Comments on: Sound Off: Glen Campbell, “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)”

By: Matt B

Matt B — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 00:23:12 +0000

I have always thought that Travis had a few songs that would make for great country songs in the right people’s hands but Jonathan is right, Travis’ version is much stronger with the banjo licks.

Glen does a pretty good job with the material in general though. We can’t forget that he’s in his 70s now and he has a strong voice when one considers that.

By: Dan M.

Dan M. — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 01:41:17 +0000

Leeann, you da bomb. I’m on my way to Amazon right now.

By: Leeann Ward

Leeann Ward — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 01:34:43 +0000

By the way, if anyone happens to be interested in increasing their Campbell collection, Amazon has digital versions of four or five of his albums for $3.68 each.

By: Leeann Ward

Leeann Ward — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 01:29:51 +0000

Yeah, I think that’s the oddity about this song too, that it’s less acoustic than the original rock version, as I said earlier. It’s kind of like Rascal Flatts taking the harmonica, the more traditional instrument, out of their supposed country version of “Life Is A Highway.”

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 01:26:09 +0000

I’ve been curious about this project since I first heard about it a couple of months back– I certainly wouldn’t consider Campbell on the same plane as Johnny Cash or Loretta Lynn, so the idea of his attempting a similar type of rock-cred late-career reinvention struck me as more than a bit calculated. But I liked the tracklisting for his covers album well enough to give him the benefit of the doubt.

But I don’t care for this much at all.

As LeeAnn mentioned, it loses the rawness of the original version, though I’d argue that its production and Campbell’s delivery also lose the bitterness and the melancholy in the song, which are what it has going for it in the first place. If there’s any effort at interpreting it, it’s a lost cause once that peppy little drum machine backbeat kicks in.

And I agree with Matt C. that Campbell’s voice sounds especially rough on his cover of Travis’ “Sing.” What’s interesting is that the original version of that song by Travis, a band that’s made a name for itself as an even more heavily pop-leaning variation of Coldplay, features a banjo more prominently in the mix than Campbell’s does.

By: Marc

Marc — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 00:27:07 +0000

That’s…. AWFUL

By: Trailer

Trailer — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 21:45:43 +0000

I like it, but I won’t give it many more listens. It runs too close to novelty to me, but he sounds great. The album isn’t bad at all, but probably not a long player for me.

By: Chris N.

Chris N. — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 19:33:56 +0000

I’m afraid my favorite track on the album is also the least adventurous: a version of Jackson Browne’s “These Days.” It’s just perfect for Campbell’s style. He also does a very nice version of my favorite Replacements song, “Sadly Beautiful.”

By: Leeann Ward

Leeann Ward — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 18:06:30 +0000

I think I’ve finally reached a conclusion on this song. It’s a good effort, but I like Green Day’s version better. Campbell’s version isn’t as raw as Green Day’s, which was part of the appeal of the song in the first place for me.

By: Miss Kitty

Miss Kitty — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 17:59:52 +0000

I haven’t yet heard it, but am ambivalent about any new Glen Campbell…he’s been through/put himself through a lot of hell the last few decades, and serious drug/alcohol abuse tends to mess up the voice. And I’d never heard the episode about his throwing TT through a plate-glass door (LOL @ Philly Jeff).