Description
One of the many spectacular sales achievements of Glen Campbell is the fact that his first seven albums to appear on Billboards country chart all went to No. 1. But the only one of his LPs to make the top of both the country and the main pop album chart climbed to the top of that country listing in November 1968. That album was the classic Wichita Lineman, and while its aggregate of five weeks at No. 1 on the pop countdown was impressive enough, its performance on the country bestsellers was something else. It stayed at the summit for an amazing 20 weeks, became the only one of his albums to be certified double platinum in the US and when the albums reign finally came to an end in April 1969, the record that replaced it wasCampbells next album, Galveston.
Wichita Lineman is, of course, best known for the timeless Jimmy Webb composition which is widely regarded as one of the greatest pop songs ever written. That was the albums second single, released just ahead of the long player, but its first had been the Chris Gantry song that also became one of Campbells trademarks, Dreams Of The Everyday Housewife, a No. 3 country hit that only reached No. 32 pop but made No. 6 on the Easy Listening chart. The album featured such top-drawer session players as Carol Kaye, Hal Blaine and Jim Gordon and was produced at the celebrated Capitol Studios in Hollywood by Al De Lory.
It contained Campbells by now familiar, easy mixture of elegantly-orchestrated country-pop numbers, many of them covers, such as the Bee Gees Words and Sonny & Chers Youd Better Sit Down, Kids. He also interpreted Otis Redding and Steve Croppers (Sittin On) The Dock of the Bay, and there was room for one of Campbells own compositions, the reflective Fate Of Man, which was the b-side of the Wichita Lineman hit. Campbell did have a No. 1 on Billboards Christmas charts, just a short time later in the festive season of 1968, with That Christmas Feeling, but has never returned to the top of the Billboard 200, and never again had such a long-running country smash. Wichita Lineman captures a truly great American vocalist doing what he did best.
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.