Originally issued in September 1970 on Hazlewood's LHI label, Cowboy in Sweden was the companion record to director Torbjörn Axelman's surreal film of the same name chronicling Lee's journey to Sweden in hallucinogenic style. The album was recorded over a three-year period in Los Angeles, Paris, London, and Stockholm with arrangers and musicians including Don Randi, Hal Blaine, David Whitaker and others.
Encapsulating the Hazlewood sound at its prime, Cowboy became a cult classic LP even as the film itself all but disappeared. Light in the Attic's reissue has been remastered from the original tapes and includes a deluxe booklet with liner notes by Hunter Lea drawing on interviews with Axelman, Randi, Blaine, Hokom, Lizell, and Shel Talmy. Three bonus tracks appear on this set: the outtake "Me and the Wine and the City Lights," and alternate versions of "Easy and Me" and "Pray Them Bars Away."
LITA has Cowboy in Sweden coming in a variety of formats including:
- Standard black-vinyl LP;
- Standard CD;
- Digital Download; and
- Deluxe LP/DVD set boasting a blue vinyl LP, a 27 x 40" folded film poster by Jay Shaw (Mondo/Death Waltz), and a DVD of Cowboy in Sweden.
The movie was previously released on DVD by LITA as part of the massive Lee Hazlewood Industries box set in 2013; the first eleven tracks on the first CD of that box also comprised the original Cowboy album.
The new reissue of Cowboy in Sweden is due on November 11 when ordering directly from Light in the Attic. Amazon is currently showing a release date of November 25. You'll find the tracklisting and pre-order links below!
Lee Hazlewood, Cowboy in Sweden (LHI LP 3101, 1970 - reissued Light in the Attic LITA 053, 2016)
CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
Blue Vinyl LP/DVD Set: Light in the Attic Store
- Pray Them Bars Away
- Leather and Lace - Lee Hazlewood and Nina Lizell
- Forget Marie
- Cold Hard Times
- The Night Before
- Hey Cowboy - Lee Hazlewood and Nina Lizell
- No Train to Stockholm
- For a Day Like Today - Suzi Jane Hokom
- Easy and Me
- What's More I Don't Need Her
- Vem Kam Segla (I Can Sail Without The Wind) - Lee Hazlewood and Nina Lizell
- Me and the Wine and the City Lights (Bonus Track)
- Easy and Me (Alternate Version) (Bonus Track)
- Pray Them Bars Away (Alternate Version) (Bonus Track)
Robert Lett says
All of this materiel (I think) is on the Lee Hazlewood Industries box or else I would get it. Still might anyway, looks nice.
Joe Marchese says
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe the alternate take bonus tracks are on the (wonderful) LHI box. The album, as indicated above, certainly is, as is "Me and the Wine and the City Lights."