Rock Archeologia

The Shacklefords Sing - Their Complete Recordings (1994 Bear Family, LHI) 

Artist: The Shacklefords
Album: Their Complete Recordings
Label: Bear Family / LHI
Catalog#: LHI 1963067
Format: CD Album, Compilation
Released: 1994
Country: UK
Genre: Country, Folk
Styles: Folk Revival, Country-Folk-Pop
Duration: 01:19:44

• The Shacklefords was een Amerikaanse folkgroep, die in in 1963 in Los Angeles werd opgericht door Marty Cooper en Lee Hazlewood. De naam is ontleend aan die van Hazlewoods vrouw, Naomi Shackleford. Mercury Records gaf hun eerste album uit, getiteld Until You've Heard the Shacklefords You Ain't Heard Nothing Yet. Op dit album zongen Cooper, Hazlewood, Gracia Nitzsche (toenmalig echtgenote van Jack Nitzsche) en Albert Stone. Zij werden begeleid door James Burton, Hal Blaine, Billy Strange en Al Casey. Op het door Capitol Records uitgegeven tweede album (The Shacklefords Sing) zongen Cooper, Hazlewood en Shackleford. Geen van de albums was in commercieel opzicht een succes. Met het liedje "Muddy Muddy River" bereikten ze in april 1971 echter wel de elfde plaats in de Oostenrijkse hitlijst. Het door Hazlewood opgerichte platenlabel HLI Records bracht in de periode 1966-1968 nog drie singles uit, waarna de groep uit elkaar ging. (wiki)

• Any project involving Lee Hazlewood is virtually guaranteed a high degree of quality, even when the material is commercially targeted and, often, purely exploitative. All that is the case with The Shacklefords Sing, a project that ostensibly consisted of three fresh-faced kids singing in a folk-revival style, but actually featured the wizened Hazlewood plus fellow songwriter/producer Marty Cooper and Hazlewood's former wife, nee Naomi Shackleford. Such dubious origins rarely score in an artistic sense, but as with other Hazlewood projects, there are many bright moments. The arrangements were broad but sharply punctuated with brass and the songwriting material had quite a few high points, so Hazlewood fans with patience and open minds will easily enjoy this record, even though it's miles away from the usual Hazlewood work, wise and world-weary. That said, the highlights shine much more brightly than the rest; two of Hazlewood's originals, "The City Never Sleeps" and "Muddy Muddy River," are infectious singalongs that had been naturals for the folk/pop chart crossover rampant during the late '50s and early '60s. The trio's cover of "Five Feet High and Risin'" is excellent as well, but the LP is dragged down slightly by derivative Cooper songs like "One" and "Ain't It?, Babe." Hazlewood fans who have heard the highlights on other compilations can safely avoid this one; the rest of the record is for completists only.~ Review by John Bush

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 • Tracklist:

01. Mama Was A Cottonpicker 02:15
02. (There Goes) The Big Boss Man 02:13
03. Sweet Molly (Life Can Be So Cruel) 02:12
04. Golden Bells 02:16
05. If The World Don't End Tomorrow 02:32
06. A Stranger In Your Town 02:10
07. Our Little Boy Blue 02:25
08. Caro-Lyn 02:49
09. Big River 02:20
10. After That 02:44
11. Stand Up 01:42
12. You'll Never Have My Love So True 02:28
13. My Name is Jimmy Brown 02:09
14. The City Never Sleeps At Night 02:49
15. One 01:53
16. Ain't ? 02:25
17. Mansion Of Tears 02:13
18. Muddy Muddy River 02:27
19. The Leaves 01:50
20. Let The Good Times Roll 02:42
21. Everything I Touch Turns To Tears 02:47
22. Not The Lovin' Kind 02:26
23. Five Feet High And Rising 02:10
24. That Old Freight Train 02:25
25. The Biplane,Evermore 02:56
26. First Street Blues 02:19
27. Interview w. L. Hazlewood & M. Cooper 06:01
28. California Sunshine Girl 02:43
29. Coastin 02:30
30. It's My Time 02:46
31. One More Time, Billy Brow 03:55

 

The compelling story and narration by Hazlewood himself on Little Boy Blue; the quietly humorous Mother Was A Cotton Picker; the joyous Golden Bells; the surging Big River-all are choice examples of a bright new group that in a few short months has created a style-setting pattern of singing which will go on and on-just about as long as that Big River they sing about.

Vocals – Lee Hazlewood, Marty Cooper, Naomi Shackleford
The Shacklefords - Primary Artist

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