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LITA 157CD
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"Though most of the world may not know the songs of Lynn Castle, she is an artist whose work stretches across seven decades. She has created a diverse and vast (albeit mostly unreleased) discography of pop, folk, country, gothic, rock, punk, blues, and children's songs. Light In The Attic Records is very excited to continue its Lee Hazlewood Archive Series with Rose Colored Corner, a collection of intimate recordings Lynn Castle made with Jack Nitzsche in 1966 and her complete recorded output with Lee Hazlewood on LHI Records. For the first time ever Lynn is sharing recordings from her personal archive and telling her story. In the 1960s Lynn became the first lady barber in LA just as long hair on men became hip. By day she was styling The Monkees, Boyce and Hart, Del Shannon, Sonny & Cher, the Byrds and countless others...by night she was writing songs. Despite lacking the desire to self promote and a crippling insecurity that made it hard to sing in front of anyone, her songs managed to bend the ears of such industry heavyweights as Phil Spector, Jack Nitzsche and Lee Hazlewood. 'It was so hard to get me to sing,' explained Castle. 'I had buried it so low, I didn't think I was good at all. Lee heard my songs and thought I was fabulous. He said, 'Oh my god, you're really good! Let's cut a record.' Her sole 1967 45 'The Lady Barber' b/w 'Rose Colored Corner,' released on Lee Hazlewood Industries is a slice of psychedelic pop heaven. A full length album was never completed, but her sparse demos with Jack Nitzsche give the listener a peek of what one might have sounded like. If you are familiar with Nitzsche's mid-60s work with Tim Buckley, Bob Lind, and Buffalo Springfield...you can squint your ears and imagine her songs bejeweled with lush strings, finger cymbals, and delicate harpsichord. Instead, the songs remained unheard until now. Just because her songs weren't recognized at the time doesn't diminish their magic. This music is meant to be found and heard. Though commercial success may remain elusive, sometimes strange premonitions are realized... 'When I was young, making music in the '60s, I had this strange thought that one day I would be this old woman, and young people would come find me and tell me that my music meant something to them.' --Lynn Castle Remastered from pristine original master tapes; 10 previously unreleased songs recorded with Jack Nietzsche; Includes Lynn's sole LHI 45 produced by Lee Hazlewood; Liner notes by Hunter Lea with Lynn Castle interview; Unseen photos, press shots and handwritten lyric sheets."
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LITA 157LP
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LP version. Housed in a gatefold, Stoughton tip-on jacket. "Though most of the world may not know the songs of Lynn Castle, she is an artist whose work stretches across seven decades. She has created a diverse and vast (albeit mostly unreleased) discography of pop, folk, country, gothic, rock, punk, blues, and children's songs. Light In The Attic Records is very excited to continue its Lee Hazlewood Archive Series with Rose Colored Corner, a collection of intimate recordings Lynn Castle made with Jack Nitzsche in 1966 and her complete recorded output with Lee Hazlewood on LHI Records. For the first time ever Lynn is sharing recordings from her personal archive and telling her story. In the 1960s Lynn became the first lady barber in LA just as long hair on men became hip. By day she was styling The Monkees, Boyce and Hart, Del Shannon, Sonny & Cher, the Byrds and countless others...by night she was writing songs. Despite lacking the desire to self promote and a crippling insecurity that made it hard to sing in front of anyone, her songs managed to bend the ears of such industry heavyweights as Phil Spector, Jack Nitzsche and Lee Hazlewood. 'It was so hard to get me to sing,' explained Castle. 'I had buried it so low, I didn't think I was good at all. Lee heard my songs and thought I was fabulous. He said, 'Oh my god, you're really good! Let's cut a record.' Her sole 1967 45 'The Lady Barber' b/w 'Rose Colored Corner,' released on Lee Hazlewood Industries is a slice of psychedelic pop heaven. A full length album was never completed, but her sparse demos with Jack Nitzsche give the listener a peek of what one might have sounded like. If you are familiar with Nitzsche's mid-60s work with Tim Buckley, Bob Lind, and Buffalo Springfield...you can squint your ears and imagine her songs bejeweled with lush strings, finger cymbals, and delicate harpsichord. Instead, the songs remained unheard until now. Just because her songs weren't recognized at the time doesn't diminish their magic. This music is meant to be found and heard. Though commercial success may remain elusive, sometimes strange premonitions are realized... 'When I was young, making music in the '60s, I had this strange thought that one day I would be this old woman, and young people would come find me and tell me that my music meant something to them.' --Lynn Castle Remastered from pristine original master tapes; 10 previously unreleased songs recorded with Jack Nietzsche; Includes Lynn's sole LHI 45 produced by Lee Hazlewood; Liner notes by Hunter Lea with Lynn Castle interview; Unseen photos, press shots and handwritten lyric sheets."
