Glen Campbell Wichita Lineman CD

Includes liner notes by Dan Davis.
Digitally remastered by Bob Norberg & Rob Christie (Capitol Mastering).
This is part of Capitol's Cornerstones series.
Personnel: Glen Campbell (vocals, guitar).
Audio Remasterer: Glenn Meadows.
Liner Note Author: Dann Davis.
Recording information: 12/04/1967-06/12/1968.
This disc, a certified double-platinum album, captures Campbell's appeal at his most mainstream, mixing mid-tempo country-pop, spiced by a smooth if unambitious cover of Otis Redding's "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" and the prettiest version of Tim Hardin's "Reason to Believe" ever done. The latter two make the album hipper than Campbell himself seemed at the time to most of us. On the other hand, there's ample romantic pop here, including his heartfelt, string-laden performance of the McKuen/Brel "If You Go Away" and "Words." Right there at the center of Campbell's appeal is the still-beautiful title track (for which he had composer Jimmy Webb's organ hauled to the studio to re-create its exact sound from the demo) and "Dreams of the Everyday Housewife," alongside mid-tempo country-pop like Billy Ed Wheeler's sprightly "Ann" and Campbell's own "Fate of Man." Sonny Curtis' "The Straight Life" is closer in spirit to the Mary Tyler Moore theme song (still a year or so away) than to the work of an ex-Buddy Holly compadre, and Sonny Bono's singsongy divorce ode, "You Better Sit Down Kids," did little to enhance the future congressman's musical credibility. He saves the best for last, "That's Not Home," the most heartfelt song here. The production is excellent throughout, if a little overly reliant on strings. Wichita Lineman was reissued in an upgraded, remastered CD edition in August of 2001 as part of Capitol-Nashville's Cornerstones series, with somewhat crisper sound than the 1996 vintage Capitol CD. ~ Bruce Eder
The most eclectic of Glen Campbell's late-1960s albums, and his first number one LP, 1968's WICHITA LINEMAN runs from the orchestral melodrama of the title track--the signature song of Glen Campbell's entire career, apart from perhaps "Rhinestone Cowboy"--and the follow-up hit "Dreams of the Everyday Housewife" to a wide variety of covers in some unexpected styles. These include excellent takes of Tim Hardin's "Reason to Believe" (possibly the best of the many covers of Hardin's definitive original), a Dean Martin-like middle-of-the-road version of Sonny Curtis's "The Straight Life," and Sonny Bono's divorce saga "You Better Sit Down Kids." More unexpectedly, Campbell also essays solid versions of Otis Redding's "Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay" and the Bee Gees' "Words," adding his own country-pop sound to the familiar originals with no damage. The album's most unusual track, however, is the spoken-word "Fate of Man," adapted from a poem by Campbell's late grandfather.