Customer Reviews

Ten Easy Pieces

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3 star:		(2)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

The title of this review is not a mistake. I did not mean to call it "In The Presence Of A Genius" and omitted the qualifying "a." To me, genius is something that either visits you or not, rather than something that any artist can take credit for owning and having developed out of will and skill alone. This album -in which Webb has chosen to interpret most of his famous songs accompanied by himself on the piano and some occasional, exquisite strings- is a journal of these visitations of graceful and undaunted creativity. For the sake of evidence, consider this: between 1966 and 1969 alone, he was responsible for writing such classics as "By the Time I Get to Phoenix," "Wichita Lineman," "Up Up and Away," "MacArthur Park," and "Didn't We." The man composed all these beauties between the ages of 20 to 23! And, as impressive as this is, the fact that a single person wrote them all, even if they were dispersed along his whole career, would still constitute a musical miracle. But the wonders don't end there -with the startling recognition of such young man having the maturity to conceive amazing songs while still a babe- Webb is a great singer in his own right and a sensitive pianist too. His renditions offer a profound insight into a composer's vision of his work and rival its wonderful counterparts by Glen Campbell or Isaac Hayes, among others. This is a true gem, melodies gifted by wonderful words, and wonderful words brought to life by incomparable melodies. I've read that Burt Bacharach has been Webb's idol all his life, which in part may not be surprising after listening to this CD, yet it may also be said that Bacharach could be a fan of Jimmy Webb, if the consistent, profound quality of these songs is any indication of it. It's more accurate to say that you can consider Jimmy Webb Burt's peer: another landmark in American Pop music. So, get it now, either because you'll be in for an amazing array of delightfully composed songs, or because you'll encounter the radiance of genius' visitations on a young man.

What a suprise and frankly, a shock. Webb is the finest modern day songwriter in my opinion. Harris, Campbell and then Garfunkel brought his work to us but I just didn't know he could perform his own songs with such class! The spartan arrangements are sheer genius. These songs take me to other places every time I dare listen. The music sparkles, it delights ... it goes deep into the soul. Emotional, intimate, haunting, timeless.

I agree that if I could keep only 10 cds forever, this would be in that teeny pile. Another gem is the Richard Harris/Webb cd from Australia with both the Webb albums on one ... 'The Yard Went On Forever' is maybe the the most overlooked amazingly powerful and wonderful album from the 60's. As good as 'A Tramp Shining' was ... it paled compared to the latter. I wore out 2 copies as a teenager back then!

Jimmy Webb ... man, you made life a whole lot greater in the music world and we are so glad to see you still doing it. Buy this cd and savor pure talent. You are indeed thee Tunesmith. And why not another album of 10 more of your tunes done in this fashion?

A big 'Thank You' from the mountains of Western Colorado.

In the late 1960s, after wringing dry the Great American Songbooks, the world's finest pop interpreters (Sinatra, Tony Bennett, et. al), began to turn away from standards by Gershwin, Porter, etc. and cover pieces from a "new wave" of composers: Lennon/McCartney, Randy Newman, Fred ("Everybody's Talkin") Neil, Paul Anka, and others. Jim Webb belongs to this group of writers, and he is certainly one of the most gifted/underrated.

"Ten Easy Pieces" does for Webb what Bacharach's better retrospectives do for Burt... it demonstrates Jim's remarkable talent as a songwriter/composer of outstanding melodies, with a retrospective of tunes from the late sixties and early seventies, but doesn't rely on cover versions. In addition, the meanings of the songs emerge so much more clearly here (compare, for instance, Webb's version of "Galveston" to Glen Campbell's cut) that you may feel like you're listening for the first time. Each track is a small, painfully honest, beautifully structured poem about love, loss, and regret.

Webb's deep, emotionally-strained, heartfelt vocals, spare instrumentation (piano; occasional fiddle, cellos, sax, and oboe), and session vocalists (Marc Cohn, Michael McDonald, others) give this album the delicacy it needs.

For a shock, compare Webb's lightness-of-touch on "Ten Easy Pieces" to the extremes of "A Tramp Shining" and his 1970s retrospective "Archive" (available on Amazon.com --and elsewhere-- as an import). Compositionally, the earlier works are brilliant, but the interpretations (instrumentation + vocal acrobatics) suffer from excess and, in some cases ("All My Love's Laughter"), threaten to reach levels of high camp.

(Side note: Anyone who hasn't seen Webb perform live is missing an entertaining, emotionally affirming experience. When he sings, he constantly stretches and strains his voice to high registers and reaches into his own heart to *feel* the lyrics. In addition, he's a master of shtick with hundreds of stories to tell, and an exceptional amount of stage presence).

