Ghost on the Canvas | Music | Christianity Today

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Glen Campbell
Ghost on the Canvas (Surfdog)
Released August 2011
Josh Hurst

Comments (1)

Style: Maudlin country/rock; compare to Johnny Cash, Neil Diamond, Roy Orbison

Top tracks: "Nothing But the Whole Wide World," "Strong," "A Better Place"

Campbell has been in show biz for more than 50 years, so you'll forgive him one final flourish. Following a diagnosis with Alzheimer's, the singer and sometimes-actor has declared Ghost on the Canvas to be his farewell album, and it is both a heartfelt and frequently dramatic curtain call with all the bells and whistles. While the songs are as maudlin and inwardly-focused as the latter-day Johnny Cash albums, the arrangements are all swelling string arrangements, dramatic guitar solos, and twinkling chimes. Simpler get-up might have better served the intimate, autobiographical lyrics, but there's no denying the tear-jerking impact of his thanksgiving to the Almighty ("Amazing Grace," not the hymn but a new composition) and to his wife ("Strong")—or his surprisingly sprightly reading of Jakob Dylan's "Nothing But the Whole Wide World."

Comments (1)

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[Reader Reviews]

joe j.mart@mac.com

September 10, 2011 3:02pm

"Forgive him one final flourish..."? Right, well, we'll take it the reviewer is not a fan. Can't imagine CT writing such a line about Dylan or Cash. And a "simpler set up" would most assuredly NOT have served better, given that the polished sound is Campbell's trademark sound and the continuity with his earlier works was wholly on purpose. Oops. Further proof that CTs Listening Room needs some repairs, when Campbell, an American legend and friend of the Christian community, makes a killer disc which is received rather uncomprehendingly, but a demo-tape like production by Fleetwood Mac alum Buckingham elicits unqualified praise. Better not to even review discs than to offer the arbitrary misfires now being served.