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“Freddy, those songs killed me.”

Jimmy Webb once confessed to longtime musical collaborator Fred Mollin that the songs on which he made his name – “Up, Up, and Away,” Didn’t We,” “By the Time I Get to Phoenix,” “Wichita Lineman,” among innumerable other classics – placed him at a personal crossroads.  He yearned to be accepted as a singer-songwriter like his contemporaries, but the fact that he began his career writing songs for others (and massive hit songs, at that) made acceptance in that field an uphill battle.  Over the years, the solo albums recorded by Webb have rightfully grown in stature and can be recognized as key parts of his remarkable, and still-growing, legacy.  That renaissance, in large part, began with the release of Rhino Handmade’s 2004 box set The Moon’s a Harsh Mistress: Jimmy Webb in the Seventies.  That set compiled Webb’s five “singer-songwriter” albums for the Reprise, Asylum, and Atlantic labels originally released between 1970 and 1977 along with a (then) previously unreleased live album and a disc of bonus material.  Now, that long out-of-print landmark package is back from Cherry Red Records in a form that’s simultaneously expanded and slimmed down.  The new set is entitled A Life in Words and Music, and it’s available now.

The ’60s found Jimmy Webb as a wunderkind with one foot planted in Tin Pan Alley and another in the Brill Building; in other words, a songwriter capable of writing both timeless standards for the adults (the wise-beyond-his-years “Didn’t We,” quickly latched onto by Frank Sinatra) and buoyant anthems for the younger generation (The 5th Dimension’s “Up, Up and Away”). The young composer-lyricist, or tunesmith, honed his craft at Motown’s publishing arm Jobete, where he penned songs for The Supremes and Danny Day before the age of 20. (Webb liked the term “tunesmith” so much that he not only wrote a song around it, but also used it for the title of his guide to songwriting.) By 1967, aged 21, he’d already written the Brooklyn Bridge hit “The Worst That Could Happen” and Glen Campbell signature song “By the Time I Get to Phoenix,” the latter described by no less an eminence grise than Sinatra as the greatest torch song ever written. Further successes came, including three Grammy Awards in 1968 alone, and the creation of his opus, “MacArthur Park,” originally recorded by Richard Harris on his Webb-arranged and -produced album, A Tramp Shining.

Despite five Top Ten songs between 1966 and 1968 alone, with no signs of letting up (1969 was the year of Glen Campbell’s “Galveston,” continuing the partnership created with “Phoenix” and “Wichita Lineman”), Webb was seeking new directions. He grew his hair long, relocated to Laurel Canyon, and began to reinvent himself as a singer/songwriter.  That journey is the one chronicled on A Life in Words and Music, beginning with1970’s Words and Music on CD 1.

Recorded for happening label Reprise, the LP introducing the biting environmental lament “Sleepin’ in the Daytime” and the gorgeous “P.F. Sloan;” within a year, The Association would bring their shimmering sound to Webb’s melancholic ode to a songwriting colleague.  The LP also featured Webb as interpreter (a medley of “Let It Be Me,” “Never My Love,” and “I Wanna Be Free”) and explored his widescreen sensibility (the three-part “Music for an Unmade Movie,” the simply-titled “Love Song” from his unproduced score to Love Story).

The self-produced sound of Words and Music (largely played by Webb and Fred Tackett) was rougher and less polished than those Campbell or Harris recordings, but Webb’s sensitivity and deep commitment to craft never subsided even as he gradually added colors to his palette. The lush orchestral pop sound now made way for country, folk and California rock. Despite the high quality of the songs, Webb’s solo albums didn’t strike a chord with listeners the way his earliest songs had.

And So: On (1971, CD 2) introduced a proper band – keyboardist Webb, guitarist Tackett, bassist Elton “Skip” Mosher, and drummer Ray Rich) – and reintroduced orchestral trappings into Webb’s music.  Indeed, the sweeping strings on tracks such as “Met Her on a Plane” and “All My Love’s Laughter” (perhaps the album’s strongest composition) are integral to the sound.  Jazz guitarist Larry Coryell brought another color to Webb’s music, too, shining on tracks including “Highpockets” on which he provided backwards solo passages.  And So: On was a more eclectic, far-reaching affair than its predecessor, taking in songs inspired by folk music and the songs of the church as well as a pair of titles composed for an unproduced musical, His Own Dark City.