The songs themselves need no introduction. After all, we've got Wichita Lineman, Worst that Could Happen, and the always-good-for-a-reaction MacArthur Park, among other notables. While not as revelatory as, say, Carole King's Tapestry (songwriter singing originals made hits by other artists), the intimate atmosphere of this record does lend precious insight to what it might have been like to hear Webb composing these gems. He is in fine voice throughout the record, and the spare backup instrumentation (vocals, acoustic and steel guitar) is arranged with taste and refinement. However, there is such a thing as too much taste and refinement, and this album often lacks the driving energy that made these songs so popular. Happens all the time: you get the artist to do a solo rendering of their work and they slow the damn thing down to a snails pace! Arrrgghhh! You'd think Jimmy, a man who literally wrote [a] book on songwriting, would be aware of this trap. You see, a great writer like Webb rides that razor edge of emotion/maudlin--the bravest thing you can do as a songwriter, because the payoff can be great. Slowing the stuff down sometimes tips the scales, guess which way. So the problem is maybe Jimmy risks not appealing to an audience under 40. OK, no crime there--or is there? With guys like Bacharach coming back in a big way, doesn't Webb deserve the same? That said, this is Jimmy Webb; he sounds great; these are great songs--how wrong can it be?

I started raising my eyebrows when listening to Art Garfunkel many years ago... such touching songs with poignant lyric...Ah! Who's Jimmy Webb? Little did I know of this gifted songwriter. I started scraping around for his solo work and one day found '10 Easy Pieces'. Each song is really a story! Jimmy finds a way to take you into a world from his point of view...really like going to a movie. Not many songsmiths have this ability. Galveston, Highwayman, If these Walls, All I know are highlights...then Witchita Lineman, By the time I get to Phoenix are simply milestones!!!! For anyone who's a songwriter this album is like GOLD...discovered for the first time. I just saw him at 'The Bottom Line' in NYC. where he performed most of the songs on this album; it was simply magical! Though Jimmy is best considered a writer, I really think he has become an interesting performer...always an excellent pianist and has definitely become a better singer! Wonderfully produced and recorded - this collection of songs is as an important milestone in its songwriting as it is in American culture.

Yep, here 'tis... The preeminant effort of pop music's melancholy maestro. This exquisitely sparse gem is a requirement for every serious student of great songwriting, and my personal prescription for every single solitary soul squeezed through the sieve of life. It and the Bible will fix all your broken parts. And what Ten Easy Pieces can't mend, it will make bearable.

The opening strains of "Galveston" alone are worth the ticket price. In his heartbreakingly beautiful introduction here, Webb has poured a landscape of a lifetime. Here again is innate genius - - these songs may have once sounded "simple" at a glance, in their lowest common denominator commercial presentation, but that simplicity was deceptive. Here are ten "easy" pieces, not easy at all, rich with the same intelligence which earmark the greatest musical compostions in history; as Copland, Berlin, Gershwin, Thompson, Bernstein, Bach, etc., full of soaring lines and aching, grinding dissonances - - the stuff life is made of (and quite an accomplishment for a mere teenager to have attained, once). Webb's melodic wisdom, combined with an innate lyric sense, results in a subtlely articulated intelligence insinuated throughout the entire CD. Thank God he slowed these cuts down from their previously hyper-sterilized commercial formualic homogeny. We can view those astonishing landscapes now, one exquisite moment at a time. Other aural jewels here include "If These Walls Could Speak","The Moon's A Harsh Mistress," his version of "Highwayman" which I could write volumes on, alone, and "All I know." In fact, there isn't a note played or sung on this remarkable collection anywhere which could be considered wasted. This IS the quintessential Jimmy Webb collection; ten of his best-known songs, performed in an achingly tender, intimate context, the way they should be offered... by 'him what conceived them;' just him, and his piano. This IS The Holy Grail of songwriting.

Jimmy Webb is one of the most successful songwriters of the last half of the 20th century. As a singer, he's been adored by a small but devoted following. From his "Words & Music" LP in 1970, his music became an integral part of the soundtrack to my life. When he got angry as with Laspitch on "And So: On," I was angry. And when he was tender and his voice quivered with emotion on one of my favorites, his "Letters," it spoke to my soul. After those 3 on Reprise, followed the incredible "Land's End" with the soaring freedom of its melodies. "El Mirage" followed and then we've only heard from him sporadically with "Angel Heart," "Suspending Disbelief" and this gem that is now 6 years old.

