Webb Sessions: 1968-69

Editorial Reviews
Album Description
Since the late 1960s Jimmy Webb has been one of the truly enigmatic American songwriters, impressing with such diverse works as 'Wichita Lineman', 'Do What You Gotta Do', 'I Keep It Hid' & 'The Moon's A Harsh Mistress'. But perhaps his most towering achievement & one of the most astonishing collaborations in contemporary music, occurred in 1968 when Webb used imposing Irish actor Richard Harris (of CAMELOT fame) to dramatically interpret a truly bizarre & amorphous 7 minute orchestrated epic called 'Macarthur Park'. Although it was greeted with some bewilderment it became a global hit, reaching #2 in America. This seemingly odd association continued for two Dunhill albums, 'A Tramp Shining' (1968) & 'The Yard Went On Forever' ('69) & one single A-side ('One Of The Nicer Things'), all of which have been included on this single disc. Both albums are presented in their original sequence & include the

Tracks:

Koko Road - Stan Webb
Strange Situations - Stan Webb
Guiding Light - Stan Webb
She Loves You - Stan Webb
One and One Is Two - Stan Webb
Pass the Time Away - Stan Webb
Power of Love - Stan Webb
House That Love Lives In - Stan Webb
Took Me for a Ride - Stan Webb
Paper Sellers Dream - Stan Webb
I Know - Stan Webb
Misty Rivers - Stan Webb
Last Time - Stan Webb
I Saw Her Standing There [*] - Stan Webb

Tracks:

Going Up, Going Down [Live] - Chicken Shack
Thrill Has Gone [Live] - Chicken Shack
Love Her with a Feeling [Live] - Chicken Shack
Look Out [Live] - Chicken Shack
Lost the Best Friend I Ever Had [Live] - Chicken Shack
C.S. Opera [Live] - Chicken Shack
Broken Hearted Melody [Live] - Chicken Shack
Poor Boy Medley: Poor Boy/Oh Well/Poor Boy [Live] - Chicken Shack
Closing Medley: Dr. Brown/Reconsider Baby [Live] - Chicken Shack

Album Details

Led by the Indefatigable Stan `the Man' Webb, a Magnificent Guitarist and Showman Who'd Copped Many of his Best Licks from the Mighty Freddie King, Chicken Shack Emerged from the Midlands in 1967 and Proceeded to Carve Out a Big Reputation on a Then-vibrant UK Blues Scene. After Several Early Brushes with Commercial Success - They Even Managed a Couple of Crossover UK Chart Records in the Late 60s - Webb Kept the Show on the Road, Despite a Baffling Array of Personnel Changes which Saw a Different Line-up on Virtually Every Tour And/Or Album. Indeed, Shack Toured and Recorded Throughout the 70s and 80s at the Rate of an Album Every 18 Months Or So, and Carved Out a Particularly Strong Following in Europe. After an Uncharacteristic Quiet Period Stan Reemerged in the 90s with (Yet) Another New Line-up, and in 1995 He Signed Shack to the Specialist Indie Blues Label, Indigo, for Whom They Cut "Stan the Man Live".

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Collector's Classic Gems

Manufacturer: SweWebb Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD
ASIN: B000G3CVC6

Average customer rating:

Excellent Service!
Transcendent Angst
A literary and musical Masterpiece
Solid Adult MOR Sound
Out of Nowhere - staggering brilliance

The Webb Sessions: 1968-1969
Richard Harris
Manufacturer: Raven [Australia]
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Similar Items:

Twilight of the Renegades
Ten Easy Pieces
The Prophet
A Tramp Shining
MacArthur Park

ASIN: B000003IX5
Release Date: 1998-02-24

Tracks:

Didn't We
Paper Chase
Name Of My Sorrow
Lovers Such As I
In The Final Hours
MacArthur Park
Dancing Girl
If You Must Leave My Life
A Tramp Shining
The Yard Went On Forever
Watermark
Interim
Gayla
The Hymns From The Grand Terrace
The Hive
Lucky Me
That's The Way It Was
One Of The Nicer Things

Album Description

Since the late 1960s Jimmy Webb has been one of the truly enigmatic American songwriters, impressing with such diverse works as 'Wichita Lineman', 'Do What You Gotta Do', 'I Keep It Hid' & 'The Moon's A Harsh Mistress'. But perhaps his most towering achievement & one of the most astonishing collaborations in contemporary music, occurred in 1968 when Webb used imposing Irish actor Richard Harris (of CAMELOT fame) to dramatically interpret a truly bizarre & amorphous 7 minute orchestrated epic called 'Macarthur Park'. Although it was greeted with some bewilderment it became a global hit, reaching #2 in America. This seemingly odd association continued for two Dunhill albums, 'A Tramp Shining' (1968) & 'The Yard Went On Forever' ('69) & one single A-side ('One Of The Nicer Things'), all of which have been included on this single disc. Both albums are presented in their original sequence & include the

Album Details

Compiles Two Legendary Albums on One CD. Also features a Single Released as a Collaboration Between Richard Harris and Jimmy Webb.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent Service!.......2007-05-10

Excellent service and turnaround time! Would definitely deal with this seller again!