Webb took his band on the road, honing their style as a unit.  The results can be heard on 1972’s Letters (CD 3), produced by Larry Marks and engineered by Joni Mitchell’s frequent collaborator, Henry Lewy at A&M Studios.  It proved to be Webb’s most intimate record to that point, openly inspired by Mitchell’s work with Lewy.  Only a reworked “Songseller” (originally part of “Music for an Unmade Movie” on Words and Music) was a rave-up; just two songs (“Hurt Me Well” and a cover of The Everly Brothers’ “Love Hurts”) employed strings.  Some tracks just featured Jimmy and his piano (“Simile,” “Catharsis,” “Piano”) while a slowed-down, moving version of the Glen Campbell anti-war hit “Galveston” was just Jimmy and guitar.  The moving “Where Can Brown Begin” was cut by Webb with The Supremes the same year; here, he makes the song inspired by Sammy Davis, Jr. his own.  Joni Mitchell influenced the sound of Letters – and she even sang harmonies on the luminous “Simile” – but Harry Nilsson was responsible for inspiring the lightness and humor of “Campo de Encino” and “Once in the Morning.”  (That same Supremes album featured songs by both Mitchell and Nilsson, and is very much of a piece with Letters.)  Webb was still adding new elements to his songwriting but Letters remained quintessentially his: richly melodic, searching, yearning, authentic, emotional.

Once again, there was a substantial gap between studio albums as Webb juggled his commitments to films, other artists, and live performances.  Land’s End (CD 4) arrived on Asylum Records in 1974, primarily recorded in London with co-producer Robin Cable and guests including Ringo Starr; Nigel Olsson, Dee Murray, and Davey Johnstone of Elton John’s band; steel guitarist B.J. Cole; and Joni Mitchell and Susan Webb (a mainstay of Jimmy’s albums since Words and Music) on vocals.  Fred Tackett came to London from L.A., as did guitarist Dean Parks.  Land’s End featured Jimmy’s own renditions of the joyous “Feet in the Sunshine” (a highlight of The 5th Dimension’s Webb-produced album Earthbound in 1975; here it features Susan and Joni) and “Crying in My Sleep” (later popularized by Art Garfunkel on his 1977 Garfunkel-Sings-Webb album Watermark) and a couple of epic, side-closing compositions (“Just This One Time,” “Land’s End/Asleep on the Wind”) which took full advantage of the London Philharmonic Orchestra.  Clearly, Jimmy was becoming more comfortable merging intimacy with grandeur, California rock with London pomp; Land’s End might be the most “Jimmy Webb” album on this box set.

For the next three years, Webb concentrated on work with The 5th Dimension, Garfunkel, Glen Campbell, Cher, and his sister Susan.  He was inspired by George Martin’s work with his friends in the band America to seek out Martin to produce his 1977 Atlantic album El Mirage (CD 5).  In a first, he turned over arranging and conducting duties to the elder statesman, who also selected the tunes from Webb’s songbook.  Martin chose to recut “P.F. Sloan” with a post-Nixon lyrical adjustment; he also revisited the funky “Mixed-Up Guy” (previously recorded by artists including Thelma Houston and Dusty Springfield as “Mixed-Up Girl”) and tender “Christiaan No” (cut by Glen Campbell on the previous year’s Bloodlines).  El Mirage is most notable for including two of Webb’s most enduring songs: the supremely wistful “The Moon’s a Harsh Mistress” and cosmic “Highwayman,” the latter of which would be adopted by Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash, and Kris Kristofferson as their supergroup’s calling card.  (Glen Campbell recorded both songs, too, in 1974 and 1979, respectively.)

El Mirage wouldn’t be followed up until 1982’s Angel Heart on Lorimar Records.  Like the Rhino Handmade box before it, though, Cherry Red’s set doesn’t end there.  It continues by reprising the earlier set’s disc of Outtakes and Demos (with too many treasures to mention including the Letters outtakes “Whistletown,” conducted by Randy Newman, and “See That Girl,” a stunning orchestral take on the Barry Mann/Cynthia Weil ballad) and the expansive Live at the Royal Albert Hall concert album, recorded in 1972 and mixed in 2004 by Bill Inglot.  Here, Webb and his tight, crackling band play his early favorites including “By the Time I Get to Phoenix,” “MacArthur Park,” “Didn’t We,” and “Where’s the Playground, Susie” alongside newer songs and even a Frank Zappa cover (!).

Each album in A Life in Words and Music is housed in its own mini-LP jacket replicating the original front covers.  The 7CD box does the 5CD Handmade set one better by including each album on its own disc, rather than splitting LPs into two CDs as the earlier presentation did with And So: On and Land’s End.  It also adds a couple of single edits (“The Highwayman” and “If You See Me Getting Smaller”).  Note that the new set has only a 16-page booklet vs. the comprehensive 48-page one in the Rhino Handmade collection.  John Earls provides a brief overview essay covering the period, but full credits and discographical annotation are absent.  Andy Pearce and Matt Wortham have remastered the audio.

