By The Time I Get To Phoenix – GLEN CAMPBELL****

By The Time I Get To Phoenix/Homeward Bound/Tomorrow Never Comes/Cold December(In Your Heart)/My Baby’s Gone/Back In The Race/Hey Little One/Bad Seed/I’ll Be Lucky Someday/You’re Young & You’ll Forget/ Love Is A Lonesome River

Country singer Glen Campbell was awarded a Grammy for album of the year for By The Time I Get To Phoenix. The title track was penned by newly emerging creative songwriter Jimmy Webb. (US:15)

"By The Time I Get To Phoenix is one of Glen Campbell's best albums ever. He is in excellent form throughout; he performs with panache and I'm very impressed. These songs are all terrific; there's not a dud in the bunch. The title song by Jimmy Webb opens the album with Glen singing beautifully; he does this passionately and with great sensitivity."

"Much of his success comes from the fact that he followed the same pattern of using songs from a variety of songwriters in different genres, including a couple of his own songs. Not only does Glen use Jimmy Webb's title track, but also his great versions of songs from Paul Simon, Ernest Tubb, Bill Anderson, Jerry Reed and others. This is another masterpiece."

"It was certainly Glen Campbell's finest studio recording, and he sings each song with his unique brand of conviction and wistfulness. While the showpiece is the much loved ballad By The Time I Get To Phoenix, it is the lesser known songs such as I'll Be Lucky Someday, Tomorrow Never Comes and You're Young & You'll Forget that give this album its resonance and poignancy. Most of the songs are laced with tinges of regret, but this is anything but a downer, primarily because of the bittersweet yearning of Campbell's vocals and the spare but melodic arrangements."

"This album was both his commercial breakthrough and represents the first fruits of his collaboration with Jimmy Webb, the songwriter who would go on to pen most of Campbell's biggest hits. The title track is the only Webb composition on the record, but the other ten tracks are equally fine."

"Glen Campbell is usually at his best interpreting Jimmy Webb songs, and By The Time I Get To Phoenix is one of this best. Little else on here matches it, as there is way too much that borders on easy listening. For some reason Campbell always thought he needed sappy strings to back up his songs."