With the sad, but sadly anticipated news that music legend Glen Campbell left us today, the rush to post obituaries, post remembrances and pay tributes has been slightly overwhelming, these past few hours.
Suffice to say that Glen Campbell embraced everything that is good about music and the craft of music. A true professional; from his early days as a member of the legendary Wrecking Crew, to his last-minute inclusion as a part-time Beach Boy – his talents and his versatilities stretched over a vast horizon of genres and styles. That, in the early stages of his solo career, was able to crossover from Country to Pop to Rock with no effort whatsoever was ample evidence that Glen Campbell could do it all and do it all with conviction and distinction. That he was able to take on an acting career as well as host one of the more popular TV variety shows in the late 60s said something about his mass appeal – that appeal which kept him going for decades and made him a household name to millions of people all over the world.
So this tribute comes in the form of a rarity – a concert put on by Capitol Records Country Music division in what was called their “First Annual Country Music Night” at The Hollywood Bowl – whether it continued in subsequent years isn’t known, and it would be interesting if Capitol Records recorded this concert for possible release later, and that maybe there’s an unreleased album sitting in a vault. But that isn’t known either.
As far as I know, no other recordings of this concert exist and you are most likely hearing it for the first time, since it was recorded 50 years ago. In any event, it’s a fond remembrance of a legendary talent who prepared us for his passing, but whose passing still comes with shock and sadness.
Farewell.
