Lee Hazlewood Vinyl, CD & Tape 5 Items

Cuts from essential albums like Cowboy In Sweden Features duets with Suzi Jane Hokom, AnnMargret and Nina Lizell Audio remastered from original tapes Unreleased song “I Just Learned To Run” Indepth liner notes & unseen photographs As a true legend of the great American songbook and a rebellious pioneer who left behind a lengthy trail of echo laden pop masterpieces, Lee Hazlewood’s influence continues to reverberate today. Between 196871, Hazlewood not only released his finest solo work, but produced numerous artists on LHI. From acidfolk and countryrock to poppsych and soul, LHI issued dozens of long forgotten 45s and LPs. This series will include material from LHI (remastered for the first time from the original analog tapes), along with Lee’s output for other labels, rarities, and unreleased gems.

With his handlebar moustache and booming baritone, Lee Hazlewood was one of the defining stars of the late ‘60s. Though he’s perhaps best known for his work with Nancy Sinatra (including writing megahit “These Boots Are Made For Walking”), Hazlewood did stunning work away from that particular glamour queen and found latter day champions in Beck, Sonic Youth, and Jarvis Cocker. Now, for Record Store Day 2012, we are kicking off our excavation of the Lee Hazlewood archives with this anthology, Singles, Nudes & Backsides, collecting the best of Lee’s solo songs and duets from his LHI (Lee Hazlewood Industries) imprint.

As a true legend of the great American songbook and a rebellious pioneer who left behind a lengthy trail of echo laden pop masterpieces, Lee’s influence continues to reverberate today. Between 196871, Hazlewood not only released his finest solo work, but produced numerous artists on LHI. From acidfolk and countryrock to poppsych and soul, LHI issued dozens of long forgotten 45s and LPs. This series will include material from LHI (remastered for the first time from the original analog tapes), along with Lee’s output for other labels, rarities, and unreleased gems.

See the sleeve: surrounded by nude girls, each wearing a fake moustache, Hazlewood wears a suit, eversoslightly awkwardly playing the role of the ‘60s playboy. Just like the picture, the songs present a man conflicted; he’s the tenderhearted romantic, the brokenhearted loser and the rugged cowboy, all in one. It’s there in the western swing of “Califia (Stone Rider)”, the loneliness of ”The Bed” and the bleak beauty of ”If It’s Monday Morning.” Hazlewood’s tremulous voice was made for duets (indeed, he wrote ”Some Velvet Morning”, one of the greatest of all time); here, Suzi Jane Hokom, AnnMargret and Nina Lizell play counterpart to his manly tones.

In the wonderful liner notes, written by British journalist Wyndham Wallace, the writer describes his friend Hazlewood as “a curmudgeonly, unpredictable sort at the best of times, as impatient with his own talent as he is with other people.” The Hazlewood Wallace knew was puzzled by the growing interest in him in the last two decades of his life, which was ended by cancer at age 78. That late flurry of interest saw him perform at the Royal Festival Hall in 1999, his first ever solo performance in the UK.

A natural wanderer, Lee lived a big life, fighting in the Korean War, working as a radio DJ in Phoenix, Arizona, setting up Viv Records in the ‘50s, working as a bigshot LA producer in the ‘60s, signing Phil Spector to his Trey Records label and prematurely announcing retirement in the wake of the mid‘60s British invasion. He didn’t: Nancy Sinatra came along, the hits started flowing and he continued producing characterful solo albums into the ‘70s, which saw his move to Sweden. By 2007, Hazlewood was living in Vegas, and begrudgingly enjoying that flurry of latterday interest in his work. This landmark compilation promises to create many more converts.

Newly Expanded Deluxe Double LP Edition! Includes the original 1972 album, plus all of Larry Mark's acoustic demos and tracks from his unreleased 1970 LHI LP for the first time on vinyl Previously unreleased session outtake of “Cold Hard Times” plus demos of obscure Hazlewood compositions “Drums,” “The Start,” “Susie,” “Miracle on 19th Street,” and “Peppermint Morning” 30 total tracks Remastered by GRAMMY®nominated mastering engineer John Baldwin Liner notes by GRAMMY®nominated reissue producer Hunter Lea including interviews with Larry Marks, Joe Cannon, Torbjörn Axelman & Suzi Jane Hokom Lee Hazlewood comic strip, the story of 13 told through original artwork by Jess Rotter Double LP housed in a gatefold jacket “Pimps… whores… pushers… dopers… gangsters… and bottom of the human chain shitheels. Now you’re probably thinking I’m writing about major record companies and their unscrupulous executives… and lawyers. You could be right… but this time… You’re Wrong! I’m describing the characters in my album ‘13’ …Some I knew… some I invented … some are true… some are false… some I liked… some I didn’t. But they all had a story to tell and I told it…none of ‘em seem to care… and I don’t either… have fun…" Lee Hazlewood



