No way was the country-pop megastar of "Rhinestone Cowboy" fame going to make a sparse fixin'-to-die record à la Johnny Cash. Billed as Glen Campbell's farewell to music (the 75-year-old singer was recently diagnosed with Alzheimer's), Ghost is baroquely arranged drama that echoes his string-swelled Seventies hits. Yet this biographical album, penned by Campbell and some unlikely contributors (including the Replacements' Paul Westerberg), is introspective and often haunted. Campbell's soaring tenor has gone a bit shaky with age, but the years have added an edge to his singing. Dude's definitely not going out softly.

Listen to "Ghost on the Canvas":

“All Along the Watchtower”

Jimi Hendrix got hold of Bob Dylan's early John Wesley Harding tapes and in late 1967 recorded a version of "All Along the Watchtower" with the Experience in London. Dissatisfied with that first development, Hendrix brought those tapes with him to New York in early 1968 when he began work on Electric Ladyland. Eddie Kramer, Hendrix's engineer at the time, told Rolling Stone that Hendrix "was still looked upon by his basically white audience as the mammoth black guitar hero. There was a constant fight within him to expand himself." Hendrix's successful take on Dylan's work has long been recognized by the songwriter. "I liked Jimi Hendrix's record of this and ever since he died I've been doing it that way," Dylan wrote in the liner notes to his Biograph box set. "Strange how when I sing it, I always feel it's a tribute to him in some kind of way."