", "Lovers Such As I", "Didn't We", and the title track, "A Tramp Shining". With the exception of "MacArthur Park", all of the songs fall within the reach of conventional songwriting.
The unconventional structure and impressionistic lyrics of "MacArthur Park" were a precursor to the content of the second collaboration, "The Yard Went On Forever" which was recorded the following year.
I've always thought the second Webb/Harris collaboration "The Yard Went On Forever" was better of the two. It can be argued that Webb over-reached with his bold, experimental approach,and doomed the album to commercial failure. It certainly wasn't the kind of album that Webb's fans expected from him.
Many of the song structures are amorphous with abrupt changes in both tempo and melody. The lyrics are inscrutable and surreal. It seems Webb wrote the lyrics entirely for texture and effect, not meaningful content. I found myself liking "The Yard Went On Forever" for the exact same reasons that many people disliked it. It's allure is it's unconventional form and ambiguity of it's content. The songs defied the elegant lyricism of "By the Time I Get To Phoenix" or Witcha Lineman" which fans regarded as signature Webb compositions.
The songs of "The Yard Went On Forever" sound like the result of an encounter between the Billboard Top 40 and the psychedelic underground. The end result is an endearingly eccentric album that's a near perfect pastiche of the divergent paths of popular music in the late Sixties. The result did not please critics, or anyone else for that matter. The album was greeted with overwhelming apathy by all.
In hindsight, "The Yard Went On Forever" is one of those rare albums where the visionary ideas of the artist are at odds with his own talent to unerringly appeal to commercial sensibilities. It is a far nobler deed to champion a flawed masterpiece, rather that praise an mediocre album that is the fashionable statement of the moment. A single magnificent failure holds far more interest, than a dozen textbook successes. In that context, "The Yard Went On Forever" is one of the most interesting and unorthodox albums of its era.
Webb Sessions: 1968-69 Poster
Since the late 1960s Jimmy Webb has been one of the truly enigmatic American songwriters, impressing with such diverse works as 'Wichita Lineman', 'Do What You Gotta Do', 'I Keep It Hid' & 'The Moon's A Harsh Mistress'. But perhaps his most towering achievement & one of the most astonishing collaborations in contemporary music, occurred in 1968 when Webb used imposing Irish actor Richard Harris (of CAMELOT fame) to dramatically interpret a truly bizarre & amorphous 7 minute orchestrated epic called 'Macarthur Park'. Although it was greeted with some bewilderment it became a global hit, reaching #2 in America. This seemingly odd association continued for two Dunhill albums, 'A Tramp Shining' (1968) & 'The Yard Went On Forever' ('69) & one single A-side ('One Of The Nicer Things'), all of which have been included on this single disc. Both albums are presented in their original sequence & include theBroadway & Vocalists Music CDs
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