First.... no one freak... the title of this post is copped from another band... the real line is Got Cake, Got Cock and we just ran out of Cake...
anyway.... I picked up the new Lee Hazelwood album today. I wandered into the local record store and despite my intent to keep my wallet in my pants, it just jumped out and into my hands.... How could I not, it's Lee, and it was on sale.. I haven't listened to the whole thing yet... but what I have heard so far is solid... it's not got a lot going on, it's Lee, doing his thing the way that he always has..
For those not in the know Lee was a producer who worked with instro star Duane Eddy in the late 50's, and wrote almost all of the classic Nancy Sinatra's tunes including These Boots Were Made for Walking... in the 70's Lee became a star in Sweden. I first discovered him because of The Coffinshakers, a Swedish band I have written about in the past, who are heavily influenced by him.
I don't know if it was a choice that I made or just how things went, but I have always seen myself as an outsider. I have always followed my heart and my head, ok well mostly followed it anyway, and done my thing. I was born in the west, and even though I grew up in a very unwestern place I have always felt the pull of the Cowboy ethic, of the punk ethic (which is part of the history of where I did grow up), and I always say I didn't follow the beat of a different drum as much as I followed the bass line...
all of that might be why I like Hazelwood so much. He did his thing, he played the game his way, and now with this album, his last he has nothing to loose by creating just what he feels like. Listening to songs like his 8 year old grand-daughter singing a piece of his classic Some Velvet Morning is a treat, not only because he has said what the hell let her sing it, but cause it shows that he's not looking at the big picture of making money, or impressing people, he's just making the album that he wants.... and really isn't that what we all really want from musicians? for them to share their vision?
My Trusted MOGs
word...good stuff
My Trusted MOGs
first time i heard of this, gotta check it out... and being in the process of reading Our Band Could Be Your Life i am just learning of the Minneapolis underground scene in the 80's, home to some of the most influencial bands of the decade. must be great to walk down the street and see some of the venues bands like The Replacements had played
My Trusted MOGs
^I'm still scratching the surface with the Mpls scene while I even spent a year out there, recently. Seems like this 'Our Band Could Be Your Life' thing could be exactly what I need to put thing into perspective.
Great town.
My Trusted MOGs
I've read that book and it's pretty good... I wasn't a huge fan of any of the bands covered when I read it. It's only been in the last couple of years that I have started to listen to The Minutemen... and The Replacements and Husker Du of course.
One thing that is special to me is my buddy Bill who has been playing in a local metal/punk group Impaler for over 20 years knew a lot of those guys back in the day, had Bob Mould produce one of the Impaler albums, and was recording down the hall from the 'mats in the '80's.... he's got all kinds of great stories.... if you guys are interested we did 3 full podcasts with him talking about Impaler, you can find them here
My Trusted MOGs
Doing your own thing is the only way to go.
Didn't know he wrote One Velvet Morning, but makes sense now that you mention it. Cool tune.