Search - Lee Hazlewood :: Cowboy in Sweden

Another slab of magnificence from Lee Hazlewood.

Monkey Knuckle Asteroid | 04/23/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Lee Hazlewood's genius knows no measureable bounds. He is a producer, writer, arranger, singer and performer. He can and does do it all. Thankfully, his long-obscure albums are being re-released by SLR (Thanks!) and you are afforded this wonderful opportunity to listen to one of the finest musical apparitions of our times...\"Cowboy in Sweden" follows Lee's trend of employing female vocalists to counteract his coal mine of a voice and create something positively eerie. It works to maximum effect here, as his voice rumbles alongside the happy-go-lucky lilt of Nina Lizzel and Suzi Jane Hokum's accented voices. Hazlewood is best compared to Tom Waits in his imagery and content. He talks of prisons and trains and lost loves and leaving town. And through it all, you hear the faint tone of subversion, of against all odds, because, frankly, someone like Lee Hazlewood shouldn't have been allowed to make albums...they didn't fit anywhere and would never appeal to more than a few thousand people around the world.It is time for you to join the army of Lee Hazlewood."

A Country-Pop Smorgasbord

Kurt Harding | Boerne TX | 04/29/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"As I develop a belated appreciation for the talents of Lee Hazlewood, I have been picking up CDs of his earlier work one at a time. Cowboy In Sweden is one such recent acquisition. It offers the listener a smorgasbord of country-pop songs written for a Swedish TV show of the same name as this CD. Several of them should have attained the status of classics.
The whole CD is listenable and enjoyable despite the cutesy lyrics of Hey Cowboy and the sort of out of place anti-war sentiments (in a cowboy show?) of No Train To Stockholm. And it might be seen as merely pleasant but ordinary except for the presence of three great songs, two of which were penned by Hazlewood.
One of the best is a very humorous and very country prison song, Pray Them Bars Away. Hazlewood's wry sense of humor really comes through again and again. The closing song, Vem Kan Segla, is a haunting love song featuring Nina Lizell's Swedish vocals swirling around Hazlewood's baritone spoken translation in English. The best song is The Night Before, a stunning and mournful tale of sad emptiness after a one-night stand, with Hazlewood's regret-filled vocals interspersed with background organ and a short, yet powerful brass interlude.
Cowboy In Sweden is one of the best Hazlewood CDs I've heard thus far. If you are already a confirmed fan or are merely Hazlewood-curious, you can't go wrong with this."

Arcane Treasure

Grigory's Girl | 03/16/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"A classic album, slightly cheapened by the shoddy packaging and sound quality. The sound is very muddy and wobbly, as if mastered from very worn tapes. The booklet features several black and white snaps, some LARGE PRINT bios and recording details, and a weird preface by Lee. Essential."