Since 2012, the Light in the Attic label has been mining producer-creative maverick Lee Hazlewood’s LHI label for gems recorded by Hazlewood himself as well as artists like Honey Ltd. and The Kitchen Cinq.  A 2013 reissue turned its attention to Hazlewood’ 1963 cult-classic Mercury LP Trouble is a Lonesome Town, and now, LITA is looking in the direction of his MGM recordings originally released between 1966 and 1968.  The label has just reissued all three of Hazlewood’s MGM Records albums on CD and vinyl.  The Very Special World of Lee Hazlewood, Lee Hazlewoodism: Its Cause and Cure, and Something Special have all arrived in newly remastered and expanded editions.

When Lee Hazlewood joined MGM, he was coming off a period of huge success at Reprise Records where he had produced and/or written hits for artists including Dino, Desi, and Billy, Dean Martin, and Nancy Sinatra; he had also continued his solo recording career at Reprise.  For his first MGM LP, The Very Special World of Lee Hazlewood, the singer-songwriter-producer was in his familiar bag blending pop, country, lounge, rock, and mariachi into an offbeat sound all his own.  Recording in late 1965 and early 1966, he revisited Dino, Desi and Billy’s “Not the Lovin’ Kind” and Nancy Sinatra’s “So Long Babe” and “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’,” and previewed songs he would record with Nancy like “Sand.”  The album shared much in common with his Reprise sides, featuring the same arranger (guitarist Billy Strange), arranger (Eddie Brackett) and studio (United) for a big, produced sound with Hazlewood’s quirky half-spoken, half-sung vocals at its center.  LITA’s reissue adds one bonus track: Lee’s duet with Suzi Jane Hokom on “Summer Wine.”

The unusually-titled Lee Hazlewoodism: Its Cause and Cure followed in 1967.  It was even more eclectic than its predecessor, with the rollicking honky-tonk of “Suzi Jane’s Back in Town,” the western epic “The Nights,” the affecting “The Old Man and His Guitar,” the bullfighting fantasy “Jose,” and more.  If the LP detailed “the cause” of Lee Hazlewoodism, it also advised the cure: “Buy the damn album!”  LITA’s reissue gains three bonus instrumentals recorded by “Lee Hazlewood’s Woodchucks”: “Frenesi,” “Muchacho” and the originally-unissued “Batman.”

In February and March 1967, the ever-prolific Hazlewood returned to the studio to cut a third LP.  Something Special would take a different approach than the two albums that preceded it.  On all but one track (“Shades,” which had been recorded earlier), Hazlewood was accompanied by a four-piece combo (including Strange on guitar and Don Randi on piano) rather than a full band or orchestra.  The songs were more surreal, too, and decidedly non-commercial including the autobiographical “Fort Worth” and “Mannford, Oklahoma.” (It did, however, include “This Town” which Frank Sinatra would soon make his own.) Something Special was only released in Germany – even as the Hazlewood co-production of Frank and Nancy Sinatra’s “Something Stupid” was climbing to No.1 and Nancy’s “Love Eyes” was enjoying Top 20 success.  The Nancy and Lee LP on Reprise went on to sell a million copies in 1968 as Something Special faded into obscurity.  LITA’s reissue has two bonus tracks, “Moochie Ladeux” and “The Lone Ranger Ain’t My Friend Anymore” recorded in June 1967 and once thought lost.

Ultimately, Hazlewood’s MGM Records served a purpose for the artist: “Record companies used to call and ask you to do ‘writers’ albums,’ as they were called in those days. If you happened to have a hit or two at that time, you’d throw them in. I consider them good, expensive demos paid for by major record companies. It saved me from taking stuff around to other people. They’d just get the next LP and record some of it.”  But demos or not, these albums are filled with the fascinating sounds for which Hazlewood was known.  All of this material save “Moochie Ladeux” and “The Lone Ranger” was previously released by Ace in 2002 on the CD These Boots Are Made for Walkin’: The Complete MGM Recordings, but Light in the Attic’s reissues promise new liner notes and the kind of deluxe packaging consistent with other releases in the label’s Hazlewood series.

All three titles are available now, and can be ordered at the links below!

Lee Hazlewood, The Very Special World of Lee Hazlewood (MGM SE-4362, 1966 – reissued Light in the Attic, 2015) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon Canada)

1. For One Moment
2. When a Fool Loves a Fool
3. Not the Lovin’ Kind
4. Your Sweet Love
5. Sand
6. My Autumn’s Done Come
7. These Boots are Made for Walkin’
8. I Move Around
9. So Long, Babe
10. Bugles in the Afternoon
11. My Babe Cried All Night Long
12. Summer Wine – Lee Hazlewood and Suzi Jane Hokom (Bonus Track) (MGM single 13364, 1967)

Lee Hazlewood, Lee Hazlewoodism: Its Cause and Cure (MGM SE-4403, 1967 – reissued Light in the Attic, 2015) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon Canada)

1. The Girls in Paris
2. Jose
3. The Old Man and His Guitar
4. The Nights
5. I Am a Part
6. Home (I’m Home)
7. After Six
8. Suzi Jane is Back in Town
9. In Our Time
10. Dark in My Heart
11. Frenesi (Bonus Track) (MGM single 13474, 1966)
12. Muchacho (Bonus Track) (MGM single 13474, 1966)
13. Batman (Bonus Track) (first issued on Ace CDCHM2 860, 2002)

Lee Hazlewood, Something Special (MGM (Germany) LP 665104, 1968 – reissued Light in the Attic, 2015) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon Canada)

1. Shades
2. This Town
3. Child
4. Stone Cold Blues
5. Little War
6. Them Girls
7. Fort Worth
8. Hands
9. Mannford, Oklahoma
10. Summer Night
11. Moochie Ladeux (Bonus Track)
12. The Lone Ranger Ain’t My Friend Anymore (Bonus Track)