Jimmy Webb performing on TV in 1968 (And other Webb-related topics)

[pljms]

Considering Jimmy Webb's fame as a songwriter in the late 60s I have long found it surprising that there didn't seem to be any video evidence of him appearing on American TV at the time, that is until I came across this remarkable footage taken from a show called Playboy After Dark. According to the info attached to the video, Webb's performance alone at the piano of 'One Of The Nicer Things' was filmed in September 1968 but not broadcast until March the following year. In keeping with most of the other excerpts I've seen of this Hugh Hefner fronted show, an audience of mostly young women stand around him in very close proximity while he performs.

[Blair N. Cummings]

This clip says so much: so much right and so much wrong. To those of us of a certain age and perspective it presages - and explains - the tragic arc of his career.

[pljms]

Jimmy Webb made a beautiful record of 'One Of The Nicer Things' released as a single at the time and which featured the kind of orchestration he would usually reserve for a Richard Harris or a 5th Dimension record. Making allowances for the limitations of his singing voice at the time, I think it's a real shame that Webb didn't record a whole album in a similar vein to that 45 and with all the romanticism we associate with his most famous songs. Looking at what was recorded by others in late '68 and '69, he certainly had enough quality material for such a project.

Looking at the label of this 45 I see that the producer is William F. Williams.

[Sara D]

The first time I saw Webb perform was in the early 70s when he was wearing his hippie look with the regulation shoulder length hair and big beard. It was on a BBC TV In Concert show and when he performed a few of his famous songs from the 60s it came across a bit like 'Jimmy Webb sings the hits of Jim Webb in the style of a singer-songwriter circa 1971'. Despite the phoniness of the studio setup, his performance in 1968 of that beautiful song seems much more natural and in fact I found it rather charming.

[blueonblue]

Here's an oddity, a TV performance of Webb's much underrated album 'The Animals Christmas' from 1986.





'blue'

[pljms]

Here's an extended clip from Jimmy Webb's appearance on Playboy After Dark that features the interview with Hugh Hefner that preceded his performance of 'One Of The Nicer Things'.

[Blair N. Cummings]

Regarding the demo of this song mentioned above, there are four volumes of these available on Spotify under the title, Jimmy Webb, Legendary. All are very early songs and not all of his later quality. They are, however, must-listens for his fans.

[Sara D]

Here's an extended clip from Jimmy Webb's appearance on Playboy After Dark that features the interview with Hugh Hefner that preceded his performance of 'One Of The Nicer Things'.

The interview or short chat was quite amusing and having read Webb's memoir I wonder whether if he'd performed a full-length version of MacArthur Park on the show instead of One Of The Nicer Things Hugh Hefner might just have set him up with the much hoped for 'extras' he was obviously disappointed not to receive.

[geoff85]

Here's an extended clip from Jimmy Webb's appearance on Playboy After Dark that features the interview with Hugh Hefner that preceded his performance of 'One Of The Nicer Things'.

The interview or short chat was quite amusing and having read Webb's memoir I wonder whether if he'd performed a full-length version of MacArthur Park on the show instead of One Of The Nicer Things Hugh Hefner might just have set him up with the much hoped for 'extras' he was obviously disappointed not to receive.

Extras??? I hear the wine is the best at the mansion.

[Martin Johnson]

Here's an extended clip from Jimmy Webb's appearance on Playboy After Dark that features the interview with Hugh Hefner that preceded his performance of 'One Of The Nicer Things'.

What a remarkable bit of footage that is, not just for the interview but also for Webb's performance of the song. Of course Hugh Hefner introduced him as "Jim Webb" and that's how I remember him always being called or referred to in those days. If this was filmed in September '68 as it states above then it was in the middle of a very busy time for Webb with both Richard Harris's album 'The Yard Went On Forever' and the Glen Campbell single 'Wichita Lineman released the following month. In the case of the Richard Harris album it followed on just five months after the release of 'A Tramp Shining', a ridiculously quick turnaround even for those days.

[pljms]

I was going to post the sad news that singer Leah Kunkel had died on the Jimmy Webb forum only to find that after four or five months that it's still disabled. She's well known to Webb fans for her vocals on 'Our Movie' from his 'Angel Heart' album and for being one of only two artists to cover his great lost gem of a song 'Let's Begin' which featured on her 1980 album 'I Run With Trouble'.

[Blair N. Cummings]

Each previous version of the Webb forum was unceremoniously shut down - but only to reappear with a newer design. The most recent closure seems permanent to me. There were only around half a dozen participants left, mostly re-making old points and reasserting old favorites. In the absence of any new album since `92`s `Suspending Disbelief` (`Twilight of the Renegades` was a collection of outtakes etc.) there was nothing else to say. I don`t know what the cost of maintaining one of these boards is but it couldn`t have been worth it any longer.
It is too bad that the rubric of silence that the moderator took toward the participants disallowed for a statement. More regrettable is that the collective archive of a quarter century seemingly will not be made available.

[pljms]

I saw Glen Campbell's daughter Ashley with her partner Thor Jensen at the Bull's Head in Barnes a few weeks back and they performed a highly impressive set, despite not including either of the two Jimmy Webb songs they've been known to perform. One of those is 'The Highwayman' and the other is 'Careless Weed', a song which featured on Webb's first official solo album,'Words And Music'.

[Sara D]

I was curious as to how their version of 'The Highwayman' sounded and was surprised to discover that Ashley Campbell sings it rather than Thor Jensen.

[Blair N. Cummings]

Make what you will of this extract from an interview JW gave earlier this week. As an incurably grumpy old man who has read this too many times over the past thirty- how-many-years now? , I just groaned:

Part of what may come out in the coming year for Webb is new music and a sequel to “The Cake and the Rain: A Memoir,” the Oklahoma native’s 2017 autobiography that only went up to his 23rd year. To do both, Webb admits he’s going to have to buckle down and carve out some time.

“I think I have at least one more album in me and I have the songs,” he said “Some of them partially complete and some of them finished. Some of them I haven’t even thought of yet. That’s another thing where you stop writing now because you’re going to be recording. Recording is recording. That’s another discipline. I have to make a decision, and I think Laura is preparing an environment for us in our new home. There will be room for me to actually take six months and have a room that is devoted to writing that book. No touring and no interruptions. You have to put on the cassock to write. That’s another frame of reference that you have to embrace completely and wholeheartedly."