Day 375: Bobbie Gentry and Glen Campbell – Bobbie Gentry and Glen Campbell
I’m in the mood to kill two birds with one stone today, and what better way to do it than with a collaborative album. I was also really hankering to listen to something from the 1960s, and let’s face it, I did also want to listen to a bit of country. I’m still in denial about enjoying it, but I’m getting there.
Album cover courtesy of Capitol
The album was released in 1968 as a collaboration between two rising stars at Capitol Records – the eccentric singer-songwriter Bobbie Gentry had released her more experimental second album to limited commercial success, so the label thought that if they’d pair her with the label’s up-and-coming star Glen Campbell, they might get a hit out of both of them. Campbell had started his career as a session musician with the Wrecking Crew and toured with the Beach Boys to sub for Brian Wilson, and at the time, he’d just had a few successful singles as a solo artist, so he was one of the label’s rising stars. And they were right, it became the first country album by a duo to reach the top of the Billboard chart.
It’s a record of mellow easy-listening country pop, with some covers and some original songs. Their voices meld together beautifully and you can hear that they sound very loose and comfortable with each other, probably coming from the fact that they were friends even before either of them became famous. And Bobbie Gentry especially shines on the record, her rich and smoky voice is lovely enough that I’m interested in checking out her solo stuff.
However, the main issue with it is that it’s just a bit unremarkable – the label wanted to curtail Bobbie Gentry’s more artistic vision by having her paired with a commercial artist on a more commercially-oriented record, so if you’re in the mood for anything particularly unique or experimental, you’re looking in the wrong place.
That being said, it’s just fine to listen to, all of the songs are at least somewhat nice and the fact that it has absolutely zero grit or edge is almost pleasant. It’s a fine album, not one I’ll ever listen to again, but I didn’t have a bad time with it. I’m giving it a 6.5/10.