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LITA 149CD
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"As a student and fan of Elvis, Little Richard, Bill Haley, and Chuck Berry, Erasmo indulged his primal rock urges on these albums, notably getting sufficiently psychedelic and fuzzy on Carlos, Erasmo... Arriving in 1971 while Caetano and Gil were still in exile, Rita Lee had recently quit Os Mutantes and Gal Costa was onto a new sound, Erasmo's 1971 album was the closest thing to Tropicália around. Carlos, Erasmo... was co-produced by the Tropicália producer, Manoel Barenbein, including a new composition from Caetano, a few arrangements courtesy of Rogério Duprat and the musical talents of no fewer than three Mutants: lead guitarist Sergio Dias, drummer Dinho Leme and bassist Liminha, not to mention Brazil's undisputed psychedelic axe-master, Alexander Gordin, aka 'Lanny', Carlos, Erasmo... is a virtual all-star team of Tropícalistas (not in exile). This album is considered a bedrock album within the Brazilian rock scene and a notable late entry in the Tropicália tradition, rocking harder than any album in his catalog, but also including wispy love songs, soul and funk moves, brassy pop tunes and a marimba-driven ode to marijuana. First time available outside of Brazil; First time ever on CD anywhere; Newly remastered from the original master tapes; Liner notes by Allen Thayer with lyrics (Portuguese/English)."
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LITA 148CD
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"Erasmo Carlos has no counterpart in the universe of Anglophone pop music that could begin to hint at his relevance, popularity and his complex relationship with the only Brazilian pop star more universally recognized than himself, Roberto Carlos. He may be a beloved pop star and household name in Brazil, but hardly because of the music found on the three albums reissued by Light In The Attic. While in retrospect they can be appreciated as some of his most creative, consistent and personal albums, they were also some of the least commercially successful and underappreciated of his long career, at least until recently. Embracing the artistic freedom of the global counterculture of the late sixties and early seventies, over the course of these three albums, Erasmo evolved from his bubblegum beginnings into a sophisticated seventies singer-songwriter. Erasmo Carlos E Os Tremendões (1970), Carlos, Erasmo... (1971) and Sonhos E Memórias 1941-1972 (1972) collectively find this maturing teeny-bopper delivering a mix of world class psychedelic rock, traditional rock n' roll, soul, funk, folk, bossa nova, and samba-rock to an unsuspecting Brazilian audience. Collectively, the songs on Erasmo Carlos E Tremendões sound like an attempt to appeal to nearly every relevant genre of Brazilian popular music at the turn of the decade. From the cover tunes alone there's a Caetano song 'Saudosismo' (Tropicália), an Antônio Adolfo song 'Teletema' (Pilantragem/art-pop), and not just any Ary Barroso song, but the unofficial Brazilian national anthem 'Aquarela Do Brasil'. Of the new songs, 'Menina' is a soul ballad and 'Jeep' brings the funk. Maybe it was exactly that, a chance for Erasmo to stretch his creative muscles in a lot of different directions as it became clear his Jovem Guarda character and sound had run its course, along with the TV show of the same name. Erasmo Carlos E Os Tremendões is greater than the sum of its pop-rock spitballs. It's a creative, and at times experimental and groundbreaking album that remains a thrilling listen. First time available outside of Brazil; First time ever on CD anywhere; Newly remastered from the original master tapes; Liner notes by Allen Thayer with lyrics (Portuguese/English)."
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LITA 150CD
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"Sonhos E Memórias 1941-1972 is truly singular within Brazilian pop fusing rock, soul, jazz and singer-songwriter styles. It's simultaneously rootsy, funky, modern and nostalgic. The lyrics are highly personal, searching for deeper meaning with lots of flower power imagery and language, while the music is tight, highly rhythmic, melodic and restrained in its delivery and effortless groove. Built around the future fusion trio Azymuth with keyboardist José Roberto Bertrami, drummer Ivan Conti aka 'Mamão' and bassist Alex Malheiros, a majority of the album's tunes make excellent use of this trio's telepathic tightness, subtle funkiness, and melodic mastery. The album dabbles with a few different styles and rhythms, all telling Erasmo's musical story be it bossa nova, roots rock, hard rock, ballads, and soulful grooves, but a certain sonic frequency or tempo alongside the autobiographical elements unite this masterwork. First time available outside of Brazil; Newly remastered from the original master tapes; Liner notes by Allen Thayer with lyrics (Portuguese/English)."
