Strung Out On Something New: The Reprise Recordings (2CD) [Limited]
£17.99
Description:
Spotlighting Hazlewood's seminal output for the Reprise label from 1964 to 1968, including stand-outs from his solo albums, select rare singles and sides he produced for other artists.
It was hoped that this set would be released before Hazlewood succumbed to cancer, but it now pays posthumous tribute to a legend whose unfettered creative force defies categorization. STRUNG OUT ON SOMETHING NEW: THE REPRISE RECORDINGS is available exclusively Rhino Handmade in an individually numbered, limited edition of only 5,000 copies worldwide.
Hazlewood is best known for his collaborations with Nancy Sinatra, including writing and producing “Sugar Town” and her breakthrough #1 single “These Boots Are Made For Walkin'". But, noted EntertainmentWeekly.com just after his death, “he deserves to be remembered for the totality of his career, which spanned half a century and profoundly influenced generations of musicians. Long before country-rock was a gleam in the eye of Gram Parsons (whose early work Hazlewood produced), Hazlewood all but invented the hybrid genre with his songwriting and production work for the likes of proto-surf guitarist Duane Eddy ("Rebel Rouser"). Phil Spector studied Hazlewood's recording techniques - and borrowed some of his best studio musicians. All that before Hazlewood's mid-60s work with Frank's daughter finally made them both famous.”
Hazlewood colored his own recordings with that same ground-breaking melting pot of sounds, and the utter originality of his voice - as a writer, raconteur, musician and vocalist - shines on STRUNG OUT ON SOMETHING NEW: THE REPRISE RECORDINGS. Disc one focuses on Hazlewood's innovative work prior to his rise to celebrity with Sinatra. It opens with ten tracks from his first proper solo release for Reprise, 1964's The N.S.V.I.P.s (Not So Very Important People). Backed by Al Casey's 12-string guitar, Hazlewood blends his signature gallows humour with riffs on small-town life via stark tales of misfits and wanderers who encounter both dissolution and salvation. Philosophical, eccentric, dark and singularly Hazlewood, it is a proto-concept album that no doubt has exponentially proliferated his worldwide cult following.
Also featured are selections from 1965's Friday's Child, a more traditional singer-songwriter LP spotlighting Hazlewood's whimsical turn of phrase and conversational vocals. In addition to Hazlewood compositions - one of which, “Houston,” was about to pass through Sanford Clark on its way to Dean Martin - the album also features songs by Nashville tunesmith Harlan Howard (“Sally Was A Good Old Girl”), Bobby Darin (“Since You're Gone”) and “I'm Blue,” written by Duane Eddy's then-wife Miriam. The disc closes with a trio of songs Hazlewood produced for Sanford Clark plus “A Stranger In Your Town,” the 1966 single by The Vanguards that Hazlewood co-wrote. Disc Two launches with four rare singles from the late-60s, including Bobbie Gentry's “Ode To Billie Joe,” which demonstrates Hazlewood's affinity for the gothic/rural story-song; and “I Am, You Are,” an existential declaiming in the vein of Neil Diamond of the same era. It continues with cuts from Love And Other Crimes, the album Hazlewood recorded when he returned to Reprise after guiding Nancy Sinatra to extraordinary success (both as her producer and duet partner on Nancy And Lee). Recorded in Paris, the album boasts legendary session players including Hal Blaine on drums, Don Randi on piano and James Burton on electric guitar.