Glen Campbell “Burning Bridges”

First two songs are great—can it continue? Kind of melancholy. I love Glen Campbell, but I really love his recordings of those Jimmy Webb hits—so, seeing, here, the “Webb-less” song selection gets me a little disappointed in advance—but ol’ Glen can still win me over—and he does, along with this fine selection of beautiful and mellow old-fashioned tear-jerkers with strings and chorus. And that could be that—but I’ll elaborate a little, seein’ how I get paid by the word. Indeed, this 1967 Campbell came up on the random docket, which reminded me I didn’t have a copy of his Wichita Lineman album—and that song is not only my favorite GC, but one of my favorite songs anywhere! Not hard to find, so I bought a used copy—and guess what—the rest of the record is kind of a bummer. This being a much more satisfying C&W record—a real “beer diluter,” as they say. The shallow-focus cover photo is mysterious—Glen emerging from behind an enormous tree! (That takes up two-thirds of the space, and over which is the title and song selection, etc.) Conspiracy theorists may be able to identify (imagined or not) messages in the tree’s out-of-focus bark. Also notable, should you isolate the foremost and top region of Glen Campbell’s considerable hair—well… don’t. The liner notes are uncredited but interesting and well-informed. Songs are by country legends, and it’s an old-time Nashville sound, in arrangements, and production (Al De Lory). Just one song by Glen Campbell, titled “Less of Me”—though I noted that there’s enough space, next to the label on Side Two, for “More of Me”—but no dice. My favorites are “You’ve Still Got a Place in My Heart,” “Too Late to Worry, Too Blue To Cry,” “Summer, Winter, Spring and Fall,” and the title track. I’ve never been able to listen to Buck Owens’ classic “Together Again” since some late-night movie host jokers excessively used an illegal soundbite of it, but the version here redeems it… for now.

11.14.25