Customer Reviews

Lee Hazlewood-ism: Its Cause and Cure

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Every song on this album is a classic, it sounds almost like a best-of. But it's a regular studio-album. So: it's just GREAT.

.. give this album a shot. The songs are pure class, inimitable Hazelwood earnestness. He never cracks a smile and some of the songs almost break your heart except that you can't get rid of that nagging feeling that you should be laughing out loud, and half the time you are! This is a very cool album.

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.