Jimmy Webb - Just Across The River reviews
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| Popmatters |
 One could imagine how this record was conceived. America is the land of reinvention, and who could be more American than that great songwriter of the nation’s history, small towns, cities and dreams, Jimmy Webb? He’s the guy who made the words of a Civil War soldier into an anti-Vietnam statement by turning a letter from his great-grandfather, which evoked his love for a woman and the shorescape of Galveston, into a pop masterpiece. Webb’s the artist who made the dreary life of a telephone lineman in Kansas into the golden stuff of melodramatic angst, and the road map that took one across the country to Phoenix into a heartbreaking journey away from love. He also wrote that one about the highwayman, sailor, dam builder, and astronaut as the national archetypes of our collective journey into the unknown.
Webb reinvents these songs, and other hits from the past, on his latest album, with a flurry of big-name guest stars like Billy Joel, Willie Nelson, and Lucinda Williams. There’s something desperate about such a strategy. Why not write new material and have these musicians collaborate? Certainly we’ve heard enough other artists famously cover Webb’s oeuvre. Great musicians as varied as Frank Sinatra and Reba McEntire have recorded his songs, not to mention talents as different from each other as Richard Harris and Urge Overkill. There’s little to be gained by re-recording “Galveston” with Lucinda Williams, “Wichita Lineman” with Billy Joel or “By the Time I Get to Phoenix” with Glen Campbell (again). Webb’s original recordings are much better, and the majority of these songs have been better recorded by other artists as well. Webb’s voice was never great to begin with, which is why he gained fame as a songwriter, and it has not improved with age....full text |
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| Independent |
| The aim with the duets retrospective Just Across The River is to emphasise Webb's contribution to the Americana traditions of folk and country, which means the voluptuous cabaret pleasures of "McArthur Park" and "Up, Up And Away" are sacrificed in favour of the rustic mythopoeicising of "The Highwayman" and "Oklahoma Nights", the latter tinted with pedal steel and speckled with banjo; along with a nod to the Sixties' singer-songwriter tradition in the form of Webb and Jackson Browne's duetting on "P.F. Sloan", a tribute to the man who wrote "Eve Of Destruction"....full text |
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| Eil |
No-one packages a CD album quite like the Japanese. Known as a culture for elaborate and excessive packaging, their approach to the CD album is no exception. From the visual delights of the artwork and packaging, to the content itself, you will without doubt get your money's worth here. The inclusion of the famous 'obi-strip' not only adds a uniquely intriguing aspect, but is also a great marketing tool for the Japanese labels. The term 'obi-strip' is derived from the name of the piece of wide fabric - the obi - that a geisha woman wears around her waist over the traditional Kimono dress. An amazing amount of information is packed onto this little wraparound piece of paper, often noting special tracks, concert dates, discography information and release anniversaries. And, as this information is intended to be read in the home market, it’s all printed in Japanese kanji and ~kana script! Whilst they are safely sealed on new release CD’s they are often discarded once opened, so they should be considered a real bonus when intact on out-of-print CD’s.
In recent years we have seen the obi-strip occasionally replaced with a sleeve sticker, no less attractive and equally unique to the Japanese pressing. Japanese CD albums often benefit from extra music and new video-style content, to further entice the Japanese public to buy their native release and not an import. Non-album tracks and exclusive mixes often feature and there are a huge amount of 'Japan-Only' releases that do not have an equivalent release elsewhere in the world. Japanese pressings will nearly always include a lyric booklet or fold-out lyric sheet. These are dual-language, printed in both the ~kana script and in English, the latter often having some wonderful mis-translations!...full text |
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