Country: Glen Campbell

Recording information: Doncaster, England (1991).
Glen Campbell walked the line between country and pop as gracefully as any major artist of the '60s and '70s, recording a string of hits (most written by Jimmy Webb) that featured Campbell's warm, emotionally intimate vocals and his excellent guitar work with arrangements that were artful but down-home at the same time. Campbell cut plenty of classic sides during his heyday, and enjoyed a welcome comeback with 2008's Meet Glen Campbell before illness sadly derailed his career, but this installment in Sony's Country anthology series isn't the kind of collection most fans might be hoping for. Instead of the original studio recordings, Country was assembled from a collection of concert recordings that was released in 2012 as Live Anthology: 1972-2001 (Live Anthology featured 22 songs, while Country edits the set list down to 14 tunes), and while these performances are quite solid, with Campbell in fine voice and a lively mood (not to mention his often witty between-song patter), this is a different kettle of fish from the classic studio recordings of "Gentle on My Mind," "By the Time I Get to Phoenix," "Galveston," and many others. Longtime Glen Campbell fans won't be disappointed by the caliber of his performances on Country, but they might be curious why the package doesn't mention it's a live album, and a live album they may already own at that. ~ Mark Deming