Band: Richard Harris
Album: A Tramp Shining
Best song: “MacArthur Park” is both the greatest and worst song.
Worst song: See above.
As evidenced by the beautiful Scarlett Johansson, actors-turned-singers need to have some grounding in musical theater to successfully make the transition to just singer. Richard Harris’s background in musicals make him someone who could phrase songs properly. The Irish actor’s turn in Camelot a year before made him perfect to intone songwriter Jimmy Webb’s songs.
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I should probably say something here about Webb. Like a Burt Bachrach for the middle of the country, Webb’s compositions have a stateliness about them without delving into the crooning audacity of Bachrach’s stuff. Harris’ voice is not Glenn Campbell’s; he can’t handle the Webb arrangements as well as Campbell did.