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3LP BOX
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LITA 143LP
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Triple LP version. Comes with deluxe Stoughton "tip-on" jacket and slipcase. "The follow-up to Light In The Attic's game-changing I Am The Center box set is finally here. Three years in the making, The Microcosm: Visionary Music Of Continental Europe, 1970-1986 is the first major overview of key works from cosmically-taped in artists needing little introduction -- Vangelis, Ash Ra Tempel, and Popol Vuh -- and unknown masterpieces by criminally overlooked heroes like Bernard Xolotl, Robert Julian Horky and Enno Velthuys. Whereas I Am The Center called for a reconsideration of an entire maligned genre, The Microcosm requests nothing more than an open mind to consider this ambient, new age, neuzeit, prog, krautrock, cosmic, holistic stuff, whatever one calls it -- as a pulsating movement unto itself, a mirror refracting the American new age scene in unexpected, electrifying ways, proving beyond a shadow of a doubt the universality of the timeless quest to express 'the Ineffable' through music. Drawing from major label budgets and homemade cassette distributed circumstances alike, The Microcosm demonstrates a depth of peace profound to behold, and clearly expands the boundaries. Lovingly conceived and lavishly presented by producer Douglas Mcgowan (Yoga Records) and liner notes contributor Jason Patrick Woodbury (Pitchfork, Aquarium Drunkard), The Microcosm features stunning cover paintings by astronomer/entomologist Étienne Trouvelot, and labels by Finnish savant Aleksanda Ionowa. Remastered audio, including a previously unreleased track and several others previously cassette only."
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LITA 153CD
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"Album remastered from pristine LHI master tapes. Includes previously unheard versions of 'Pray Them Bars Away' & 'Easy & Me.' Liner notes by Hunter Lea including interviews with Torbjörn Axelman, Suzi Jane Hokom, Nina Lizell, Don Randi, Hal Blaine and Shel Talmy. Rare film production photos from the Torbjörn Axelman archive. Light In The Attic records is proud to continue its Lee Hazlewood series with this expanded reissue of Cowboy in Sweden. Released as the last LHI LP, Cowboy in Sweden was a soundtrack to the 1970 cult classic film of the same name starring Lee Hazlewood. The film was a surreal psychedelic account of Lee's journey to his new homeland, while the soundtrack was a perfect compilation of Hazlewood's strongest songs recorded over a prolific globe trotting three year period. The production scope of the album was the most ambitious of his career, recorded in Paris, London, Los Angeles and Stockholm with a slew of talented session musicians, producers and arrangers. Cowboy in Sweden is quite possibly the purest distillation of the Hazlewood sound; lush melancholy country pop with a pinch of humor ('Pray Them Bars Away'), a dash of bummer ('Cold Hard Times'), some beautiful ladies to sing with ('Leather & Lace' & 'Hey Cowboy') and even a couple anti-war protest songs to be topical ('No Train to Stockholm' & 'For A Day Like Today'). The David 'Bitter Sweet Symphony' Whitaker arranged orchestral pop of 'What's More I Don't Need Her' and the stone cold Hazlewood classic 'The Night Before' cement the album as Lee's peak on LHI records and ironically the label's swan song."
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2CD
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LITA 143CD
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"The follow-up to Light In The Attic's game-changing I Am The Center box set is finally here. Three years in the making, The Microcosm: Visionary Music Of Continental Europe, 1970-1986 is the first major overview of key works from cosmically-taped in artists needing little introduction -- Vangelis, Ash Ra Tempel, and Popol Vuh -- and unknown masterpieces by criminally overlooked heroes like Bernard Xolotl, Robert Julian Horky and Enno Velthuys. Whereas I Am The Center called for a reconsideration of an entire maligned genre, The Microcosm requests nothing more than an open mind to consider this ambient, new age, neuzeit, prog, krautrock, cosmic, holistic stuff, whatever one calls it -- as a pulsating movement unto itself, a mirror refracting the American new age scene in unexpected, electrifying ways, proving beyond a shadow of a doubt the universality of the timeless quest to express 'the Ineffable' through music. Drawing from major label budgets and homemade cassette distributed circumstances alike, The Microcosm demonstrates a depth of peace profound to behold, and clearly expands the boundaries. Lovingly conceived and lavishly presented by producer Douglas Mcgowan (Yoga Records) and liner notes contributor Jason Patrick Woodbury (Pitchfork, Aquarium Drunkard), The Microcosm features stunning cover paintings by astronomer/entomologist Étienne Trouvelot, and labels by Finnish savant Aleksanda Ionowa. Remastered audio, including a previously unreleased track and several others previously cassette only."