Jimmy Webb’s music continues to resonate today; he’s recently taken to TikTok and has found himself feted by Bruce Springsteen, who has acknowledged the debt to Webb on his recently-released “lost album” Twilight Hours, a companion to 2019’s Western Stars that’s an exquisite part of Tracks II.  (Ever modest, Webb told Uncut, “”I had heard these rumors and thought, ‘Is it possible that this is true? This guy needs us like a migraine!'”)

For those who missed out on The Moon’s a Harsh Mistress: Jimmy Webb in the Seventies a couple of decades ago – it now routinely fetches three figures secondhand – A Life in Words and Music will prove an indispensable and affordable addition to your library.  It boasts some of the finest music of the era, almost entirely composed by one man whose life in words and music has, indeed, been well spent.  It’s available now at the links below.  As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

Jimmy Webb, A Life in Words and Music (Cherry Red QCRCD7BOX198, 2025) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

CD 1: Words and Music (Reprise LP RS 6421, 1970)

1. Sleepin’ in the Daytime
2. F. Sloan
3. Love Song
4. Careless Weed
5. Psalm One-Five-O
6. Music from an Unmade Movie (In Three Parts): Songseller
7. Dorothy Chandler Blues
8. Jerusalem
9. Let It Be Me/Never My Love/I Wanna Be Free
10. Once Before I Die

CD 2: And: So On (Reprise LP RS 6448, 1971)

1. Met Her on a Plane
2. All Night Show
3. All My Love’s Laughter
4. Highpockets
5. Marionette
6. Laspitch
7. One Lady
8. If Ships Were Made to Sail
9. Pocketful of Keys
10. See You Then

CD 3: Letters (Reprise LP MS 2055, 1972)

1. Galveston
2. Campo de Encino
3. Love Hurts
4. Simile
5. Hurt Me Well
6. Once in the Morning
7. Catharsis
8. Song Seller
9. When Can Brown Begin
10. Piano
11. Love Hurts (Single Edit) (Reprise single REP 1116, 1972)

CD 4: Land’s End (Asylum LP SD 5070, 1974)

1. Ocean in His Eyes
2. Feet in the Sunshine
3. Cloudman
4. Lady Fits Her Blue Jeans
5. Just This One Time
6. Crying in My Sleep
7. It’s a Sin
8. Alyce Blue Gown
9. Land’s End/Asleep on the Wind

CD 5: El Mirage (Atlantic LP SD 18218, 1977)

1. The Highwayman
2. If You See Me Getting Smaller
3. Mixed-Up Guy
4. Christiaan No
5. Moment in a Shadow
6. Sugarbird
7. Where the Universes Are
8. F. Sloan
9. Dance to the Radio
10. The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress
11. Skylark (A Meditation)
12. The Highwayman (Single Edit) (Atlantic single 3426, 1977)
13. If You See Me Getting Smaller (Single Edit) (Atlantic single 3407, 1977)

CD 6: Outtakes and Demos

1. No Good Indian
2. Jet Lag Rag
3. You Might as Well Smile
4. Whistletown
5. It Will Stand
6. Hot Rod Queen
7. See That Girl
8. It Ain’t Raining
9. Vagabond Queen
10. If This Was the Last Long
11. Saturday Suit
12. Cloudman (Demo)
13. Fingerpaint Me
14. Shuck and Jive (Catharsis)
15. Simile (Demo)
16. Piano (Demo)
17. Love Hurts (with Harry Nilsson)
18. Words and Music (Radio Ad)
19. And: So On (Radio Ad)

CD 7: Live at The Royal Albert Hall

1. Overture
2. Sleepin’ in the Daytime
3. By the Time I Get to Phoenix
4. MacArthur Park
5. Wichita Lineman (Instrumental)
6. Didn’t We
7. My Guitar Wants to Kill Your Mama
8. Pocketful of Keys
9. When Can Brown Begin
10. Once in the Morning
11. Song for My Brother
12. Where’s the Playground Susie
13. Jerusalem
14. Galveston
15. Whistletown
16. Piano
17. Wichita Lineman (Encore)

CD 6 & 7 first released on The Moon’s a Harsh Mistress: Jimmy Webb in the Seventies, Rhino Handmade RHM2 7820, 2004

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