Jimmy's voice trembles and rises in strength, "I still see her standing by the water" as Michael McDonald lends harmony on the elegy "Galveston." The beauty of the melody shines with his reading of "Highwayman." Jimmy's voice melts like butter over the words, "I still need you more than want you; and I want you for all time" in "Wichita Lineman." Has a more romantic lyric been written? Many have sung "The Moon's a Harsh Mistress" including Linda Ronstadt, Jennifer Warnes, Judy Collins & Joe Cocker. Jimmy's charming reading makes this stately melody shine. Jimmy's voice quivers with emotion, "She just didn't know that I would really go" on the contemplative "By the Time I Get to Phoenix." The levels are shown as we feel the guy loves the one he hurts; and we wonder why is he going, and for what reason. This is a gorgeous song that Glen Campbell sold well, but Webb expresses superlatively. Oliver Schroer's fiddle is beautiful on "If These Walls Could Speak." On "Didn't We" the song builds passionately and then softly reflects on hope and regret, "This time we almost made our poem rhyme." I never cared too much for the Brooklyn Bridge, but Jimmy's voice flutters with emotion, "If he loves you more than me," on the pretty melody of "The Worst That Could Happen." Art Garfunkel did I nice job with his orchestral version of "All I Know," but with Pat Perez's sax Jimmy makes the melody glow, "They say in the darkest night there's a light beyond." The CD ends with one of the most unusual lyrics of "MacArthur Park" that speak of reminiscence and loss. Jimmy's voice softly sings, "the birds like tender babies in your hands." "Ten Easy Pieces" showcases the expressive Webb piano with that voice that feels like a caress. Enjoy this emerald of a CD! It's one of my favorites.

Jimmy Webb, like his idol Burt Bacharach, became better known for his songwritting than for being a performer. The post-Tin Pan Alley world of the sixities had reshaped the musical landscape of popular music. Professional songwritting was becoming an obsolete occupation because performers like Dylan, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones wrote their own material, and did not rely on a stable of song writters like earlier generations of cabaret performers. Jimmy Webb survived on the strength of his material.

His break-through work was the Fifth Deminsion's first album "Up, Up and Away" in 1967. He arranged, conducted and wrote about half the songs on that album. Webb is often maligned for over producing and providing material for mediocre artists. A case in point is Richard Harris' rendition of "MaArthur Park" which depending on the critic; is either one of the worst, or best songs ever made. Webb provides a full orchestra and Harris' vocal skates a thin line between being dramatic, and laughably histronic.

With "Ten Easy Pieces", Webb manages to place "MacArthur Park" and nine other jewels from his catalog in perspective by using unadorned arragnements, primarily his piano. Stripped of their elaborate orchestration, these songs sink or swim on the strength of Webb's songwritting. The results are so good, one wonders why Webb never tried low tech approach before. Webb's voice is intimately connected to his material and he sings with a passion that owns these songs. "Ten Easy Pieces" is compelling evidence that Jimmy Webb is the best intrepeter of Jimmy Webb songs and these are the definitive verisions of his songs. "MacArthur Park", in the Webb intrepetation, becomes a lovely, haunting and ornate song and it's clear that Webb, not Richard Harris, should have sang on the original version. This album is a long time coming but certainly worth the wait.

If you like art that breaks your heart, then puts it back together again better than before, you need this album. I heard his songs all my life but never really understood them until I heard the writer sing them.

Spare, elegant, haunting, evocative, intimate, naked, true.

I'd be honest about it: had I not been previously exposed to Glen Campbell's cover versions of some of Jim Webb's work - i.e. Galveston, Witchita Lineman, By The Time I Get To Phoenix, just to name a few - I would not have grabbed and bought this album outright.

Which is not to say that this is a bad production. In fact the opposite is true: Ten Easy Pieces is a great album. It's just that in my experience, certain types of songs take countless listening before the listener finally manages to appreciate and take them in, depending on such factors like mood, rhythm, atmosphere and presentation. Put simply, the total package of how a body of work appears in its final form.

Great works of art are always difficult to sell. In terms of mass consumption, Van Gogh's abstract and seemingly senseless paintings would never stand a chance against Norman Rockwell's straight-forward, colorful landscapes.

Jim Webb's reading of his own songs are laid back, self-absorbed and moody - somewhat akin to some of Leonard Cohen's work - and a complete departure from Glen Campbell's driving and infectious cover versions. While Glen Campbell, the performer, likes to please his audience, Jim Webb, the artist, likes to please above all, himself, just like all artists do.

I like to think that Jim's versions in this album were constructed that way mainly because they are aimed more towards more discriminating audiences, say, a small circle of friends in a private setting like a corner music lounge, while Glen's are geared more towards big, mixed audiences in concert settings and other media like radio, TV, etc. Here lies I think the main reason behind the different moods of their respective interpretations. And let us not forget that Jim Webb's sparse instrumentation revolves basically around the piano, an instrument known more for its intrinsic haunting quality than for its rhythmical character, a musical tool not ordinarily used in solo performances in front of big audiences.

Singer Carly Simon once commented that Ten Easy Pieces is "a work of a great artist unadorned". Could a compliment better than that ever be said?