Collin Raye “Still on the Line: The Songs of Glen Campbell” Album Review

Collin Raye “Still on the Line: The Songs of Glen Campbell” Album Review

Someone once asked Glen Campbell if he had the ears to spot a potential hit.  Unabashedly, the Rhinestone Cowboy responds with a twinkle, “I can not only ‘hear’ a hit song but I can ‘feel’ one.”  Regardless of whether this anecdote is an urban legend or not, Campbell certainly not only has an intuition of blessing us with a treasury of hits, but many of his songs have enriched us with a musical vocabulary in articulating our feelings.  Since 1962 when he first debut on the Bilboard Country Singles chart with “Kentucky Means Paradise” to his last country charted song in 1993 with “Somebody Like That,” Campbell holds 5 no.1 hits, 81 charted singles and 9 no.1 albums.  More importantly, Campbell is also a visionary:  never one to be domesticated by his own success, Campbell always has an eye for burgeoning talents.  It was Campbell who first gave the then unknown Alan Jackson a chance when Campbell was first approached by Jackson’s wife who was a flight attendant on one of Campbell’s flights.  Also, Campbell has often been credited for being influential to Keith Urban’s career.  Now we have Collin Raye, another receipt of Campbell’s graces, paying his tribute via this newly released “Still on the Line: The Songs of Glen Campbell.”

Though Collin Raye may not have the growling lower registers of Campbell, but his high tenor has always been reminisce of Campbell.  Like his mentor, Raye has never been afraid of coloring outside the straight confines of country music.  In fact, Raye has made a career out of his neo-country cosmopolitan balladry with hits like “Love, Me,” “In This Life,”  “Not that Different” and “I Can Still Feel You.”  Though Raye is no longer one of the headliners of country music as he once was in the 90s, he has never stopped churning out solid records.  After a short detour in into Contemporary Christian Music with 2011’s“His Love Remains,” Raye is now back with his first country record since 2009.  “Still on the Line: The Songs of Glen Campbell” is as self-explanatory as the titular:  this is an album of 12 Glen Campbell songs re-recorded by Raye.  With a prodigious catalog that stretches over 5 decades, Raye certainly has a buffet of songs to choose from.  Nevertheless, Raye has chosen the safe (albeit somehow disappointing) route in tackling most of Campbell’s biggest hits; at least, most of these songs should be familiar with the casual Campbell fan.

“Gentle on My Mind” is arguably Campbell’s career saver.  In a time when Capitol Records was about to let Campbell slip away from their roster in the late 60s, Campbell laid down his golden cut with “Gentle on My Mind.”  Though this John Hartford composition only peaked at no. 30, it won Campbell two Grammys.  Instead of slavishly Xeroxing Campbell’s original Raye (with some help from Ricky Skaggs) delivers “Gentle on My Mind” as a bluegrass extravaganza quipped with some superb rustic banjo and mandolin lines.  “By the Time I Get to Phoenix,” on the other hand, is arguably Campbell’s first major hit when it peaked at no.2 on the Country Singles chart.  Here Raye keeps the plaintive 60s sounding strings that accompanied the original that is the perfect package for the song’s heartbreaking lyrics.  This is the first of many Jimmy Webb songs Campbell would cover throughout his career.  And this includes Campbell’s signature hit “Wichita Lineman.”  When Rolling Stones voted “Wichita Lineman” as one of their “500 Greatest Songs of all Time,” they aren’t exaggerating.  Loneliness has never had such a personal treatment as this song ever does; “Wichita Lineman” is indeed a national treasure.

Despite its title, “Rhinestone Cowboy” is arguably Campbell’s biggest pop hit to date.  It’s only one of two titles of his that ever topped thepop and country charts simultaneously.  Raye here teams up with 90s country peer Billy Dean on a rousing yet reverential treatment of “Rhinestone Cowboy.”  Campbell’s 1987 “The Hand that Rocks the Cradle” has to be one of Campbell’s most tender pieces as he glowing spells out the importance of maternity to a child’s growth and development.   Nevertheless, one would have wished a little more attention were paid to one or two of Campbell’s lesser known songs such as latter material including  “Unconditional Love” or “She’s Gone, Gone, Gone” or even his Gospel material.  Perhaps, this is also a way to entice us to eagerly anticipate a second volume….