The pairing of singer Nancy Sinatra and singer-songwriter-producer Lee Hazlewood made for one of the 1960s most delightfully unusual pairings, though the collaboration was a relatively short one, consisting of a slew of singles and a sole LP…until they reunited for a follow-up in 1972. Nancy & Lee Again is that album, and it gets its first-time vinyl reissue with two bonus tracks on March 24 through the untiring reissue label Light in the Attic. It’s also available digitally, on compact disc, and most unexpectedly, on 8-track cartridge.
It might seem like the delayed nature of Nancy & Lee Again’s reissue is to some extent down to neglect on the part of the rights-holders, but please understand that the duo’s 1968 debut Nancy & Lee wasn’t given a standalone new edition until last year, also by Light in the Attic, the label that has, along with the Nancy Sinatra Archival Series, returned a fair portion of Hazlewood’s solo catalog to print since early last decade.
The main reason for Nancy & Lee’s belated appearance is due to the easy availability of the contents on compact disc, the entire record included on Rhino’s 1989 compilation Fairy Tales & Fantasies: The Best of Nancy & Lee. Plus, secondhand copies of the LP were easily findable (in varying degrees of condition, of course) in thrift shops, if not necessarily music stores. Unlike Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass’ Whipped Cream & Other Delights, Nancy & Lee wasn’t ubiquitous, but like Herb Alpert Presents Sergio Mendes & Brasil ’66 and The Association’s Greatest Hits!, it was quite a common find.
As these comparisons should help make clear, the descriptor of unusual isn’t interchangeable with strange. Now, anybody familiar with “Some Velvet Morning” and to a lesser extent, “Sand,” knows that pop psychedelic strangeness was part of Sinatra and Hazlewood’s stylistic bag. But weird took a back seat to playful C&W duets and proto-Vegas Middle-Of-The-Road-isms, with the palatability of both modes, and especially the latter, intensified by the combination of Sinatra’s youthful verve and Hazlewood’s buzzsaw tones and general eccentricity, a quality that was only laid on thick when it benefitted the song.
If Nancy & Lee Again lacks its predecessor’s essential stature, it succeeds as a follow-up by wisely avoiding any pop-psych retreads and instead leaning into this unlikely partnership’s natural chemistry. That’s not to say the album lacks ambition, as the opener “Arkansas Coal (Suite)” shifts structural gears numerous times in a packed five and a half minutes.
The song’s cinematic scale carries over to “Big Red Balloon,” where Hazlewood delivers an opening synopsis of a mismatched couple’s travails. The cut is far more direct in its musical approach, combining pop-country swagger with an Old Hollywood schmaltz that by 1972 was on its way out but not yet completely extinguished.
“Friendship Train” begins fairly modestly, Sinatra’s vocal accompanied by chiming guitar, a straightforward rhythm and touches of flute, only to explode with orchestral flair prior to Hazlewood’s entrance. “Paris Summer” offers a similar instrumental strategy, but with a fitting Euro-tinge, as the duo’s alternating of verses paints more vivid portraiture. But it’s “Congratulations” that brandishes the album’s thickest, most grandiose string sweep, Nancy and Lee getting their money’s worth from arrangers Larry Muhoberac and Clark Gassman.
For a sharp version of Dolly Parton’s “Down from Dover,” the strings accent rather than envelop the tune. There’s also a flourish of faux sitar that briefly suggests Shelby Singleton had a hand in the sessions. Hazlewood’s voice gets even deeper than usual and Sinatra hits a sweet spot that’s not too far from Bobby Gentry.
Infused with pedal steel, “Did You Ever” delivers the album’s deepest C&W statement, though “Back on the Road” isn’t far behind (but with decidedly non-Nashville horn charts), while “Tippy Toes,” a song in admiration of children who grow up to raise more children, tangles with, but somehow avoids succumbing to, kitsch (a familiar scenario in Nancy and Lee’s discography).
“Got It Together,” the original LP’s final track, is also Nancy & Lee Again’s most understated, featuring simple guitar backing and in its second half a conversation between Sinatra and Hazlewood. The exchange is somewhat awkward, insinuating that it was unrehearsed (or at least under-rehearsed), and if blatantly sentimental, it’s never embarrassing, as the emotions are real (even touching on Hazlewood’s abrupt bailout for Sweden a few years prior, which left Sinatra without her most receptive collaborator).
Unlike their debut, which was in large part a collection of singles, Nancy & Lee Again was conceived as an album. And while this reunion lacks the sheer highs of their early material, the cohesiveness of the follow-up’s shared vision and the pair’s momentary disinterest in keeping up with pop trends, adds considerable value.
Nancy & Lee Again’s bonus tracks are the elsewhere compiled “Machine Gun Kelly,” recorded shortly after this album was finished, and the previously unreleased Hazelwood composition, “Think I’m Coming Down.” Both are vehicles for Sinatra solo and further depart from the proper LP’s template with comparatively stripped-back pop-rock. A potentially jarring addendum, but “Machine Gun Kelly” is quite likeable and “Think I’m Coming Down” is a unearthed gem.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
A-
