Customer Reviews

Someone Left the Cake: Classic Songs

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An album celebrating one of the great songwriters of the 20th century!
Great idea. Pity about the tracks chosen.
Yes, this is classic Webb.
And there are some classic interpretations .. even Jimmy, himself, has never bettered Judy Collin's mournful version of 'The Moon is a Harsh Mistress".
'MacArthur Park' will always be Richard Harris' song, despite Donna Summer's disco version, although it is interesting to have her interpretation included.
Despite my reservations about Glen Campbell as a 'classic' singer of the Webb songbook, there is no doubt that his versions of 'Wichita Lineman' and 'Where's the Playground Susie?' remain unsurpassed.
Thelma Houston (when will 'Sunshower', her 'Webb' album, be released on CD?) and Webb fans Linda Ronstadt and Art Garfunkel provide great tracks.
But where are the 5th Dimension? Brooklyn Bridge? The Supremes?
And does anyone think that 'The Highwayman' by The Highwaymen is superior to Jimmy's own version? .. and the Johnny Mann Singers doing 'Up, Up and Away'? .. who picked these tracks?
Three-quarters of this album is great .. the whole thing should have been great if the best of all the singers who recorded Webb's songs had been included.
Good .. should have been great.

I've been a fan of Webb's music since I was a kid and he was the fellow Oklahoman who was writing the songs I loved on the radio. For the most part, this is a good CD, but there have been some opportunities missed. I personally think that Liza Minnelli's "Didn't We" is far better than Webb's version, but nobody does "Highwayman" better. I'd also have included Cissy Houston doing "Pocket Full of Keys".

I do like the variance of the two different versions of "MacArthur Park." Webb himself admits that nobody but Richard Harris could make the 7:30 length song a hit, which actually broke the length barrier for radioplay. Still, the disco version is so diametrically different, it has serious merit.

This is worth the investment if you're a serious Webb fan. If I were just starting with Webb's music, I'd consider getting "Ten Easy Pieces" or "Archive" instead.

Musician and poet Jimmy Webb probably was one of the top 3 producers of pop music in the 60's and 70's. Almost everyone that was anyone covered his songs. Most notably Glen Campbel(Galveston, By the Time I get to Phoenix). The great pop-epic McArthur park is performed with great elegance by Richard Harris, and equally energized by the greatest pop diva of the disco 70's Miss Donna Summer.Other greats are made greater including Judy Collins searingly plaintive "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress."Dusty Springfield is magic on "Magic Garden" But where are Webb's proteges "The Fifth Dimension"?He was practically ushered in to the American public producing their "Up Up and Away" LP.Also missing is Cher's "Just One More Time",probably her finest vocal of the seventies.Small potatoes Anyway, he IS and was a great writer, and these folks have the chops to sing the tunes.I almost forgot ..Art Garfunkel's "All I Know" was and is breathtaking.And it's also here.BUY IT!!!!

I bought a copy of this in London many years ago, lost it, and have been seaching for another for years! This is the ultimate compilation Webb album--mostly the original artists who made the songs famous--not obscure covers. If you like Jimmy Webb, this is a must buy. It's a good price too and, despite its surprising availability on Amazon, a very scarce item. Plus the splendid cover is imprinted on the CD itself--bonus!