Additional information
Personnel includes: Richard Harris (vocals); Jimmy Webb (arranger, piano); Mike Deasy (guitar); Skip Mosher (flute); Bud Brisboy (trumpet); Bill Henshaw (French horn); Frank Rossalino (trombone); Larry Knechtel (harpsichord, organ, keyboards); Joe Osborn (bass); Milt Holland, Gary Coleman (timpani); Hal Blaine (percussion). Recorded at Sound Recorders, Los Angeles, California; Landsdowne Road Studios, Dublin, Ireland between 1968 and 1969. Includes liner notes by Jimmy Webb. All tracks have been digitally remastered. Personnel: Richard Harris (vocals); Mike Deasy Sr. (guitar); Jules Chaiken, Fred Tackett, Bud Brisbois (trumpet); David Duke , Bill Henshaw, George Price (French horn); Lou Blackburn (trombone); Jimmy Webb (piano); Larry Knechtel (harpsichord, organ, keyboards); Milt Holland, Gary Coleman (timpani); Hal Blaine (percussion). Liner Note Author: Jimmy Webb . Recording information: Sound Recorders, Los Angeles, CA. Arranger: Jimmy Webb . A U.K. two-fer of Richard Harris' first two albums, 1968's A Tramp Shining and 1969's The Yard Went on Forever, The Webb Sessions: 1968-1969 is a handy introduction to some of the most over the top work by Jim Webb, perhaps the most cheerfully perverse songwriter of the '60s. Gifted with a brilliant sense of melody and an ear for wonderfully rich, almost symphonic arrangements, Webb was also fond of downright bizarre lyrical conceits that couched deep emotions in some of the most outlandish metaphors in pop history. (Who can forget "MacArthur Park" and its central image of a cake dissolving in a rainstorm as a sign of a failed relationship?) Richard Harris not being a singer by trade, he apparently had no ego to fight against Webb's more outrageous ideas -- unlike the Association, who famously turned down "MacArthur Park" only to see it become one of the top-selling singles of the '60s -- and so both albums are masterpieces of freakishly huge orchestrations, impenetrable lyrics, and Harris' stentorian, classically trained but oddly unmusical voice. The lesser-known tracks on The Yard Went on Forever, supposedly a concept album detailing Webb's recent divorce although one couldn't tell it from the lyric sheet, are even more groovy and strange than the more familiar A Tramp Shining, which almost sounds normal in comparison. Regardless, The Webb Sessions: 1968-1969 is absolutely necessary for anyone with a taste for the odd in '60s pop. ~ Stewart Mason