Got It Together: “Nancy and Lee Again” Debuts on CD in March
Nancy and Lee Again inaugurated Sinatra’s brief tenure at RCA Victor which additionally encompassed the solo album Woman (hopefully also on the way from LITA). The reunion was an auspicious one; Hazlewood returned from his adopted home of Sweden to Los Angeles to record the project – his first collaboration with Nancy outside of Reprise Records, the label founded by her father where all of her previous releases had appeared. Although they’d only previously recorded one album of duets, Lee produced all of Nancy’s Reprise albums except for 1969’s Nancy on which longtime arranger-conductor Billy Strange stepped into the producer’s chair.Strange was absent from Nancy and Lee’s RCA reunion, though. Instead, Hazlewood turned to arrangers Larry Muhoberac (original keyboardist of Elvis Presley’s TCB Band and a frequent collaborator of producer Snuff Garrett, among others) and Clark Gassman (with whom Hazlewood had worked on his 1970 solo album Cowboy in Sweden). Oft-recorded session vocalists Tom and John Bahler contributed their distinctive sound to the LP’s backgrounds, too. Hazlewood’s preferred country flavor seeped into many of the album’s tracks including the Bobby Braddock-written lead single “Did You Ever,” a U.K. No. 2 hit which was used as the album title in some territories, and the affecting Dolly Parton composition “Down from Dover” which was transformed into a duet. Ira Gasman, future lyricist of Broadway’s The Life, was among the writers of “Congratulations,” a stirring reflection on the Vietnam War from the perspectives of a returning soldier and his wife.
Lee himself wrote most of the album, though, including the theatrical epic “Arkansas Coal (Suite),” the moving story of an affair entitled “Paris Summer,” and the platonic love song “Friendship Train.” The latter could be interpreted autobiographically, as Sinatra felt let down by her musical partner’s sudden disappearance to Sweden. She reflects on it – and on their album reunion – in the new liner notes for this reissue, telling writer Hunter Lea that “I felt pretty betrayed. I mean, who does that? Who just up and disappears like that? I’ll never understand it.” On the album closer “Got It Together,” Hazlewood winkingly asks, “Can I go back to Sweden?” This time, Nancy signals her approval. (Their third and final duets album, Nancy and Lee 3, wouldn’t arrive until 2004.)
Two bonus tracks have been added to LITA’s CD premiere, both of which were recorded at a Nancy solo session on March 6, 1972. Danny “Kootch” Kortchmar’s “Machine Gun Kelly” (best known from James Taylor’s 1971 rendition but introduced by Kootch’s band Jo Mama in 1970) reunited Nancy with Billy Strange, and previously appeared on Nancy’s 2006 release The Essential Nancy Sinatra. “Think I’m Coming Down” makes its debut here; Lee would re-record it for his 1973 Capitol solo album Poet, Fool, or Bum (an album which also featured the track “Nancy and Me”). Larry Muhoberac contributed charts to Poet, as well.
LITA’s expanded Nancy and Lee Again has been remastered by John Baldwin and features a booklet with Hunter Lea’s interview of Nancy Sinatra. The vinyl version has been pressed at RTI and is housed within a gatefold jacket accompanied by a 20-page booklet. All formats have been designed by Darryl Norsen. A standard black vinyl pressing is available along with various color variants from NancySinatra.com, LightintheAttic.net, independent record stores, and select online retailers. (See below for all of the currently-announced versions). Look for all editions of this lost classic on March 24 from Nancy’s Bootique and retailers everywhere!
- Arkansas Coal (Suite)
- Big Red Balloon
- Friendship Train
- Paris Summer
- Congratulations
- Down From Dover
- Did You Ever
- Tippy Toes
- Back On The Road
- Got It Together
- Machine Gun Kelly (previously released on The Essential Nancy Sinatra, Liberty/EMI CD 0946 3562332, 2006)
- Think I’m Coming Down (previously unreleased)
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4 thoughts on “Got It Together: “Nancy and Lee Again” Debuts on CD in March”
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Looking forward to this one!
Put me down for one of the eight-tracks . . .
Anything Nancy Sinatra is for me!
There is actually a 4 track tape available also. I have a new in the box car 4 track player that has never been used. $75 is mighty steep. I don’t think they made more than 5 of those tapes for this release. Weird.