I’ve tried and I have failed Lord
I’ve won and I have lost
I’ve lived and I have loved Lord
Sometimes at such a cost
One thing I know
The world’s been good for me
A better place awaits
You’ll see
-Glen Campbell, “A Better Place”
Simply put, Ghost On the Canvas is the album of Glen
Campbell’s life. Take that as literally or figuratively as you like
and it still is the case. With beauty, power, heartfelt emotion and deep
spirituality, this set of songs – a song cycle, if you will – traces the
arc of Campbell’s 75 years: From dirt-poor, tiny-town Arkansas origins
to Hollywood triumphs on the pop charts, TV and movies. From
barnstorming days of youthful touring to hobnobbing with Elvis, Sinatra
and the Duke. From troubled freefalls of addiction and bad life choices
to personal and spiritual redemption.
It’s all here in this series of songs, starting with the prayerful
invocation quoted above and concluding what Campbell has said will be
his final album with a glorious, celebratory guitar jam featuring his
own still-stellar chops alongside those of such colleagues and acolytes
as Billy Corgan, Brian Setzer, Rick Nielsen, Jason Falkner, Marty
Rifkin, Steve Hunter, and Tim Pierce. The album was largely written by
Campbell with producer-collaborator Julian Raymond, complemented by
contributions from Jakob Dylan, Paul Westerberg, Teddy Thompson and
Robert Pollard, with evocative instrumental interludes composed by Roger
Manning as musical illustration. Raymond, who squired 2008′s arresting
Meet Glen Campbell, on which the artist matched his esteemed
talents with vital material originated with such artists as Jackson
Browne, U2, Green Day and even the Velvet Underground, here shapes a
vision as unexpected as it is rewarding.
But it’s also a moving, engaging and masterful musical experience in
its own right. Ghosts, in the forms of allusions to beloved songs from
his vast catalog of cherished hits, abound – the soaring strings and
perky lilt of the title track and “Any Trouble” echoing without
imitating the sounds that first took him to the top with “Gentle on My
Mind,” the organically lush swell of “It’s Your Amazing Grace” reminding
that Campbell was arguably the first “countrypolitan” star, the sunset
hues of “A Thousand Lifetimes” bringing us up to date with that old
“Wichita Lineman.” But as Ghost On the Canvas recaps, it more so
renews and transcends Campbell’s colorful history. It is, again simply
put, a terrific listen.
“A Better Place” matches its confessional tone with Campbell’s lovely
finger-picked guitar and a voice undiminished by the years, the same
voice that’s been such a friend to so many for several generations. The
title song, one of Westerberg’s entries, segues in with its telegraph
pulse, more acoustic guitar and comfortingly enveloping strings
pointedly recalling two of Campbell’s breakthrough hits, “Gentle On My
Mind” and “Wichita Lineman” – Westerberg’s stated dream to become
Campbell’s new equivalent of Jimmy Webb,” writer of “Lineman” and other
Campbell hits realized. It’s a song of craft, grace and depth, at once
worthy of Westerberg’s reputation stretching back to his days with the
Replacements and of the Campbell canon.
The other guest songs seem to tap Campbell’s sensibilities and
artistic voice as well, bursting with the full richness of hope and joy.
Dylan’s “Nothin’ But the Whole Wide World” presents a man ready to
embrace whatever comes – “God wants you busy, never giving up,” as good
a summary of Campbell’s stand as any. Rising English singer-songwriter
Thompson’s boisterous “In My Arms” (with Chris Isaak, Dick Dale and
Brian Setzer adding guitar twang) wraps us in sweet, if complicated
love. Pollard, leader of iconic indie band Guided By Voices, continues
the tone with “Hold On Hope.” And Westerberg comes back, gentle on his
mind, with “Any Trouble,” a joyous, satisfied celebration of domestic
bliss, Raymond adding the sounds of children to underscore the spirit.
The interludes are just as key to the portrait being painted.
“Billstown Crossroads” uses steel guitar and tinkling vibes to return to
Campbell’s Arkansas home. “Second Street North” a swell of romantic
promise. “May 21st, 1969″ – the date his network variety show which
became The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour debuted on network TV –
mixes carnival sounds with hints of the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds,
the landmark album that Campbell helped craft, to call up the circus
atmosphere of ascending stardom. “Wild and Waste” could be a lost scrap
of score from Campbell’s big-screen debut alongside John Wayne in
True Grit. “Valley of the Sun” uses the sounds of children playing
in Campbell’s family life in Arizona. And “The Rest is Silence” returns
to Beach Boys wistfulness in later life.
But it’s the songs by Campbell and Raymond that tug the heart the
hardest, songs of failings and faith, stumbles and triumphs, the most
private sides of a public star. And in the course it’s not just the
album of Campbell’s life, but of ours. His story is a quintessential
American tale and the music he’s made – from his studio years through
his great span of hits – form its soundtrack. When he was on our radios
every day and in our living rooms every week, he wasn’t just an
entertainer but a friend. When suffered later, we ached, his failings
being our failings. When he overcame the troubles, we shared in the joy.
In “A Thousand Lifetimes,” as the music leaning to the rock side of his
equation, he sings, “Each breath I take is a gift that I will never take
for granted.”
When he sings “Strong” near the end of this album, we hear that it’s
both an apology and pledge to his wife, Kimberly, whom he credits with
bringing him the stability he’d been lacking, for putting him right.
“This is not the road I wanted for us,” he sings, with equal tones of
sorrow and stoic certainty. “But now it’s here.” As personal as that is,
it’s something we can internalize, feel in our own lives. “The Rest is
Silence,” with its wordless Beach Boys-esque vocals, serves as a closing
prayer, a final impressionistic meditation to end not just the album,
but a career.
It’s not the end, though. Campbell returns with “There Is No Me …
Without You,” again addressing Kimberly with a sense that with love
there is no end, the all-star tag-team guitar coda sidling up next to
George Harrison’s compatible “Something.”
“The past gets in my way,” Campbell sings in “A Better Place.” It may
be the lone moment on the album that rings less than true. That past
made Ghost On the Canvas possible, a singular life bringing a
singular achievement that we are privileged to share.