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LP
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LITA 144LP
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"If Lucio Battisti was Italy's answer to France's Serge Gainsbourg, then Amore E Non Amore is his own Histoire De Melody Nelson, a concept album that's widely regarded as a formative artistic achievement (if far from the most hit packed album) of his respective career. Both albums were released in 1971. For Battisti, the concept came from that dichotomous title: there's a rocky 'non-love' side of the album, which has songs about obsession and adultery, and a 'love' side of dreamy, prog-rock instrumentals. The album saw Battisti working with lyricist Giulio 'Mogol' Rapetti, with whom he'd collaborated closely since 1965, enjoying huge hits with the likes of '29 Settembre' and 'Sognando La California,' an Italian version of 'California Dreamin''. It was Mogol who first convinced Battisti to perform his own songs, and who conceived the idea for this record. Mogol supplied the inspiration, the title and the titles of its songs, many of them evocative sentences that flesh out the visual picture where lyrics are absent. Take, for example, 'Davanti Ad Un Distributore Automatico Di Fiori Dell'aereoporto Di Bruxelles Anch'io Chiuso In Una Bolla Di Vetro,' which translates as 'In Front Of A Flowers Vending Machine In Brussels Airport I Am Closed In A Glass Bowl Too'. In an incredibly rare English language interview accompanying this lavish reissue, Mogol speaks of the album's conception. 'I had an understanding that Lucio was a great musician, a great composer,' he says, 'And in my opinion, I felt bad that he was limited exclusively to a pop genre. I wanted him to become a musician; I was really hoping, I had said to him, that he would become an orchestra conductor, a star who would make his own songs, and so I tried to convince him to make songs without lyrics.' Amore E Non Amore was to be a watershed moment for Battisti. His label considered it to be too experimental and advanced for the Italian audience, and refused to release it. They were wrong: it instead set Battisti on a liberating course of artistic freedom and widespread success, and gifted the world one of Italy's greatest musical exports. Officially licensed reissue. Remastered from the original tapes. Liner notes interviewing lyricist Giulio 'Mogol' Rapetti. Deluxe gatefold 'tip-on' Stoughton jacket. 180-gram vinyl."
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LITA 127CD
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"Followers of our output might have a pang of recognition on reading the name Frierson. That was the surname of Wendy Rene, whose work was collected into the 2012 LITA anthology After Laughter Comes Tears, and indeed, Johnnie Frierson is Wendy's brother - a fellow member of her mid-'60s Stax four-piece The Drapels. But Have You Been Good To Yourself will come as a surprise to anyone expecting more of the beat-driven R&B Johnnie and his sibling produced - including that compilation's much-sampled title track. A mix of spoken word and gospel songs laid down direct to cassette, these ultra-rare home recordings draw from Johnnie's religious upbringing and his history in the music business, which was interrupted in 1970 when he was sent to fight in Vietnam. Crate digger Jameson Sweiger found Have You Been Good To Yourself and a companion album, Real Education, released under the name Khafele Ojore Ajanaku in a Memphis thrift store, but it was noticeably Frierson's work. They hadn't made it far - they would originally have been sold at corner stores and music festivals in the Memphis area, where Frierson continued to perform and host a gospel radio show, all the while working as a mechanic, laborer and teacher. The seven songs on Have You Been Good To Yourself are overtly religious; some, such as 'Out Here On Your Word,' are strident and faithful; others, like the self-questioning 'Have You Been Good To Yourself,' are more meditative. They reflect the difficult situation that Frierson was in when recording, shell-shocked from his time in the military and grieving the untimely death of his son. 'He was really trying to find his way,' remembers Frierson's daughter in Andrea Lisle's liner notes. 'And writing and making music were a way out for him.' Remastered and released professionally for the first time, the message spread by Frierson - who passed away in 2010 - remains undimmed."
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LITA 020LP
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2016 repress; LP version. "* New edition to celebrate 10 years since our first reissue. * Restored original album artwork and expanded to a Stoughton gatefold 'tip-on' jacket. * Includes updated liner notes and archive photos. Noel is the son of legendary Studio One/Treasure Isle recording artist Alton Ellis, and this self-titled debut was recorded in Toronto in 1979 by studio wizard Jerry Brown for the pioneering Summer Records -- often cited as Canada's answer to Lee Perry's Black Ark Studios. Features six dub-loved, heavy yet ethereal tracks, with contributions from OG reggae maestros Jackie Mittoo, Willi Williams, and Johnny Osbourne. The eponymous classic lost full length includes the hugely influential version of 'Rocking Universally,' which was recorded by The Clash as 'Armagedion Time.' Noel Ellis evoked a transcendent majesty, and the album's economical performances were a blessing compared to certain overproduced recordings of the era. Tasteful keys, varied percussion, essential echo, conquering dub changeovers, and Noel's impeccable mic control gave an otherworldly twist to Summer's remarkable drum and bass sound. It was an end-to-end burner for midnight tokers and cool rulers alike."
