Album Reviews

Glen Campbell

British Live Performance Series

Artist:     Glen Campbell

Album:     British Live Performance Series

Label:     Rainman

Release Date:     09/18/2015

90

Arriving in the midst of Glen Campbell’s well documented battle with Alzheimer’s — so thoroughly and poignantly documented in the award winning film “I’ll Be Me” — this archival concert, which was recorded during a stopover in Doncaster, England in 1990, shows Campbell in the full flush of his trademark vitality. The first in a promised series of live performances (a classic concert by Rick Wakeman shares current honors as well), this 15 song set offers the expected entries, mostly drawn from his Jimmy Webb-penned catalogue — “Wichita Lineman,” “By the Time I Get to Phoenix,” “Galveston” et. al. However, there are a few unexpected entries in the form of the lively “She’s Gone Gone Gone” and “On a Good Night,” and, in a bow to his British audience, well etched remakes of Ralph McTell’s “Streets of London” and Wings’ international hit “Mull of Kintyre” (with Campbell on bagpipes no less). Mostly, the recording serves as a reminder of what an engaging entertainer Campbell was at the height of his prowess before being sapped by his current cruel affliction. If nothing else, that makes this initial edition of British Live Performance a memorable keepsake that’s well worth the acquisition.

– Lee Zimmerman

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