Lee Hazlewood - "Trouble Is A Lonesome Town" (1963)

Lee Hazlewood is a cool guy who in periods has been one of my favorite artists. I'm not a big fan of Country & Western, but Lee's version of this music is really enjoyable. It has often been described as Cowboy Psychedelia or psychedelic Country & Western, a description that often fits pretty good with what he created. His music is often quite beautiful with a dark sense of humor that makes the listening a remarkable experience.

Best known to the world is probably Lee's classic song These Boots Are Made For Walking, which he wrote and produced for Nancy Sinatra. The two made a lot of beautiful music together and the lover of psychedelic music problably knows the great song Some Velvet Morning, one of the best songs coming out from the 60s.

Trouble Is A Lonesome Town was Lee's first solo album. During the 50s he had started to write and produce music for other artists, including a lot of work with Duane Eddy. The music on Trouble... is relatively simple. Besides his deep baryton voices the listener rarely gets to hear more that a couple of acoustic guitars and a bass. Here and there a harmonica pops up. The songs begin with Lee telling a story about some character in the town of Trouble, an imaginary town loosely based on Lee's own birthplace. His narrative is quitely accompanied by a guitar playing some blues chords. Thereafter, the song starts in which we get an in-depth description of the events surrounding the described character.

Already the opening song Long Black Train the listener gets an example on (in my opnion) Lee's funny humor, in his description of the drama concerning his wild friend Jim:

And so I cut my friend

Twelve men covicted him

Ninety nine years is what he got

I'll bet it seems like a hundred to Jim

And so continues the record with Lee's narrative and the following, somewhat twisted, country & western songs. It's a good album and an impressive solo debut. But later in the 60s and the 70s I think Lee made even more interesting music where the twisted psychedelic touch were even more visible. Especially a lot what he did with Nancy Sinatra is really enjoyable. Overall Trouble... is relatively "normal" album where Lee still shows what to expect in the future. Other highlights from the album is We All Make The Flowers Grow and Look At That Woman, the latter again with a text which makes me smile.
 

Look at that woman standin' there

Look at that woman ain't he fair

Look at that woman seems so nice

Lord I wish that woman was anybody else that mine

Anybody else but mine

She can't cook and she can't love

and she ain't worth a dime

And Lord I wish that woman was anybody else but mine

Now, isnt' that humor?

In the 70s Lee lived quite a long time in Sweden where he did some work together with Torbjörn Axelman. The copy of Trouble... in my possession is a swedish cover, a reissue from 1971.

In summary, I recommend this album, it's a good way of gettinig to know Lee. But I also recommend the reader to explore his other work, if this has not already been done. There's a lot to discover, often music with a dark, but humorous, twist.

Tracklist

Side A
1. Long Black Train 2:23
2. Ugly Brown 3:24
3. Son Of A Gun 2:53
4. We All Make The Flowers Grow 1:50
5. Run Boy Run 2:19

Side B
1. Six Feet Of Chain 1:40
2. The Railroad 1:38
3. Look At That Woman 2:33
4. Peculiar Guy 2:17
5. Trouble Is A Lonesome Town 3:46

Julian Lennon - "The Secret Value of Daydreaming" (1986)

It can't be easy having the name Julian Lennon. On one hand you've got an easy step into the music industry thanks to your last name, on the other hand people will always connect your name with your father. And who wants to be compared to a legend all the time? Can you ever win?

Not Julian in this case, not with this album. I must be clear from the start, I think this is a really lousy album. It's got all the bad things I connect with the dark 80s - that polished, boring, lightweight sound where nothing, absolutely nothing, catches your interest. Where everything is wrapped in... in... I don't know... the 80s?

The production and sound is easy to hate, unfortunately the songs are as bad as the production. According to me, not one song gets an A on this album. Or a B. Or even a D. With a different production the closing song Want Your Body maybe could get a C. And too often the songs are too long, it seems like the producer wanted to drag them out as long as possible just to fill the album with time. The music can be described as typical commercial 80s pop.

My criticism doesn't come from comparing Julian with his father. That's not necessary. But if I do compare with my last post which I defined as public therapy, this record is an exercise in total shallowness.