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LITA 139CD
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"Remastered from the original tapes. Essay by 'Punk Professor' Vivien Goldman, interviewing key players. CD includes full album plus 2 bonus tracks. By the time poet, singer-songwriter, and artist Lizzy Mercier Descloux recorded 1984's Zulu Rock, she'd marked herself out as both a globe trotter with more passport stamps than Tintin and a musical innovator whose loose, arty spirit could be applied to styles as varied as no wave, Bavarian oompa and Soweto jive. She'd also established a tight-knit threesome with muse/former lover Michel Esteban and producer/on-off lover Adam Kidron, who all reunited to follow Zulu Rock -- a surprise hit in her native France -- with something that, once again, represented a complete about-turn. The location, this time, was Rio De Janeiro, a suitably exotic location to follow their sojourn in Soweto given that Brazil had recently emerged from twenty years of dictatorship. But unlike Zulu Rock's broad appropriation of the local sound, One For The Soul borrows very liberally from Brazilian culture. The aim, says Kidron, was to 'reimagine the blues', but Lizzy's musical essence was in flux. 'A Word Is A Wah' meshes reggae with her beloved accordion, 'Women Don't Like Me' is wild, new wave pop, and she even wanders into soul territory, with whispery lounge versions of Al Green's 'Simply Beautiful'. Most notable is the album's foray into jazz, and the fact that Chet Baker, the master jazz trumpeter, blew his last on 'Fog Horn Blues' and the sensuous 'Off Off Pleasure'. Rio was to be the last great hurrah of Lizzy and Michel's global recording adventures, and although work proceeded apace, the experience was often quite tense. 'The sessions were tough work,' says Kidron, in the new liner notes by Vivien Goldman accompanying this deluxe reissue. 'Lizzy never quite got singing, no matter how much she drank, and no matter how hard she tried. Chet was very much at the drug-ravaged end of his life and had very little stamina or dexterity left... but there is a deep, sad, lyrical tone to his performances on the album.' So fraught were the sessions, it's a miracle that such a cohesive, sparky record emerged. The record-buying public did not agree, and as the album crashed and burned, so did the relationship between its three heroes. Lizzy was, for the first time, about to take on the world alone -- and there was but one album left in her."
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LP
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LITA 139LP
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LP version. Includes download code for full album plus two bonus tracks.
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LITA 140CD
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"Remastered from the original tapes. Essay by 'Punk Professor' Vivien Goldman, interviewing key players. CD includes full album plus 6 bonus tracks. By the time bohemian singer/poet/artist Lizzy Mercier Descloux recorded her fifth album, 1988's Suspense, she'd enjoyed a recording career that was as far from the clichés of music lore as is possible, flitting between genres, continents and collaborators, enjoying great success and equally great failure and even stealing the final breaths of master trumpeter Chet Baker for 1986's One For The Soul. When she came to make Suspense -- reissued here as the final album in our series -- she was, for the first time, working without her longtime muse, partner and manager Michel Esteban, with whom she'd first moved from their native France to New York, where it all began. The pressure was on to repeat the success of 'Mais Où Sont Passées Les Gazelles', a smash hit in France, and Descloux's label were keen to make a conventional artist of her, pairing her with John Brand, an in-vogue producer with a style geared to a big, shiny 1980s chart sound -- an approach Lizzy had never experienced before, nor intended to. Recorded in Oxfordshire and Wales, it features songs recorded in both French and English, with lyrics by Mark Cunningham, the trumpet player of the avant-garde band MARS, and James Reyne, the Australian artist who co-wrote much of One For The Soul. In Vivien Goldman's new liner notes, Esteban notes that Suspense sounds 'less Lizzy than the other records, less open,' but in splitting herself into two -- English and Francophone -- the album has two personalities too; oddly, it shines a light on the real Descloux that her cultural experiments never did. Though the initial aim was to make a folky, acoustic album, the pop sound suited the singer, and 'A Room In New York' is as fine and sparky as AOR gets. But when early single 'Gueule D'Amour/Cry of Love' stiffed, EMI lost confidence and buried the LP. Bound by her contract to the label, Descloux moved away from music and focused on painting. She eventually settled in Corsica, the French island, where she died, aged 48, of cancer. Descloux's musical career ended, therefore, with the aptly titled Suspense. It was only a matter of time before this furiously creative artist's work was re-evaluated, and with these deluxe reissues, that time is now."
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LITA 140LP
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LP version. Includes download code for full album plus six bonus tracks.
