Nineteen years as a country hit maker, minus a handful of hits
Martina McBride’s first two-disc collection (complementing earlier single-disc anthologies, Greatest Hits, Playlist and Hits and More) covers a lot of ground: nineteen years of recording, nine studio albums, twenty-nine Top 40 country hits (including five chart-toppers), nineteen crossover Top-100 pop hits, and numerous duets and tribute appearances. But even with such impressive statistics, there’s essential material missing, including ten charting sides, six of which were Top 40s and one (“There You Are†from 2000’s Emotion) was Top 10. Her climb to stardom is abbreviated by the omission of singles from her early albums, particularly three sides from Wild Angels (“Phones Are Ringin’ All Over Town,†“Swingin’ Doors†and “Cry on the Shoulder of the Roadâ€) that propelled McBride and Nashville into a much wider circle of fans. That said, what’s here paints a fair picture of how easily her music straddled tradition, modernity and pop.
Like others of her mid-90s class (which also included Trisha Yearwood, Faith Hill and Patty Loveless), McBride benefited from both a canny producer (Paul Worley, in her case) and a renaissance of quality Nashville songwriting. Early on she sang hits penned by Kostas (“Life #9â€), Gretchen Peters (“My Baby Loves Meâ€), Matraca Berg (“Wild Angels†and “Still Holding Onâ€), Paul Kennerley (“Heart Troubleâ€) and Pat Bunch (“Safe in the Arms of Loveâ€), threading a theme of empowerment through hits and album tracks like “Independence Day,†“A Broken Wing†and “This One’s for the Girls.†As Nashville crossed into the mainstream, so did some of McBride’s material and chart success; in addition to solo hits she found resonance with Jim Brickman (“Valentineâ€), Bob Seger (“Chances Areâ€) and Alan Jackson (“Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Manâ€). McBride’s stage singing (heard here in “Over the Rainbow,†drawn from 2003’s Martina) shows that her power, accuracy and emotion aren’t tied to the studio.
Recorded in 1988, this CD/DVD set brings together the singer-and-songwriter pair who broke through in 1967 with “By the Time I Get to Phoenix.†The duo would score several more hit singles, including the multi-chart topping “Wichita Lineman†and “Galveston,†along with lower charting singles “Where’s the Playground Susie†and “Honey Come Back.†Each partner had tremendous success on their own, but the combination of Webb’s emotionally evocative lyrics and Campbell’s country-tinged pop vocals created something unique. Though they continued to work together off and on, including a full-length 1974 album Reunion: The Songs of Jimmy Webb, their collaborations never again struck the chart gold of their late ‘60s run.
Campbell and Webb continued to perform together at select events over the years, but commercially released recordings of their pairings are few. This set, recorded for the Canadian television show In Session, is released here for the first time. The duo reprises their biggest hits, and adds other songs from both their collaborative catalog and Webb’s own rich collection of compositions.Campbell remains deeply engaged with the hits, taking “Galveston†at a slow, mournful pace, and adding thoughtful touches to “Wichita Lineman,†including a fetching acoustic guitar solo; he also rescues “MacArthur Park†from the drama laid into Richard Harris’ original hit, singing the song lyrically rather than performing it as a dramatic script.
1985 spin-off album from the classic nighttime TV soap
The nighttime soap opera Dallas dates to an era before music coordinators ruled television soundtracks and used the network exposure to turn obscure indie bands into well-known music stars. Instead, a program’s soundtrack was the province of a composer (in the case of Dallas, it was Jerrold Immel) and spin-off albums were novelty byproducts of the show’s fame, often populated by the show’s cast (Donny Most, anyone?). The latter is the ticket on this 1985 release, featuring music purpose-written to the show’s themes, and starring cast members (Steve Kanaly, Howard Keel and Jenilee Harrison) alongside then-contemporary country stars Karen Brooks, Crystal Gayle, Gary Morris and Johnny Lee. With the show starting its slide down the ratings ladder, this could have been a quickie knock-off, but the productions are solid, and the songwriting is good.
