Richard Harris Album Reviews

Welshman Richard Harris originally wanted to become a rugby player. But after a bout of tuberculosis, he became an actor. He’s known for roles in films like The Field (1990), The Guns of Navarone (1961), This Sporting Life (1963), and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002). A singing role as King Arthur in 1967’s Camelot led to a music career.

It might seem perverse to cover Albus Dumbledore’s solo career. Harris is a cornball, with his dramatic vocals. It’s hard to believe he enjoyed chart success, even if he has a certain charm. Harris was fortunate to work with songwriter Jimmy Webb, at the peak of his songwriting powers in the late 1960s. He took Webb’s oddball ‘MacArthur Park’ to #2 in 1968, and recorded two full albums of Webb songs.

Richard Harris Album Reviews

A Tramp Shining

1968, 7/10
In the late 1960s, Jimmy Webb was making music for an anti-war pageant with some Hollywood stars. He started hanging out with Richard Harris after rehearsals, drinking Black Velvets: 50% Guinness, 50% champagne. Webb suggested making a record together, based on Harris’s singing in Camelot. A few weeks later, Webb received a telegram: “Dear Jimmy Webb. Come to London. Make this record. Love, Richard.”

Webb flew to London to demo songs with Harris. Webb played the piano and sang to a kaftan-wearing Harris, playing 30 or 40 songs over two days. Harris’s favourite was ‘Macarthur Park’ – he slapped the piano and exclaimed “Oh Jimmy Webb. I love that! I’ll make a hit out of that, I will.” Harris’ favourites from the two days were selected for his debut album A Tramp Shining, recorded with Wrecking Crew musicians.

Harris’s delivery can be an acquired taste, but hearing some Webb classics is worth the effort. Thankfully ‘Macarthur Park’ is an outlier, the most bombastic song on the record. In the same interview, Webb described the song “at first, we felt like the guys who’d created the A-bomb: we were a bit afraid of what we’d done.”

My favourites are concentrated at either end of the disc. The opening pair of ‘Didn’t We’ and ‘Paper Chase’ are among the strongest pieces. The fast-paced ‘If You Must Leave My Life’ is atypical for Webb, but it’s one of the strongest pieces here, while the title track is my favourite song I haven’t heard outside this disc. The lush orchestrations work, linking the tracks together.

While I’d prefer another vocalist tackling Webb’s songbook, Harris’ first two solo albums are unique and commendable.

The Yard Went On Forever

1968, 9/10
Webb wrote a set of songs for Harris’s voice for his second solo album. It’s a similar approach to the first, with Wrecking Crew musicians and orchestration backing Harris. But it’s a stronger record. Without a behemoth like ‘MacArthur Park’ dominating proceedings, there’s more room for the other songs to shine, while Harris’s singing is more comfortable and natural.

Webb’s writing is even more idiosyncratic than usual. Notably, ‘The Hive’ goes into weird Jacques Brel and Scott Walker territory “see her walking whitely/as though she really was a virgin”, with creepy harpsichord. The title track, with the opening lyrics “Is everybody safe?”, was inspired by Robert F. Kennedy’s dying words.

The centrepiece is the nine-minute epic ‘The Hymns from the Grand Terrace’, with a pretty acoustic guitar section in the middle. ‘Gayla’ is another choice cut, simultaneously creepy and tuneful. Closer ‘That’s The Way It Was’ starts like with tinkling piano like a Springsteen epic. The opening line “there once was a town where a boy could have a dog” is perfect for Harris, hovering between poignancy and ridiculousness.

Harris isn’t my favourite vocalist, but Webb does a great job of maximising his potential here. The Yard Went On Forever is a weird lost masterpiece.

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My Boy

1971, 4/10
If you want proof that Jimmy Webb’s a genius, you just need to compare the four songs he wrote on My Boy with the rest of the record. It’s hard to write good adult contemporary – your lyrics and melodies are in plain sight, and it’s easy to lapse into sentimentality.

Several of the non-Webb songs are written by the Bill Martin and Phil Coulter songwriting duo. The title track is particularly horrendous, with Harris proclaiming proudly “he’s my son!” Even worse are Harris’s own attempts at writing, like the overblown, ridiculous ‘All The Broken Children’.

If you just keep Webb’s songs, there’s a strong EP. In particular, the opening pair of ‘Beth’ and ‘Sidewalk Song’ are two of the best songs to emerge from the Webb/Harris collaboration.

My Boy is a huge step down from the weird grandiosity of The Yard Went On Forever. But it’s worth salvaging Webb’s songs.

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Slides

1972
As I understand it, Slides is Harris’ final pop album. He’s released other records, but they’re movie soundtracks or spoken word. I might come back and cover it some time, but my goodwill is running low after My Boy. Webb isn’t involved in the record.

10 Best Richard Harris Songs

The Hive
Watermark
A Tramp Shining
The Hymns from the Grand Terrace
Beth
If You Must Leave My Life
The Yard Went On Forever
Didn’t We
Gayla
That’s The Way It Was
Sidewalk Song?