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LITA 138CD
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"Remastered from the original tapes. Essay by 'Punk Professor' Vivien Goldman, interviewing key players. CD includes full album plus 5 bonus tracks. In the course of three albums, Lizzy Mercier Descloux, the rogue poet, artist, and singer-songwriter, travelled on a musical voyage from Manhattan (1979 debut Press Color) to The Bahamas (1981 follow-up Mambo Nassau) and apartheid South Africa (1984's Zulu Rock) -- a controversial cultural boycott in protest of the nation's racially divided society. One place Descloux had never visited was the pop charts, but that changed when 'Mais Où Sont Passées Les Gazelles? (Where Have The Gazelles Gone?)' -- a reworking of a South African Shangaan disco hit -- went all the way to the top spot in her native France, giving her a platform and a profile in the land she'd fled many years before. Recorded at Satbel Studios in Johannesburg, the album followed what her mentor Michel Esteban describes as 'an extraordinary adventure' through eastern Africa following the footsteps of 19th century poet Rimbaud through Sudan, Ethiopia, the East Coast. A socially conscious person, Descloux wanted to use her music to draw some attention to the situation in South Africa, even obliquely, but there were musical motivations too -- she was tapping into a hot and little-heard dance music in the aforementioned Shangaan disco, Soweto jive and mbaqanga, the style Malcolm McLaren had mined for his mash-up hit 'Duck Rock' a year before. The music of South Africa seduced, subsumed, and molded Lizzy, who sounds surer and more swinging than ever before throughout Zulu Rock, but credit must also go to British producer Adam Kidron, then best known for his work with Scritti Politti, who joined Esteban and Descloux for the entire African journey. Lizzy and Adam's was a battle of wills from the start, but his insistence on getting Lizzy to sing in a more conventional, tuneful way resulted in an emotional, ambitious, creative power struggle that delivered arguably her best vocals yet. In Vivien Goldman's new liner notes for this reissue, Kidron says: 'My first impression of Lizzy was that she couldn't sing but that she had that crazy Madonna, Neneh Cherry, Nina Hagen attitude thing going on and a magical way with words -- a marketer's gift for getting to the essence of a feeling or idea.' And for once, on this album, the marketing did itself."
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LITA 138LP
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LP version. Includes download code for full album plus five bonus tracks.
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LITA 128LP
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"First ever vinyl reissue. Remastered from original master tapes. LP housed in a deluxe gatefold Stoughton 'tip-on' jacket. Upon first glance, one could be forgiven for wondering which is the artist and which is the title of this album. Memphis' Larry 'Gimmer' Nicholson still remains a great unknown today, despite his having orbited the periphery of the city's music scene since the early '60s, playing with artists ranging from Furry Lewis to William Eggleston and influencing a young Chris Bell (Big Star). Fusing classical and folk music, the sound Gimmer created for Christopher Idylls was evocative and unusual, its chiming guitars recalling the music of centuries past while also -- when recorded in 1968 -- being quite desperately ahead of its time. The album was recorded with Terry Manning (Big Star, Led Zeppelin), who describes its creator as 'one of the world's most enigmatic people. I don't know how many people really knew him because he was such a private person, a "full of love" person, who had a dark side as well.' The six compositions that comprise Christopher Idylls were composed out west, Manning believes, while overlooking the Pacific Ocean. They were laid down in 1968 in four weeks of intimate sessions at Ardent Studios that saw Gimmer experiment by feeding acoustic guitars through delay pedals, layering and layering the sound live -- one of the first examples of electronic repeat being used as part of the music. The album was supposed to be the first full-length LP release on Ardent Records, but there were understandable concerns about the size of audience that might be waiting for a curious instrumental album such as this. Meanwhile, Gimmer put blocks in the road himself: he didn't like the original mixes or the sleeve and eventually decided he didn't want the album released at all. He got his way but, Manning argues, the influence of those chiming guitars can be heard in the sounds floating out of Memphis in the decades that followed -- especially in Big Star. Having personally played it to luminaries including Jimmy Page, Manning was frustrated he couldn't get the album to a wider audience. 'It was one of the best things I've been associated with -- and it still is,' he says. It was Manning who finally convinced Nicholson to release the album on CD in 1994 and who was talking about recording more with him when Gimmer passed away at just 54 years old in 2000. Now available on vinyl, it's Gimmer's time to chime -- and shine -- again."
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CD
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LITA 132CD
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"Album remastered from the original tapes with bonus tracks. Liner notes booklet with exclusive interviews and archive photos. The mid-to-late '60s were strange days for Lee Hazlewood. Having struck gold as songwriter and vocal foil for Nancy Sinatra, he signed up to MGM as an artist in his own right, and between 1966 and 1968, produced three ambitious solo albums that were eclectic, idiosyncratic, and most of all, unpredictable. It was a happy time for Lee; his music was hot on the charts, he was fully immersed in his collaboration with his muse, Suzi Jane Hokom. The second of his MGM trilogy -- 1967's peculiarly named Lee Hazlewoodism: Its Cause And Cure -- took on countrified French ye-ye ('The Girls In Paris'), a tale of a young bullfighter built on Spanish guitar and choral cowboys ('Jose'), a string-drenched song about the passing of time ('The Old Man And His Guitar'), and a western epic about a Native American tribe ('The Nights'). And that was just the first four tracks. Elsewhere, the honky tonk madness of 'Suzi Jane Is Back In Town,' the Byrds-like jangle of 'In Our Time' and -- in the bonus tracks -- an instrumental named 'Batman' confirm this to be one of Hazlewood's most far-ranging, far-out LPs ever. It's the result of two main factors: ambition -- to top Phil Spector, primarily -- and cash, which paid for orchestras, plush studios, and the inestimable talents of arranger Billy Strange. 'I think the big sound of those records came out of the Spector thing,' says Hokom, in the new liner notes. 'If you can have a big sound and you have money to burn? it was a flamboyancy.' Released before the Nancy & Lee LP -- a bona fide hit for Reprise Records -- Hazlewoodism was a tougher nut to crack, a record that confused by combining po-faced delivery with unabashed comical touches. By 1967, Hazlewood had founded the LHI imprint, and was busy building his own empire -- one we've been lovingly archiving for the past few years."