The opening track offers a disco march arrangement of the show’s famous theme, and the cast tunes include Lorne Greene-like spoken efforts from Kanaly and Keel, and an unsteadily warbled double-tracked melody fromHarrison. Much better are the country stars, recorded inNashvilleby Scott Hendricks, produced by Jim Ed Norman and Barry Beckett, and featuring A-list studio players Eddie Bayers, John Hobbs, Paul Worley, Billy Joe Walker and others. Though the songs are linked to the show with subtitles like “Jock and Miss Ellie’s Song,†the lyrics aren’t specific, and play as smooth country. It’s a tribute to these vocalists that their vocals warm the chilly, synth-and-glycerin-guitar mid-80s production sound.
Soulful album of singer-songwriter folk, country and rock
“Singer-songwriter†usually labels someone who sings their own songs, but in Jimmy LaFave’s case, it describes someone who’s as talented at originating material as he is in lending his voice to others’ songs. His first studio album in five years balances eight new songs with five covers, three of the latter selected from the catalog of Bob Dylan. Perhaps the most surprising reinterpretation is his resurrection of John Waite’s “Missing You†from its 1980s chart-topping power-ballad origin. As a writer of emotionally-laden songs, LaFave could hear the finely-tuned angst of Waite’s lyric, and reconstruct it into rootsy rock ‘n’ roll. The production’s guitar adds a touch of Southern soul, and the emotional choke in LaFave’s voice mates perfectly with the song’s mood.
The Dylan covers “Red RiverShore,†the oft-covered “Tomorrow is a Long Time,†and Empire Burlesque’s “I’ll Remember You.†LaFave adds something special to each, reading the first in slow reflection, and warming the latter from the chilly production of its original version. The album’s fifth cover is Bruce Springsteen’s recently released (though earlier written) “Land ofHopes and Dreams.†LaFave strips the song of its E Street bombast to better reveal the tender heart of its inverted allusions to the gospel-folk classic “This Train.†LaFave uses the covers as a launching point for his original songs, weaving a continuous thread through expectation, melancholy, sadness and second chances.
Three years before his untimely passing in 2002, Waylon Jennings spent a few days laying down what would be his last studio performances. Recorded in his friend (and steel guitarist) Robbie Turner’s home studio, the tapes featured Jennings and his guitar working out new music and revisiting older tunes. Jennings no longer had the full vocal power of his earlier years, but his phrasing, tone and low baritone notes were intact; he sounds physically weakened in spots, but still mentally charged. Shortly after the sessions, Jennings moved back to Phoenix, and the tapes sat unfinished until last year, when Turner gathered select players to add instrumental backings to the performances. The result closely captures the flavor of Jennings’ earlier recordings, skillfully weaving the players around Jennings and his guitar into a final mix that feels whole.
By utilizing players who’d worked with Jennings before, Turner was able to craft backings that are sympathetic to the singer and his sound. As with Johnny Cash’s American Recordings, there’s an unmistakable specter of mortality coloring the songs and performances. The title track is unapologetic, summing up Jennings’ last stand with the hook line “if I can’t go down rockin’, ain’t gonna go down at all.†There’s also a fired-up early run-through of “Never Say Die,†which would become the title of Jennings last live set in 2000. Earlier songs take on added poignancy, such as a version of “I Do Believe†that’s sung wearily, as if struggling to balance the hear-and-now with a here-after that was closing in. Similarly, “Belle of the Ball†is rendered more wistful and nostalgic here than as originally heard on 1977’s Ol’ Waylon.
CONTEST! Win a promotional version of this release, including a short DVD documentary. Tell us your favorite Waylon song in a comment on this entry. We’ll select a winner at random from all those who respond in the next week.
Plaintive mix of country, folk and blues
