Times Like These

In June 2011, Glen Campbell stunned fans when he revealed in a press release that he was suffering from Alzheimer's disease. It was not an easy decision to go public with his private struggle, but his family felt it was a decision that needed to be made. Following the announcement, Campbell released what he said would be his final album of new, original material, "Ghost On The Canvas", then hit the road on what he called his farewell tour. But an interesting thing happened. Instead of fading off into the sunset like a forgotten has-been, the 76-year-old entertainer was catapulted back into the spotlight and the music industry couldn't seem to shower him with enough accolades.

Most of the time, he sailed through his concert set like the charismatic veteran he is. Three teleprompters at the foot of the stage enabled him to read his lyrics and when he would flub a line, he usually laughed it off. But there were moments when he became a little disoriented. While most people with Alzheimer's drift in and out of lucidity without fanfare, you knew exactly when Campbell hit a rough patch. So it helped a lot that he was surrounded by family on stage. Glen's son Cal was on drums, his brother, Shannon, on guitar nearby. Their younger sister, Ashley, stood to Campbell's left, on keyboards, banjo and violin. Fans were happy to fill in the gaps when he had a senior moment, singing his lyrics back at him until he found his way again. Campbell's wife, Kim, knew full well that these incidents would occur from time to time. But the whole family has made peace with it, including Campbell.

Prior to all of this, in 2008, Campbell quietly released what amounted to a re-introductory album of cover songs called "Meet Glen Campbell". Chart-wise, it came and went, making barely a ripple, which is unfortunate because it was very obviously made with care and respect for the man's hit-making history. The song choices are all over the map. Some are not much of a surprise (Jackson Browne's "These Days" or Green Day's "Time Of Your Life") but there's a few eyebrow raisers too, like "Sing" by the Scottish band, Travis, or Lou Reed's Velvet Underground song "Jesus", that work really well for Campbell. Now, before you accuse Glen or his producers of scrounging for hipster cred, you should remember that this is a guy who cut a version of "Wichita Lineman" with Stone Temple Pilots a few years back because they wanted to work with him!

This album feels completely different than say, Johnny Cash's series of American Recordings. This is no musical epitaph. The production work on this album is top shelf and manages to be both contemporary and an homage to Glen's great Capitol years at the same time; no small feat. It certainly knows when to get out of the way but there are times when it sounds as big and cinematic as the pan shots of Monument Valley at the beginning of the classic western, "The Searchers".

Foo Fighters

So when it came down to picking today's Kool Kover, I had a choice to make. There's a terrific version of Tom Petty's "Walls" on this album that I was going to feature here, but at the last minute, I decided to save Tom for another day. (It'll be worth the wait, I promise.)

Instead, here's Glen Campbell's fantastic rendition of "Times Like These" by Foo Fighters! It's really great when an artist is doing someone else's song and manages to make it sound like it's their own. I'm pretty sure Dave Grohl was happy about this. I would be proud if I were him. To me, this track sounds like an outtake from Glen's "Galveston" sessions. Enjoy!

By the way, for the sake of comparison in case you're not that familiar with the song, here's the Foo Fighters' recording of "Times Like These". Vive la différence!

Ok, time to buy stuff! All things Glen Campbell are available at Amazon, as always. Plenty of Foo Fighters too. Have a great weekend!