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LITA 133CD
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"Album remastered from the original tapes with bonus track. Liner notes booklet with exclusive interviews and archive photos. The three years spent on MGM Records between 1966 and 1968 were golden ones for Lee Hazlewood. He spent them working with his muse, Suzi Jane Hokom, writing a still-unreleased book, The Quiet Revenge of Elmo Furback, competing with Phil Spector from their respective studios, and coming up with the formula for the 'boy/girl' songs for which he'd become famous. In fact, the unflattering portrait on the cover of Something Special did little to hint at how hip this late-flowering talent (he was in his late 30s when 'These Boots Are Made For Walkin'' made him a star songwriter) had become. The common strand on the MGM trilogy is one of the unexpected happening. They were an ill fit for a major label -- experimental, difficult to pigeonhole, and unpredictable. Those descriptors apply nowhere more aptly than Something Special. Where 1966's The Very Special World Of Lee Hazlewood and 1967's Lee Hazlewoodism: Its Cause And Cure had employed an arranger, Billy Strange, and a full orchestra, Something Special stripped things back and brought in a flavor of jazz and blues, complete with gravelly-voiced scatting courtesy of collaborator Don Randi. This sat alongside tracks like 'Little War' and 'Hands,' the kind of late night, acoustic balladeering Hazlewood would later seize for his career-highlight LP, Requiem For An Almost Lady. The sound was that of a stripped-down nightclub jazz/blues/folk combo, fully rejecting the psychedelic music going on all over the world. The album made clear that forging a career as a serious star was not at the top of Hazlewood's agenda, and at the third opportunity, he'd let the listener in on the joke. Tellingly, Hokom recalls Hazlewood saying the MGM albums were his 'expensive demos. I'm sure that MGM thought that they would be successful.' Little chance of that with Something Special -- it was originally released only in Germany. The same year, Hazlewood founded the LHI imprint, and began building his own empire, one we've been lovingly archiving for the past few years. We now present this missing link in the story, three albums that generated some of Hazlewood's best -- and most varied -- work."
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LITA 145CD
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"We are pleased to announce that Light In The Attic & Third Man Records are joining forces to show impressionable, young minds the virtues of good music and vinyl records with our exclusive children's compilation, This Record Belongs To______ available November 6th on LP and CD accompanied by Third Man Record's new portable light-weight children's turntable with built in speakers and a USB port for converting vinyl records to digital. Parents everywhere rejoice! What if your favorite children's book were not only a timeless story but came with a soundtrack of tunes that kids and grown-ups alike would love? Hold onto your boots... it's here! This Record Belongs To______ is the antidote to your standard kids compilations. You won't find boy bands, princesses, or purple dinosaurs here. Instead the record consists of two halves?an upbeat side for daytime dancin' and a mellow side for bedtime lullabies. Among the many gems featured include songs from Carole King, Woody Guthrie, Donovan, Harry Nilsson, Jerry Garcia, Nina Simone, Kermit The Frog and more. Inspired by the classic Little Golden Books Series and Sesame Street's In Harmony albums, This Record Belongs To ______ stems from a love of music, reading, and a passion for teaching future generations the interactive experience of holding an album in your hands, putting needle to groove, and immersing yourself in the pages of a record's sleeve as the music plays. The compilation was compiled and sequenced by DJ and friend, Zach Cowie, who is as dear to our hearts as this collection of songs (previously passed around as a gift between friends) and is the soundtrack for many LITA & TMR offspring. These kiddos now all have undeniably excellent taste in tunes. The record is accompanied by an original, full-color storybook illustrated by acclaimed artist, Jess Rotter, which tells the tale of five forest pals who find a mysterious object -- a round, flat disc that they proceed to investigate. The animal friends finally solve the mystery and learn how to play a record and let their bodies move to the groove (within the grooves)."