Julian may be forgiven. He was only 23 years old when he made this album, and from what I've read it was made in a hurry due to his earlier success with his debut album. Gossip also say that he didn't really live a healthy life after his initial success which might have affected his song writing.

I don't really like hammering down on a record like this, but in this case I can't do anything else. I bought this album in my teenage years just because I was curious how an album with John Lennon's son would sound like. I played the record once, then it found it's place far back in the collection. There it stood for 25 years until I played it again before writing this post. I'm absolutely sure I will not play it again.

Tracklist

Side A
1. Stick Around 4:04
2. You get What You Want 4:04
3. Let Me Tell You 4:17
4. I've Seen Your Face 3:28
5. Coward Till the End? 6:12

Side B
1. This Is My Day 3:55
2. You Don't Have To Tell Me 4:56
3. Everyday 3:51
4. Always Think Twice 3:58
5. Want Your Body 3:26

John Lennon - "John Lennon / Plastic Ono Band" (1970)

Brutal honesty. Personal lyrics. A dose of bitterness. A dose of primal therapy. A relatively tight sound. There you’ve got some of the elements of John Lennon / Plastic Ono Band. When I as a teenager bought this album, I listened a lot to the Beatles, especially I liked their more psychedelic creations. Most of all I liked Lennon's songs. They were often both druggier and more experimental than McCartney's contributions. Therefore I was quite disappointed with this album. It was not at all druggy and psychedelic. There were no backwards guitars or LSD-induced lyrics. Instead it was quite dark and anguished music. Brutal reality.

This was Lennon's first full length album as a solo artist and was recorded at Abbey Road Studios. Much of the music was inspired by the primal therapy he underwent at this time, which explains some heavy themes in the lyrics. Ringo Starr played drums on the album, and Phil Spector plays piano on one song (Love), he’s also mentioned as co-producer. In practice, however, John and Yoko produced most of the album themselves, since Spector was often away on other assignments.

It’s not an easy album to digest and not something you play as nice background music to create a gentle atmosphere. The album requires focus and attention to be fully appreciated. McCartney’s and (sometimes) Lennon's playfulness from the Beatles' days is far away. This is serious, sad, angry, bitter and Lennon makes things clear. Very clear. The opening line from the opening song Mother tells you what it’s all about - "Mother, you had me, but I never had you.".

Probably the most famous song from the album is Working Class Hero. Another famous song is God where John lists everything and everyone he no longer believes in, and where he finally says the now classic line, "I don’t believe in Beatles, I just believe in me."

The album is considered to be one of the major albums in musical history and often gets high positions in the "Best of" lists. Personally, though, I have not had an easy ride with it. Maybe it requires too much of the listener. The lyrics are often too personal and brutally honest. The sound is a bit too cut-down and ”simple”. There are no unusual time signatures, no big arrangements or complex song structures. On the contrary, the songs are quite "simple" - verses and choruses. I miss the experimental Lennon from a few years earlier (not to say that complex song structures and adventurous musical experimentation are always good things).

At the same time I respect the album a lot just because of the above mentioned. And in many ways it’s a groundbreaking album unlike anything else in its mental nudity where nothing is hidden. In other words, more innovative and experimental than most other things made ​​at the same time or later (complex song structures, strange time signatures and backwards drums included).

Although I don’t listen to this album often I must, at the end of the day, say that this is a good album. The opposite, that it’s a lousy record, feels like a quite strange conclusion. John Lennon / Plastic Ono Band is an extremely ambitious album where you’ve got a musician / artist who is very serious about his work. It’s far from commercial radio pop, it’s more like public psychotherapy. It feels as if Lennon was really serious about this album.

Parallel with this recording Yoko Ono recorded Yoko Ono / Plastic Ono Band, which was released the same date. The same musicians and production team were used for both albums. That record hasn’t got the same attention, though.

Tracklist

Side A

1. Mother 5:34

2. Hold On 1:52

3. I Found Out 3:37

4. Working Class Hero 3:48

5. Isolation 2:51

Side B

1. Remember 4:33

2. Love 3:21

3. Well Well Well 5:59

4. Look at Me 2:53

5. God 4:09

6: My Mummy’s Dead 0:49