Glen Campbell "Witchita Lineman" solo

Synchro

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Campbell did a great job performing that solo. That has to be damn hard, to distill a complex arrangement down to a rhythm guitar part, then to play a guitar solo and preserve the continuity of the song. Glen Campbell was a lot more than just a pretty face.
 
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Westerly Wood

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I like how during the solo, he says "yeah"...
 

adorshki

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Glen Campbell was a lot more than just a pretty face.
"Yeah". :biggrin-new:
What it takes to be a session musician.
I actually didn't know such animals existed until I was about 12 or 13 and read an interview with Tommy Tedesco in an early Guitar Player. Opened up whole new insights to me.
With "For What It's Worth" playing on the hi-fi, right?
Funnny you shluold mention that becasue I listened to the long version of "Bluebird" last weekend, too.
But I like the original soundtrack of "Riot" just fine.
Veering slightly but still in the "session musicians" vein, there's a pretty amazing (for the time) jazz-rock flavored instrumental backing the acid-party-in-the-vacant-house scene. It sounds like something the "I'm a Man"-era Spencer Davis Group might have done if they collaborated with "Low Spark of High-heeled Boys"-era Traffic.
I never could find any credit for that music, but Mike Curb is listed on the film score credits, and lo and behold he's got a real interesting bio, too:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Curb
 
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gjmalcyon

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Funnny you shluold mention that becasue I listened to the long version of "Bluebird" last weekend, too.
But I like the original soundtrack of "Riot" just fine.[/url]

Stills wrote "For What It's Worth" in reaction to the Sunset Strip Riots, and recorded it with Buffalo Springfield in early December, '66.
 

adorshki

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Stills wrote "For What It's Worth" in reaction to the Sunset Strip Riots, and recorded it with Buffalo Springfield in early December, '66.
Right. I thought you might have been continuing my inside joke to Clay (Westerly) because I made a long "history lesson" post a few months back which included that same info, when he last mentioned wishing he could have been born a generation earlier.
guess I'm going to have to watch Riot on Sunset Strip as well.
If you like vintage "Dragnet" production values, especially the notorious "Blue Boy" LSD-comes-to-Los-Angeles episode (which ironically was the very first color episode), AND you love classic garage rock (Standells, Chocolate Watchband performance cameos), you'll love it.
It sits on my shelf next to the Trip and Psych-out .
Just now went to Imdb to see if there were any updates to the film's soundtrack notes, and there were a couple of different replies to a question about the party scene music.
One guy claims it's an alternate version of the seminal "East/West" by Butterfied Blues Band, while another guy claims it's by a guy named Karger who scored other stuff for the producer. That one sounds more credible to me, for the music I remember.
ImDB:Riot on Sunset Strip
I'm pretty darn sure there's no East/West on the DVD I have, I think I woulda recognized it, besides the credits/royalties issue (no credit), but I might have to go revisit it myself this weekend. Maybe jut not not present on DVD version.
Steering course back to Mr. Campbell, that Wiki page on Mike Curb indicates he was a regular on Glen Campbell's TV show.
Glen was too straight-laced for me as a teenager (and Curb became a pretty conservative guy himself, I mean, frankly, most of his stuff belongs in the elevator music category) but in retrospect it probably helped him dodge a lot of bullets, no Viet Nam puns intended.
Always loved "Wichita Lineman", though, and "Bowling Green" was a pretty good toe-tapper on the album my folks owned..
 

Quantum Strummer

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I was just a little kid when Campbell's Jimmy Webb-penned singles came out, but they caught my ear despite my Motown/R&B-infused musical upbringing. Probably still have the 45RPMers too. I remember even my dad liked 'em, and he was then a bit of a classical/jazz snob. In fact I think they got the ball rolling on his later-life Hank Williams obsession. And IMO anything that leads you to Hank has gotta be good. :)

-Dave-
 

adorshki

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I was just a little kid when Campbell's Jimmy Webb-penned singles came out, but they caught my ear despite my Motown/R&B-infused musical upbringing.
Veering along but at least with some relevance, Motown had their own version of the Wrecking Crew, the Funk Brothers, and while I wasn't much into the Motown sound, there were 3 Temptations singles that were magnificent and I still have 'em: "Papa Was a Rolling Stone", "Can't Get Next to You", and "Ball Of Confusion"...
And speaking of Mr. Webb, y'know, there's a part of me that now would rather be remembered as a great writer than as a great performer...
 

