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***Released in 1970, Lee Hazlewood's Requiem For An Almost Lady may well be the heaviest breakup record no one ever heard. This sublime collection consists of 10 short, simple, economically orchestrated songs, featuring Lee's lovesick baritone cushioned only by bass, acoustic guitar and occasional steel. Though overall a dark and fragile meditation, Requiem, like all of Lee's solo work, thrives on an arch alchemy of humor, passion and smarts; his sadness is wet with wily wit, his curses cut with cleverness. The frank, quasi-explanatory spoken word introductions to each song are further proof of his unique poetic gift, and continue a tradition dating back to early efforts such as Trouble Is A Lonesome Town (reissued simultaneously with this release) and The N.S.V.I.Ps. Requiem is also one of the rarest LPs in the Hazlewood canon-unheard even by many of the most devout Lee fanatics. Typically, a given Hazlewood song will reappear across several different albums (legit or boot), but few of Requiem's tracks can be found anywhere else but here. Originally released only in Sweden and the UK, it is truly a great lost album, an important piece of the mature phase of Lee's career, in which nearly every song is of the highest craft. |
