Search - Lee Hazlewood, Ann Margaret :: The Cowboy & the Lady

Smells Like Records continues its Lee Hazlewood reissue series with perhaps the strangest of Hazlewood's recordings his album of duets with actress Ann-Margret (star of Tommy, Carnal Knowledge and The Flintstones). This odd gem, originally released in 1969, was the first full-length LP on Lee's fledgling LHI label, following several singles by Ann-Margret & Lee, Honey Ltd. and others. Taking a break from the frenzied pace of his late 60s songwriting work, Hazlewood recorded this collection of country-tinged and Hollywood-soaked songs about both the sweetness and loss of love. The duo perform cuts such as "Dark End of the Street" and "Only Mama That'll Walk the Line" in their own utterly inimitable style only natural for two personalities as inimitable as Lee and Ann-Margret. In addition, Lee performs Tom Rush's "No Regrets" solo, taking a cold, hard look at the aftermath of love gone wrong, in typical Hazlewood fashion. Also included as bonus tracks are four extremely rare songs, which constituted the first two singles on LHI. "Sleep in the Grass" and "Chico", a pair of Hazlewood originals performed as duets with Ann-Margret, produced on par with his most baroque masterworks, were first released as LHI-2. "You Turned My Head Around" and "It's A Nice World To Visit (But Not to Live In)", two slices of Nuggets-era psych-pop sung by Ann-Margret solo, are possibly two of Lee's rarest and strangest productions. These four songs have been out-of-print since the time of their release and, along with The Cowboy & The Lady, make their first Hazlewood-approved appearance in 30 years.