A septuagenarian bona fide American musical legend making an album of cover versions and Rick Rubin is nowhere to be seen? For once, that is a good thing. Campbell's creamy tones have graced other people's songs in some of pop's finest moments – suc
h as Jimmy Webb's 'Wichita Lineman' and 'By The Time I Get To Phoenix' – and are now heard on an impressively diverse contemporary selection.
There is no stripped back production here in the latter style of Johnny Cash and Neil Diamond, rather the deeply country tinged textures that have always distinguished Campbell's work.
Travis' 'Sing' is revitalised by his gentlemanly drawl, Foo Fighters' 'Times Like These' is topped by an intro straight out of the Rhinestone Cowboy's heyday, and the Replacements' 'Strangely Beautiful' is reinvented as a classic country weepy.
The string arrangements are spot on throughout and Campbell's bass-heavy guitar lends a distinctive twang to Tom Petty's 'Walls' while some kicking banjo drives 'Angel Dream'.
Somehow he invests Green Day's 'Good Riddance' with a grace and dignity that was hard to detect in the original, but most interesting is the version of the Velvet Underground's 'Jesus'. The raw quality of the song is strangely preserved in the sincerity of the new arrangement.
The forecast is that another career is about to enjoy the warm glow of a creative Indian Summer.
Download this: Jesus, These Days
The full article contains 244 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