Synchro

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Veering along but at least with some relevance, Motown had their own version of the Wrecking Crew, the Funk Brothers, and while I wasn't much into the Motown sound, there were 3 Temptations singles that were magnificent and I still have 'em: "Papa Was a Rolling Stone", "Can't Get Next to You", and "Ball Of Confusion"...
And speaking of Mr. Webb, y'know, there's a part of me that now would rather be remembered as a great writer than as a great performer...

The Funk Brothers were great. In the final analysis, it came down to some very good musicianship and an innate sense of how to create on the fly. The Wrecking Crew and the Funk Brothers both had this going for them, as well as the Swampers of Muscle Shoals, not to mention any number of other talented session players that created the soundtrack of our lives in near anonymity. Nashville was likewise home to some incredibly gifted musicians that not only played on the recordings, but usually contributed ideas with regards to arrangements. I wish that there was a Wrecking Crew style documentary about those folks.
 

walrus

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I saw some of that on TV one time - VH1, maybe? It was really well done, and the level of talent was tremendous. Very similar story to that of the Wrecking Crew.

walrus
 

walrus

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Wow! I had never seen that - thanks! A GREAT version!

walrus
 

parker_knoll

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further to the discussion above, I've just been watching the Wrecking Crew movie. It is indeed a great and fascinating watch, and what's surprising is how many Kays, Teiscos and Danelectros these respected high earning professionals can be seen playing
 

Synchro

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further to the discussion above, I've just been watching the Wrecking Crew movie. It is indeed a great and fascinating watch, and what's surprising is how many Kays, Teiscos and Danelectros these respected high earning professionals can be seen playing
I noticed that as well.

Thanks for posting that Walrus. As an extension to that solo have a look at this one from the Jools Holland show in the uk.

https://youtu.be/B49YDR6OMIE

Then listen to us all hanging up our guitars.......
My guitar heroes tend to be few and far between; Chet Atkins, Johnny Smith, Hank Garland, Howard Roberts . . . and now Glen Campbell. The video you posted, plus other Glen Cambell videos I found on You Tube, add up to a very impressive dossier of guitar virtuosity. As I understand it, during his heyday, they downplayed his guitar playing because it was feared that he would be stereotyped as just another C&W singer. In more recent times, Campbell made the guitar much more prominent in his concerts and did the bulk of the lead guitar work himself . . . quite competently, I might add. He came up with a solo for Gentle On My Mind that would be worthy of any Jazz guitar hero. As I understand it, his initial desire was to be known as a Jazz guitarist.
 

walrus

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I think his great singing voice may have tended to overshadow his guitar playing. Also, on his recordings, in the '60's and '70's especially, the over-production of strings (IMHO) diluted the guitar playing.

Interestingly, not too many guitarists of his caliber could also sing that well - in fact, are there any?

walrus
 

Synchro

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I think his great singing voice may have tended to overshadow his guitar playing. Also, on his recordings, in the '60's and '70's especially, the over-production of strings (IMHO) diluted the guitar playing.

Interestingly, not too many guitarists of his caliber could also sing that well - in fact, are there any?

walrus

It was well known among his session musician peers that he could sing and he had made recordings as a vocalist for years with only modest success before Gentle On My Mind catapulted him to national fame. Up until that time, his Wrecking Crew peers would tease him about becoming a star. In retrospect, however, it's no surprise that he would succeed. He was a gifted guitarist and his session experience taught him how to spot a great song. Add in a great voice, youth and good looks and he had all of the ingredients for success.
 
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