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“Califia: The Songs Of Lee Hazlewood” is the latest addition to Ace Records’ high-profile Songwriter series. Comprising fan favourites and obscure collectables in equal measure, the set spans Sanford Clark’s Top 10 hit of 1956 ‘The Fool’ (built on a memorable contribution from guitar wizard Al Casey) to 1970’s German language interpretation of ‘And I Loved You Then’ by transcontinental pop princess Peggy March (a song from Hazlewood’s “13” LP).
Hazlewood enjoys a strong cult following, lauded by hipsters such as Primal Scream, Nick Cave, Beck, the Jesus & Mary Chain, Pulp and Sonic Youth. His performance at London’s Meltdown Festival in 1999 found him backed by members of Stereolab and the High Llamas, while the “Total Lee!” tribute album of 2002 had the indie cognoscenti tripping over each other to record his compositions.
One of pop’s genuine originals, Hazlewood was a brilliant and endlessly versatile songwriter, equally at home with twangin’ rock’n’roll (dig Don Cole’s wild ‘Snake Eyed Mama’), country, psychedelia, R&B, folk, easy listening, burlesque or blues. His songs are truly beyond categorisation. He was also a pioneer in the mysterious art of record production and taught a thing or two to the young Phil Spector, who hung around paying close attention while Hazlewood crafted magnificent guitar instrumentals for Duane Eddy. Of the 25 tracks on “Califia”, Hazlewood wrote each one and produced all but four.
As a performer, he possessed an instantly recognisable bass drawl perfectly suited to his lyrical tales of low-rent heartache, self-deprecating comedy, picturesque nostalgia and mystical cowboy psychedelia. He sings on four cuts on this collection, including the folksy Shacklefords’ recording of ‘The City Never Sleeps At Night’, a song written for Nancy Sinatra. As Dionne Warwick was to Burt Bacharach, Petula Clark to Tony Hatch and the Shangri-Las to Shadow Morton, Nancy was Lee Hazlewood’s perfect muse. The lushly orchestrated opening duet ‘Lady Bird’ - one of the dozens of pop masterpieces that resulted from their partnership - was personally selected for this compilation by the lady herself.
A companion volume of Hazlewood-penned instrumentals is also in the Ace pipeline, so watch this space. Meanwhile, check out the rest of our Songwriter series, which includes compilations based on the works of Randy Newman, Jackie DeShannon, Neil Diamond, Goffin & King, Burt Bacharach and many others.
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