Glen Campbell - Burning Bridges (1967)

In contrast to his major albums of the second half of the '60s, which were mostly produced exclusively by Al DeLory and were drawn from defined sessions, Burning Bridges is a more uneven, transitional creation, assembling several years' worth of sides in Campbell's output from 1962 through late 1966, and produced by DeLory, Steve Douglas, and Nick Venet. The result is a decidedly variable body of music, much of it from the sentimental side of the country repertoire, including the Bacharach/David "Too Late to Worry, Too Blue to Cry." The best parts are the Campbell original "Less of Me" and "Burning Bridges" (which dates from a time when his label thought Campbell might be another Jim Reeves or Eddy Arnold), and "I'll Hold You in My Heart" and "You've Still Got a Place in My Heart" have endured on various compilations. But there's nothing here as accomplished musically or as bold in sound and construction (within a pop context) as the best album tracks -- forget the singles -- that Campbell would cut with DeLory over the ensuing three years. © Bruce Eder