The Smiley Smile Message Board

I've recently discovered Lee, the "psychedelic cowboy," through Light in the Attic's box set release of Lee Hazlewood Industries: There's a Dream I've Been Saving (1966-1971).
Check it out here: http://lightintheattic.net/releases/963-there-s-a-dream-i-ve-been-saving-lee-hazlewood-industries-1966-1971 (http://lightintheattic.net/releases/963-there-s-a-dream-i-ve-been-saving-lee-hazlewood-industries-1966-1971) (for a pretty fair price, too!)

Anyway, I've really come to love his music..
Like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-t3n9EJvcU (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-t3n9EJvcU)
(Featuring his frequent collaborators, The Wrecking Crew, which he's rumored to have introduced Phil Spector to.)

I've also begun to slowly dig into the box set and I've listened to his 1971 LP, Requiem for an Almost Lady. Compared to most of his albums, this one's pretty stripped down. It's Lee's voice, an acoustic guitar or two, bass, and the occasional harmonica.
I've really taken to the second song, "If It's Monday Morning," featuring, like most of the songs on the album, a spoken word intro.
Hear that here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEV5KSBl7rs (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEV5KSBl7rs)
The song itself is beautiful, and, to me, is very reminiscent of early Bob Dylan songs.

I plan on listening to Cowboy in Sweden next, featuring the lovely "Hey Cowboy."
That's here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5bglyB6Prs (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5bglyB6Prs)
The horns in the song are amazing and the way strings swell as Nina sings is sublime. Then, Lee's baritone rings through and brings you back down.

Are any of you fine folk partial to Lee and his wondrous mustache?

Yep, big fan here. In the early 00s Nancy & him played a concert at a small venue near the place where I lived in Denmark at that time. I couldn't make it and have regretted it ever since!  >:(

As much as I love the Nancy & Lee stuff, my personal favourites are within his 60s solo stuff; songs like My Autumn's Done Come, Your Sweet Love and the mega-catchy AND mega-kitschy José!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fdXdvyFFEY

One comment; I think the general consensus is that Lee inspired Phil Spector in terms of the usuage of reverb and echo and generally getting a nice, 'fat' sound on recordings. It's normally Jack Nitszche who gets the credit for introducing 'the Tycoon of Teen' to the Wrecking Crew.

In the '90s I saw Lee sing with Nancy on the boardwalk in Santa Cruz. It was spectacular...the waves crashing behind them.

A few years later I read an interview in which Lee said: "The thing is, a lot of kids come to my shows now. And from talkin' to them afterwards, I get the feeling that for some reason they think I'm hip. Well, I'm not hip. I'm hep. There is a difference."

Another quote from it: "Took me two years of radio school to get the Texas out of my voice, and ten years to get it back in again."