Monday, June 6, 2016

Songs of Place: Wichita Lineman

A friend of mine suggested I make a list of my twelve most influential albums. These are albums that molded my taste and understanding of music, that moved me, that I listened to endlessly, and that still remain strong presences in the music-space in my mind.

So, okay. I'm up to that challenge. I was born in 1956, and a lot of the albums I first loved came out between 1968 and 1972 or so. One of the first albums I ever bought with my own money was Glen Campbell's Wichita Lineman. This record featured a lot of really fine songwriting, which impressed me as a literary-minded boy. The fact that songs could tell stories, could even be at times high poetry, really meant something to me.

The Wichita Lineman album featured many fine songs, including "Reason to Believe,"  which would probably rank high on my best-songs-ever list. But the title track, written by the great Jimmy Webb, deserves to be featured here .I've chosen a  live version from a much older Glen Campbell.


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