Customer Reviews

Suspending Disbelief

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Let's face it, you're either a Jimmy Webb fan or you're not. For those of us who thought that 1982's "Angel Heart" would be Webb's last album as a singer/songwriter, "Suspending Disbelief" has been a revelation, not least because this is Webb singing as we have never heard him before...but always hoped to. The voice is clear, pure, has good resonance and there's an abundance of good top notes...clearly some singing lessons in evidence or perhaps the influence of Linda Ronstadt who produced and also offers fine back up vocals on three tracks.

The repertoire is eclectic...ranging from superb "new" songs like the enchanting "Postcards from Paris,"...with its delicious elongated ending, to a mellow and melancholy country feel on the even newer "It Won't Bring Her Back" with Ben Keith on slide guitar. A strong and "ballsy" medium rock opener, "Too Young To Die" chronicles Jimmy's lasting affair with his "Cobra" ..that "sweet old racin' car of mine", and blows out of the water any suggestion that Webb is only about ballads, and Steve Lukather's guitar solo is an adrenaline hit. This track could well have been a single!

Melancholy, though, has been, and always will be, a trademark of this artist, and in "Sandy Cove" Webb gives us the definitive mid-life crisis song as he examines with extraordinary honesty and insight his own failures, and his inability to put them right. I am still unable...several hundred listenings later... to get all the way through this track without choking up.

The poignant "I Don't Know How To Love You Anymore" is another tear-jerker and stunning lyrically... though for this Webbophile, the arrangement does nothing for the song, and I'm left to wonder about the orchestration choice. However, "Elvis and ME" is a charming, picaresque homage to the king...with Jimmy as the fan, a lovely cut.

The weak track on the album is the show tune "What Does a Woma! n See In A Man". It belongs only in the musical theatre..the arena for which it was designed...or as part of a cabaret performance. It's strangely out of kilter with the rest of the album. Having said that, it offers us, amidst the slightly forced humour, and somewhat self-conscious cleverness, several poetic lines worthy of the best Webb has given us.

The last four tracks...Postcards from Paris, Just Like Always, Adios ( Jimmy solo with just the piano), and I Will Arise, are worth the price of the CD alone. The last track, adapted from the traditional Baptist hymn, boasts Jimmy reaching head notes we never suspected he had, and a glorious string arrangement (proving again that Jimmy is a good as it gets as a string arranger when he's "on")...with a "hoedown" feel giving way to sombre cellos for an elongated and almost spiritual finale to what must be...for any follower of Jimmy Webb's, the pinnacle of a somewhat topsy-turvy and patchy recording career.

If you loved 1977's El Mirage...you will want to own "Suspending Disbelief".

Amazon needs to get the Bob Wills album cover down from the site, the one for Suspending Disbelief would be more appropriate! This is far from Jimmy Webb's last album, but certainly one of his best. His fans know what a treat this CD was when it first came out (1992), (first in 10 years)...after seven years I'm still listening to it. Best songs: Too Young To Die, I Don't Know How To Love You Anymore, Elvis & Me, and the Grand Finale....I Will Arise...a "Copelandesque" version of some old standard hymns. Only the genius of Jimmy Webb could conceive of this and pull it off so well.

Jimmy Webb's created some of the best music of the past 50 years yet he's very underappreciated as a performer. I've seen him live and I can tell you, he's one of the most interactive and gracious performers I have ever had the pleasure to see.

"Suspending Disbelief", which was produced by Linda Ronstadt, is not one of his best but it's pretty darn good. There's quite a few standouts in this CD. Here are picks from a lifetime Webb fan:

"Too Young to Die" is about Jimmy's affair with his Cobra. This one, which could easily have been done by Warren Zevon, proves he can rock with the best of them.

Too fast for comfort
Too low to fly
Too young...

"I Don't Know How to Love You Anymore," talks about the sudden realization you're out of love. It's the ballad you'd expect from Jimmy--"it's deafening when two's a crowd..."

"I will Arise" is the old Baptist hymn, but with Webb based orchestration. This goes back to the old days when Webb started as a church musician.

"Elvis and Me" talks about an experience with the King.

This CD is well worth the price if you like half the music. The funny thing is my favorites change every time I dust off this CD and listen. Yours probably will too.

Rebecca Kyle, May 2008

Since 1967, Jimmy Webb has made a name for himself as one of the great songwriters of our era, with a seemingly endless supply of memorable songs that have been covered by everyone from Glen Campbell (several of whose biggest hits were Webb compositions) to Richard Harris, the Fifth Dimension, and, more recently, Linda Ronstadt. He is admired by his peers to the hilt. And yet, Webb has never fared particularly well as a recording artist; none of his albums have sold much more than 500,000 copies at the most.

As can be gauged by one listen to his 1993 album SUSPENDING DISBELIEF, this is an unfortunate set of circumstances. True, he may not have the kind of voice people may be looking for in one of the genius songwriters of recent times, but he does have a way all the same. On this album, which Linda Ronstadt and George Massenburg produced, Webb's abilities as both a singer and a songwriter are allowed unlimited reign. On some occasions, it is about not worrying about going too far ("Too Young To Die"); other times, it is a love affair that has sadly flamed out ("I Don't Know How To Love You Anymore"); and then it is a savage critique about power corrupting a person's feelings ("Friends To Burn"). Aiding Webb on this album are stellar musicians like Dean Parks, Robbie Buchanan, and longtime Neil Young steel player Ben Keith, as well as close Ronstadt acolytes Don Henley and J.D. Souther, and even Linda herself.

Much like such contemporaries as Randy Newman and Warren Zevon, Webb is considered a top-notch writer, but someone who is also consistently sold short as a recording artist. SUSPENDING DISBELIEF only reinforced that notion in commercial terms by not selling all that well, which is a shame. The man deserves much more credit as a performer from the public than he has gotten.

Too Young To Die and Elvis And Me are great songs on this one. The rest is pleasant enough, but not as good as Letters, Words & Music or And So On (which hasn't appeared on CD).

One of my favorite albums of all time... Jimmy's songs fill that empty void in your heart

This is one of those "grow" types where I listened first, thought it was okay, listened again, then again and again! It definitely gets to you after a while. I have grown to like his style and what he produces. An incredible artist who stands alone.

First listen I didn't like the album. The melodies seemed calculated rather than flowing. But after a couple listens I couldn't get enough of it. Now I absolutely love the album.

Although I am relatively young (29) I have always had a taste for music made either before my time, or by artists who peaked or had most of their hits before my time. Jimmy Webb is one such artist and, for one reason or another, I felt compelled last year to buy two other albums, followed by this one, all of which are fantastic. Jimmy has always been a talented songwriter, and not a bad singer either. There are one or two songs on this album which I do not like but apart from that, I'm very pleased with it, and I have it permanently in my car CD stacker. That's how much I like it.

This CD is great, as are all of Jimmy Webb's products. Try listening to "Maroon" by The Webb Brothers, which was released in the US in August, 2001. You will not be disppointed.