Richard Harris - The Yard Went on Forever (1968)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:
Richard Harris - A Tramp Shining (1968)

For all the derision it attracts, "MacArthur Park" is an extremely strange piece of music, and its massive success as a single probably surprised everyone involved in its recording and release. To follow it up, Harris (well, Jimmy Webb, who actually wrote and arranged the entirety of both this album and A Tramp Shining) leaned into that song's artfully overblown melodrama, and generated a towering song cycle of heartbroken symphonic vocal pop that holds together even better than its predecessor.

Track listing:

1. The Yard Went on Forever

2. Watermark

3. Interim

4. Gayla

5. The Hymns from the Grand Terrace

6. The Hive

7. Lucky Me

8. That's the Way It Was

Is everybody safe?

Has everybody got a place to hide?

Is everybody warm inside?

You might also wanna hear:

Astrud Gilberto - I Haven't Got Anything Better to Do (1969)

Pierre Bachelet - Pierre Bachelet (1975)

Richard Harris - A Tramp Shining (1968)

Best known for including the original version of the impossibly maudlin "MacArthur Park", A Tramp Shining is a surprisingly, endearingly outsider-sounding collection of swooning, orchestral 60s pop. Fans of early Scott Walker will love Harris' slightly skewed take on crooning, while fans of Bryter Later will fall for the lush instrumental arrangements and starry-eyed melodrama.

Track listing:
1. Didn't We

2. Paper Chase

3. Name of My Sorrow

4. Lovers Such as I

5. In the Final Hours

6. MacArthur Park

7. Dancing Girl

8. If You Must Leave My Life

9. A Tramp Shining

Bless the place that no one goes
Bless the words that no one knows
Bless the rose that never grows
Lights that are dim, trees without limbs
Babies that cry, and lovers such as I