Glen Travis Campbell was born on April 22, 1936 in
Billstown, Arkansas. According to
Wikipedia he’s released 60 studio albums and seven live albums! His debut album was 1962’s BIG BLUEGRASS
SPECIAL with the Green River Boys.
Campbell has had over 80 singles reach the charts. Over the years he’s been known for such songs
as: ‘Gentle on My Mind’, ‘By the Time I Get to Phoenix’, ‘Wichita Lineman’,
‘Galveston’, ‘Rhinestone Cowboy’, and ‘Southern Nights’. What I will be reviewing here is Glen’s 64th
and final studio album ADIOS (2017, Universal Music Enterprises). It was recorded around five years ago, after
it was revealed that he had Alzheimer’s.
The album, produced by Carl Jackson, is Campbell’s sixteenth Top 40
album. It debuted at #7 on the Top Country
Albums chart and peaked at #40 on the Billboard 200. Collectors will love the album’s liner notes
written by Glen’s wife Kim, and his longtime banjo player, Carl Jackson.
The album opens with ‘Everybody’s Talkin’’ written by Fred
Neil. It was the theme song for the
movie ‘Midnight Cowboy’, and in 1969 Harry Nilsson had a hit with it. Glen’s daughter Ashley plays banjo on this
easy listening tune with appropriate lyrics given Glen’s current condition:
“Everybody’s talkin’ at me/I don’t hear a word they’re sayin’/Only the echoes
of my mind/People stoppin’, starin’/I can’t see their faces/Only the shadows of
their eyes/I’m going where the sun keeps shinin’/Through the pouring rain/Going
where the weather suits my clothes”.
‘Just Like Always’ is one of four songs on the album that are Jimmy Webb
written. Catherine Marx plays piano on
this country ballad of romantic longing: “I pass your street/I look both ways,
so incomplete/And I think that I might see you/But of course, I don’t/And I
wish that you would call me, but I know you won’t/And I love you anyway/Just
like always”.
Aubrey Haynie plays fiddle on Willie Nelson’s ‘Funny How
Time Slips Away’. It’s a soft ballad
duet by Glen and Willie, on which Willie plays gut string guitar. These lyrics confront an ex: “How’s your new
love?/I hope that he’s doin’ fine/And I heard you told him/That you’d love him
‘til the end of time/That’s the same thing that you told me/It seems like only
yesterday/Gee, ain’t it funny how time just slips away”. Carl Jackson wrote ‘Arkansas Farmboy’ and
provides harmony vocals on this sentimental country ballad: “Oh the weeds have
grown high on the farm back in Dixie/Where cotton and corn used to grow/And the
memories run wild in this Arkansas farmboy/Who’d give all he owns just to go/I
recall how granddaddy held me and taught me/The melody to ‘In the Pines’/On a
five-dollar guitar that led to a fortune/I’d trade just to go back in time”.
Track five is a short snippet performed by the late Roger
Miller: “Have I lost your love or have I lost my mind?/Am I seeing things or am
I goin’ blind?/Do I hear you cryin’ softly in your sleep?/Am I all alone or is
it only me?” On track six Glen and Vince
Gill flesh out that song, entitled ‘Am I All Alone (Or Is It Only Me)’. It’s full of questions about one’s
relationship: “Is it my imagination every time?/Is it jealousy that rules this
heart of mine?/Has it come to pass or has it come to be?/Am I all alone or is
it only me?/Or is it just a crazy phase that we’re going through?/Is it cold in
here or is it you?/Do I hear you crying softly in your sleep?/Am I all alone or
is it only me?”
Mike Johnson plays steel guitar on ‘It Won’t Bring Her
Back’, a country ballad that offers advice to a heartbroken fella: “You gotta
get a grip on it mister/This is not the remedy/And it won’t bring her back, and
it won’t stop the pain/And it won’t make you feel any better soon/You keep
drinkin’ that old jack/You’re gonna end up under a train/You can lay down on
the railroad track/But it won’t bring your baby back/It won’t bring her
back”. Next up is Bob Dylan’s ‘Don’t
Think Twice, It’s All Right’, which has an upbeat shuffle to it here. It’s about a guy leaving a gal: “I’m headed
down that long, lonesome road, babe/Where I’m bound, I can’t tell/But adios is
just too good of a word, gal/So, I’ll just say ‘Fare thee well’/I don’t mean to
tell ya that you’ve been unkind/But you’ve been wastin’ all my valuable
time/Now you’re the reason this ol’ boy don’t toe the line/Baby, don’t think
twice/It’s all right”.
Glen first recorded Dickey Lee’s ‘She Still Thinks I Care’
on his 1972 GLEN TRAVIS CAMPBELL. On
this new version, Tony Creasman plays drums and Kevin Grantt plays bass. It’s a great country and western number with
down to earth lyrics: “Just because I asked a friend about her/Just because I
spoke her name somewhere/Just because I saw her then went all to pieces/She
thinks I still care/Yes, she thinks I still care”. ‘Postcard from Paris’ is another sentimental
song: “And I wish you were here/When the shadows fall and all the rushing
traffic stills/I wish you were here/And the bells are ringing on the seven
hills/I make my way to a small cafe/I wonder what you did today/I wish you were
here”. Glen and Kim’s daughters (Ashley,
Cal, Shannon) and Carl Jackson do a great job on backing vocals!
Jerry Reed Hubbard wrote ‘A Thing Called Love’. Carl Jackson sings tenor, Ashley sings high
baritone, and Glen takes the lead. It
reflects on the opposite of hate: “Can’t see it with your eyes, hold it in your
hand/But like the wind that covers our land/Strong enough to rule the heart of
any man/This thing called love/It can lift you up, it can let you down/Take
your world and turn it all around/Ever since time nothing’s ever been found
stronger than love”. Last up is the title
track, Jimmy Webb’s ‘Adios’. This easy
listening tune is a fitting conclusion to Glen’s storied career: “We never
really made it baby/But we came pretty close/Adios, adios.../Our dreams of
endless summers, they were just too grandiose/Adios, adios/And I’ll miss the
blood red sunset/But I’ll miss you the most/Adios, adios”.
I’ll be straight up with you. ADIOS will appeal mostly to
the forty and over crowd. It’s mainly
comprised of country and easy listening ballads, with a few exceptions. Glen’s voice was actually in fine form for
these last recordings of his. Those who
will relate most to this album lyrically are those with unfulfilled romantic
longings, those who are experiencing heartbreak and heartache, and those who
are lonely. On a couple of songs Glen
does point out there are better days ahead, so all is not gloomy. Hopefully ADIOS, which I’m rating 90%, will
spur others including myself to pick up some of Glen’s classic recordings. If you like Randy Travis, buy this
album. For more info visit: www.glencampbell.com and www.universalmusicenterprises.com.