JIMMY WEBB – JUST ACROSS THE RIVER
He is one of the great American song-smiths, responsible for penning such immortal classics as Wichita Lineman and By the Time I Get To Phoenix . Admittedly, his biggest hits were performed by Glen Campbell, who has always been the best muse for Webb’s work. Well, Jimmy Webb sometimes feels the need to step in front of the mike and sing his own songs; this album follows 1999’s Ten Easy Pieces. This time it’s a blend of old and new material, and he has a few friends drop by the studio to lend some vocals here and there – Campbell himself, Billy Joel, Willy Nelson, Jackson Browne. None of these give particularly memorable performances; it’s more like a check-list for a who’s who of singer-songwriters, highlighting Webb’s influence on the modern songwriting world. The main issue here unfortunately is Webb’s voice and piano playing. His thin, reedy pipes sing with murky romanticism, and he has adopted a style of piano playing and re-shaping the chords for his untouchable classics, making them sound like the end credits of an animated Disney film. Webb was undoubtedly born with the gift of song; he just doesn’t quite know how to put it down on record.
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