Transcendent Angst.......2006-03-22

There seems to be no middle ground for this music. People either adore it or can't stand it. I find it not only powerful, but mind-altering in it's ravaged glory. From Watermark to That's the Way it is, it seems a self-destructive love affair is revealed by a tortured soul. These are bookended by the hypnotic and melancholy The Yard Went on Forever and the more upbeat and sublime One of the Nicer Things. If you've made it through Name of My Sorrow and In the Final Hours and enjoy them, then you're ready to graduate to the Harris/Webb masterpiece that is the second half of this cd. I own all the LP collaborations of these two uniquely talented men and I was pleased to see that the order of the recordings has been retained. There is a method to their madness. Be strong of heart when you listen, because their work will take you on a journey of emotional devastation and deprivation not unlike a friend getting you wasted in a bar when your heart has been broken and then picking you up and walking you out the door.

A literary and musical Masterpiece.......2005-12-27

I sat there unable to move while the stereo phono pickup arm lifted off the last track of "The Yard" and the record slowed to a stop. I had just discovered a nearly-forgotten old treasure. So glad to find The Yard and A Tramp Shining" included on this CD re-issue a few years later.
Like some other works, the concepts of time, place, and love-interests tend to blend together; the passages can be interpreted along different lines on separate listenings. The "in medias res" presentation order in The Yard lends to the overall dramatic feel, as the flashbacks explain the separate stages of their lives: the innocent games of childhood, the turbulent dating years, revealing especially the various points of indecision in the seeming opposing reflections from one track to the next.
I think the "Yard" album peaks the first time with "Gayla", a perfect metaphor for the loss of innocence that can occur at the onset of puberty. Both the narrator (Richard/Jimmy) and the protagonist (Gayla) call upon the choicest of words to express their mutual horror at what is happening at this stage of life that causes irreversable changes in one's personality, usually not for the better in the short term. This explains an earlier concept in "Watermark" whereby Richard sounds as if the person in the photograph no longer exists (at least in that form). Such an intense passage is "Gayla", that at the end, the backing vocalists gently repeat their comforting and rhetorical album-opening question to the audience "Is everybody safe..."
Fans of late-sixties MOR and romantic melodrama would do well to check out both "The Yard..." and "A Tramp Shining" sections of this CD.

Solid Adult MOR Sound.......2005-12-10

I bought this CD recently on the strength of very strong kudos in the music press. Jimmy Webb has become sort of a cult figure in much the same way as Lee Hazelwood, as his songwriting talents are receiving fresh critical acclaim. I always liked MacArthur Park and Richard Harris' voice anyway, so I thought it might be interesting to hear what the remainder of the Webb/Harris collaboration spawned.
As it turns out, the grand, majestic MacArthur Park is the best song on the CD, but don't let that scare you away. The Webb Sessions is a solid adult MOR album. Harris' voice is more than adequate for the material and there is plenty of the musical melodrama one expects from Webb.
While I have to be in the right mood to listen to this style of music, The Webb Sessions won't gather dust forever in my cabinet. This makes great background music in an office setting. I have it on in my office as I write this. Those who are fans of Scott Walker should find this much to their liking as well. If you like MacArthur Park as sung by Richard Harris, then here's an opportunity to get a wider sampling of his talents.

Out of Nowhere - staggering brilliance.......2005-05-28

So it's the 60's with the Beach Boys, the English Invasion and the advent of hard rock. And then Jimmy Webb, some unknown kid, out of nowhere, writes profoundly different music, complete with orchestration that remains some of the most romantic and passionate music about lost love that has ever been penned. Miracle of miracles, some producer or record company exec. took a huge gamble and allowed it to be put to vinyl and released. It would have never happened later on. Secondly, somebody talked the late Richard Harris into using his considerable, but unique, musical talent on this album, the initial debut of a kid genius nobody had ever heard of. Richard gambled also.
Now it's almost 40 years after Jimmy Webb first wrote the music and as I listen to the double album, I'm once again overwhelmed by the passion and beauty of the Webb/Harris Sessions.
Once in a lifetime, Staggering Brilliance!

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The Webb Sessions: 1968-1969
Richard Harris
Manufacturer: Phantom Sound & Visi
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B000A2P9NG
Release Date: 1996-11-21

Tracks:

Prelude/Didn't We?/Interlude
Paper Chase/Interlude
Name of My Sorrow/Interlude
Lovers Such as I
In the Final Hours
MacArthur Park
Dancing Girl/Interlude
If You Must Leave My Life
Tramp Shining
Yard Went on Forever
Watermark
Interim
Gayla
Hymns from the Grand Terrace
Hive
Lucky Me
That's the Way It Was
One of the Nicer Things

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Music

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