Search - Lee Hazlewood :: Lee Hazlewood-ism: Its Cause and Cure

Lee Hazlewood
Lee Hazlewood-ism: Its Cause and Cure
Genres: Country, Pop, Rock

Track Listings (10) - Disc #1
1. Girls In Paris
2. Jose
3. Old Man And His Guitar
4. Nights
5. I Am A Part
6. Home
7. After Six
8. Suzi Jane Is Back In Town
9. In Our Time
10. Dark In My Heart

This is the fifth solo attempt by the producer, singer/songwriter, and self-proclaimed bohemian with "a Scotch-scarred heart," who would rather see people remembering his ill-fallen ballpoint "from a rare sort of liver ail... more »ment" instead of his songwriting -- thus he states in the liner notes to this album. In terms of concept, "Lee Hazlewood-ism: Its Cause and Cure' has much in common with its immediate predecessor, "The Very Special World of Lee Hazlewood". Both albums include the familiar, Western movie classic-styled orchestration by arranger Billy Strange, who would create a masterpiece with the follow-up, the duet album "Nancy & Lee". Combined with Hazlewood's own contradictory performance - the ambiguous content of his half-sung/half-spoken tales is delivered without a hint of irony - the result proves mysterious, funny, and sincere at the same time. Hazlewood's performance is helped a great deal by his unearthly deep voice which, upon hearing, will make friends, family, and stereo equipment alike beg for mercy. In this instance, Hazlewood gets nostalgic about former Parisian mistresses and tries to outdo both Sinatra Sr. (the tender "I Am a Part") and daughter Nancy ("In Our Time," this time delivered by an outraged Hazlewood himself). However, most of the time he seems completely at ease with the development of an unsuccessful solo career "Home (He's Home)", and "The Old Man and His Guitar" nearly has Hazlewood sounding like he's been retired for ages. If you don't get the picture by now, there are the album's intriguing highlights - the haunting epics "José" and "The Nights" - to convince you. The former tells the tale of a homeless Mexican boy who's destined to become a glorious bullfighter, while the latter offers a closer look at the ways of life of an Indian tribe - from the perspective of a white female who happens to live with one of them. Essential Hazlewood, if not for the phantom choirs that appear from the background with every chorus to enhance the dramatic effect, then at least for the eccentric lyrics ("The ways of a red man are lonely/And his woman can expect little more/Than a day filled with hard work and sorrow/So she learns to live for: the nights, the nights"). -Quint Klik, All Music Guide

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CD Details

All Artists: Lee Hazlewood
Title: Lee Hazlewood-ism: Its Cause and Cure
Members Wishing: 2
Total Copies: 0
Label: Water
Original Release Date: 1/1/2007
Re-Release Date: 8/27/2007
Genres: Country, Pop, Rock
Style: Oldies
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPC: 646315720228

Synopsis

Album Description

This is the fifth solo attempt by the producer, singer/songwriter, and self-proclaimed bohemian with "a Scotch-scarred heart," who would rather see people remembering his ill-fallen ballpoint "from a rare sort of liver ailment" instead of his songwriting -- thus he states in the liner notes to this album. In terms of concept, "Lee Hazlewood-ism: Its Cause and Cure' has much in common with its immediate predecessor, "The Very Special World of Lee Hazlewood". Both albums include the familiar, Western movie classic-styled orchestration by arranger Billy Strange, who would create a masterpiece with the follow-up, the duet album "Nancy & Lee". Combined with Hazlewood's own contradictory performance - the ambiguous content of his half-sung/half-spoken tales is delivered without a hint of irony - the result proves mysterious, funny, and sincere at the same time. Hazlewood's performance is helped a great deal by his unearthly deep voice which, upon hearing, will make friends, family, and stereo equipment alike beg for mercy. In this instance, Hazlewood gets nostalgic about former Parisian mistresses and tries to outdo both Sinatra Sr. (the tender "I Am a Part") and daughter Nancy ("In Our Time," this time delivered by an outraged Hazlewood himself). However, most of the time he seems completely at ease with the development of an unsuccessful solo career "Home (He's Home)", and "The Old Man and His Guitar" nearly has Hazlewood sounding like he's been retired for ages. If you don't get the picture by now, there are the album's intriguing highlights - the haunting epics "José" and "The Nights" - to convince you. The former tells the tale of a homeless Mexican boy who's destined to become a glorious bullfighter, while the latter offers a closer look at the ways of life of an Indian tribe - from the perspective of a white female who happens to live with one of them. Essential Hazlewood, if not for the phantom choirs that appear from the background with every chorus to enhance the dramatic effect, then at least for the eccentric lyrics ("The ways of a red man are lonely/And his woman can expect little more/Than a day filled with hard work and sorrow/So she learns to live for: the nights, the nights"). -Quint Klik, All Music Guide

CD Reviews

Pure Sixties Cheese

Kurt Harding | Boerne TX | 10/30/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"A reviewer of another Lee Hazlewood album off-handedly commented that your opinion of that particular album shows that you either love him or you don't. Well, that could be said of a lot of musicians but certainly not for all of them. With Lee Hazlewood as with many other artists who have both long and eclectic careers, it all depends not only on your own musical tastes but also on the period of that career on which you base your opinion. For instance, I like some of Hazlewood's post-Sinatra output much better than some of that which was issued in his early years. So if my only experience with the work of Hazlewood had been hearing Lee Hazlewoodism: Its Cause and Cure, my opinion of him would be far less elevated than it now is.

I bought this before there was a song list posted on amazon. To my dismay, all of the songs on this CD are already on The Complete MGM Recordings which I already own. So, if you already own that, there is no reason to buy this unless you just have to have a copy of Hazlewood's space cadet liner notes from the original album and the recently written industry panegyric that accompanies them.

As for the music, well its mostly pure sixties cheese. That doesn't mean I don't enjoy it, indeed some songs like Jose and The Night are so bad that they are good! Those who were young adults in the mid-sixties will find In Our Time is an excellent commentary on those times. After Six evokes the "lounge generation", while Suzi Jane Is Back In Town is just plain weird. My favorites are The Old Man and His Guitar and I Am A Part, both of which showcase Hazlewood's budding songwriting skills.

If I was unaware of the whole of Hazlewood's career, I might dismiss this as a quirky relic from a guy who had one foot in my parent's world and one foot in mine. But I AM aware and I AM a fan, so I see this period as a mere phase in the musical development of the well-rounded and singular entertainer that Lee Hazlewood ultimately became."