Johnny Cash's 1994 album American Recordings established a simple
template for comebacks: Just get back to doing what made listeners fall in love
with you, and let the rest take care of itself. (Throwing in some songs by
modern songwriters who grew up listening to you doesn't hurt, either.) Glen
Campbell more or less follows the same pattern with the optimistically titled Meet
Glen Campbell.
But where for Cash, getting back to his roots meant getting back to his take on
American roots music, whatever the vintage of the song itself, it means
something else to Campbell. Before he was a country star, he was an L.A.
session legend, and his best-loved country songs ("Wichita Lineman," "By The
Time I Get To Phoenix") owe as much to studio professionalism and tasteful
interpretation as piercing vision.
Thus Meet Glen Campbell finds the one-time
Rhinestone Cowboy bringing in string sections and fussed-over arrangements to
back his takes on songs by Green Day ("Good Riddance"), Travis ("Sing"), Foo
Fighters ("Times Like These"), and others. There's nothing really objectionable
here, but nothing transcendent either. Campbell still has a fine voice, but
only his takes on The Replacements' "Sadly Beautiful" and The Velvet
Underground's "Jesus" find him mustering much passion. He's welcome to come
back, but first he needs to give us a reason to care.