“He (Lee) took my voice off the album and put his voice on the album. Now don’t forget these were in my keys, it was my charts, it was my everything. Lee Hazlewood was not even remotely going to be considered as an artist for this album and that’s the way he wanted it.” Larry Marks



The album 13 was never supposed to be a Lee Hazlewood album. It is perhaps the strangest record in one of the most varied discographies in music. The Bombastic brass heavy funk, deep blues and soul paired with Hazlewood’s subterranean baritone would be best enjoyed with a tall Chivas in an offstrip seedy Vegas lounge. By 1972 Lee Hazlewood had settled in his new homeland of Sweden. His days were spent carousing, making movies with Torbjӧrn Axelman and releasing albums. To keep up his prolific recorded output, Lee began to mine the recently defunct LHI Records archives for material. One such gem, was an unreleased album by Larry Marks (lhi producer, artist and the voice of the first ScoobyDoo theme). Larry’s concept was to take Hazlewood’s strongest compositions and arrange them in a soul vibe. An album was completed, but with no distribution in America and no funding, Lee had no vehicle to release Larry’s record. The tapes were taken to Sweden, Larry’s voice was wiped and Hazlewood’s was dubbed… 13 was born.

Newly Expanded Deluxe Double LP Edition! Double LP expanded edition includes outtakes, demos and instrumentals, including 10 previously unreleased recordings 26 total tracks Album remastered from pristine LHI master tapes by GRAMMY®nominated mastering engineer John Baldwin Liner notes by GRAMMY®nominated reissue producer Hunter Lea including interviews with Torbjörn Axelman, Suzi Jane Hokom, Nina Lizell, Don Randi, Hal Blaine and Shel Talmy Rare film production photos from the Torbjörn Axelman archive Double LP housed in a gatefold jacket By the end of the 1960s Lee Hazlewood’s LHI Records had burned piles of cash, gone through a half dozen distributors and failed to achieve the kind of chart success “Boots” had promised. Fortunately for Lee there was a land where he was still on the top of the charts, a place where women flowed like Brännvin...Sweden was calling. Released as the last LHI LP, Cowboy in Sweden was a soundtrack to the 1970 cult classic film of the same name starring Lee Hazlewood. The film was a surreal psychedelic account of Lee’s journey to his new homeland, while the soundtrack was a perfect compilation of Hazlewood’s orchestral melancholy country pop songs. Recorded over a prolific globe trotting three year period, Lee’s peak on LHI records was ironically the label’s swan song.

Lee Hazlewood's second album for MGM had something of a split personality, though both sides were an accurate depiction of various sides of his musical mind. Released in 1967, Lee Hazlewoodism: Its Cause and Cure opens with five story-songs, most of which are dramatic narratives in which Hazlewood speaks rather than sings, spinning tales of brave but kind-hearted matadors, pioneer women in love with Indian braves, and old men strumming away their stories. Hazlewood approaches his recitations with all the seriousness he can muster, while Billy Strange's arrangements provide elaborate but understated accompaniment, suggesting a film score that doesn't drown out the dialogue in the big scenes. Elsewhere, the album's second half finds Hazlewood in broader and more playful form, as he celebrates his own blissful laziness on "Home (I'm Home)," a wino's marginal existence on "After Six," and a good-time gal's less than rosy reputation on "Suzi Jane is Back in Town," which is set to a very theatrical ragtime backdrop. "In Our Time" is a folk-rock number that sounds like a P.F. Sloan homage, while "Dark in My Heart" has a Dylan-esque tone as Hazlewood shares his troubles while the band cooks up a "Tombstone Blues" shuffle behind him. If the first half of the album speaks of a mature and focused vision, the second sounds like a clever guy goofing off and doing what he wants, with a handful of expert sidemen along for the ride, and none of it seems to have been created with any thought of how the label might make their money back. The unifying theme of Lee Hazlewoodism: Its Cause and Cure is simply Hazlewood being Hazlewood, with a crew of first-call studio pros helping him realize his vision (or sometimes his whims) as the Playboy Philosopher of the L.A. Cowboy Set, and while he made better albums, this one reflects his wit and talents better than most. Mark Deming.