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LITA 136LP
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Gatefold LP version in deluxe Stoughton tip-on jacket. First official vinyl reissue. "24 bit / 96 kHz remaster from the original tapes. New notes by Steve Hochman featuring interviews with band members and album producer Lou Adler. We all know the Carole King who wrote some of the biggest hits of the '60s, from 'Will You Love Me Tomorrow' to 'Pleasant Valley Sunday,' via 'The Locomotion' and '(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman.' We also know the singer-songwriter behind Tapestry, the album that launched King as a solo singer in her own right. But in between -- and not nearly as well known -- is King's band, The City, and their album, Now That Everything's Been Said. By the mid-'60s, King's marriage to Gerry Goffin, with whom she'd written many of those wonderful hits, had hit the rocks. A divorce loomed, and King all but retired to raise their two daughters. She headed west to Laurel Canyon in '67, taking the children with her, and made the previously unlikely move of joining a progressive folk-rock band. King formed The City with future husband Charles Larkey on bass and Danny Kortchmar on guitar and vocals. With King on piano and vocals, they created a folk rock sound that pre-empted the singer-songwriter boom of the '70s. Produced by Lou Adler and featuring Jimmy Gordon on drums, The City's sound is deep and soulful, imperfect but passionate. And the songs, with King writing or co-writing all but one, are as exceptional as you'd expect and as widely covered as her factory work. 'Now That Everything's Been Said' was a hit for American Spring, 'A Man Without A Dream' was tackled by The Monkees, and 'Hi-De-Ho (That Old Sweet Roll)' was a hit for Blood, Sweat & Tears. Central to the album's appeal is King's own stirring reading of her track 'Wasn't Born To Follow,' covered masterfully by The Byrds for the Easy Rider soundtrack. King had been used to a life on the sidelines, and her stage fright left the trio unable to tour the LP which adversely affected their fortunes. That, plus some behind-the-scenes distribution problems, meant the album was quickly deleted, and it remained so for the next thirty years -- partly at King's request."
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LITA 125CD
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"Legendary ivory-tickler Spooner Oldham is synonymous with the Muscle Shoals sound. The southern soul pioneer famously backed the likes of Etta James, Jimmy Hughes, Wilson Pickett, Percy Sledge, Aretha Franklin, and many more, but his lone solo album, Pot Luck, finds Spooner in a rare role: front and center. Oldham moved west in the late '60s when the patronage of bands like The Stones and The Flying Burrito Brothers made southern soul the in-demand sound. He joined the house band at Hollywood's Producer's Workshop and was soon playing for The Lettermen and Liberace. While recording the latter, it was suggested that Oldham make his own album. 'I don't really think I wanted it so much,' Oldham says now. 'I think it was shoved on me. We'd got all this stuff set up, and now what do we do?' Pot Luck is very much a record of two halves; Side A is an amalgamation of rarities penned with the likes of Dan Penn and Freddy Weller, while the B-side is a conceptual, seven-song medley covering some of the biggest hits Oldham played on, including 'Cry Like A Baby,' 'Respect,' and gospel standard 'Will The Circle Be Unbroken.' The sessions were largely unplanned. 'We just went in,' says collaborator Emory Gordy. 'That's the best way Spooner works.' In 1972, the album was released and quickly sank. Before long, the Producer's Workshop disbanded, too. Oldham carried on regardless, performing with The Everly Brothers, Bobby Womack, Gene Clark, Neil Young and -- well, you name it. With this deluxe reissue of his solo LP, it's time for Oldham to get his own dues. 'I don't think anybody, anywhere, at any time, has ever heard it,' he says. 'I'm just happy someone wants to hear it now.'"
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LITA 125LP
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LP version. Housed in deluxe Stoughton tip-on gatefold jacket. "Legendary ivory-tickler Spooner Oldham is synonymous with the Muscle Shoals sound. The southern soul pioneer famously backed the likes of Etta James, Jimmy Hughes, Wilson Pickett, Percy Sledge, Aretha Franklin, and many more, but his lone solo album, Pot Luck, finds Spooner in a rare role: front and center. Oldham moved west in the late '60s when the patronage of bands like The Stones and The Flying Burrito Brothers made southern soul the in-demand sound. He joined the house band at Hollywood's Producer's Workshop and was soon playing for The Lettermen and Liberace. While recording the latter, it was suggested that Oldham make his own album. 'I don't really think I wanted it so much,' Oldham says now. 'I think it was shoved on me. We'd got all this stuff set up, and now what do we do?' Pot Luck is very much a record of two halves; Side A is an amalgamation of rarities penned with the likes of Dan Penn and Freddy Weller, while the B-side is a conceptual, seven-song medley covering some of the biggest hits Oldham played on, including 'Cry Like A Baby,' 'Respect,' and gospel standard 'Will The Circle Be Unbroken.' The sessions were largely unplanned. 'We just went in,' says collaborator Emory Gordy. 'That's the best way Spooner works.' In 1972, the album was released and quickly sank. Before long, the Producer's Workshop disbanded, too. Oldham carried on regardless, performing with The Everly Brothers, Bobby Womack, Gene Clark, Neil Young and -- well, you name it. With this deluxe reissue of his solo LP, it's time for Oldham to get his own dues. 'I don't think anybody, anywhere, at any time, has ever heard it,' he says. 'I'm just happy someone wants to hear it now.'"
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2LP
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LITA 130LP
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Double LP version. "Lee Hazlewood's LHI flagship group, The Kitchen Cinq, had everything but one elusive factor: success. Formed as The Illusions (and briefly The Y'alls) in Amarillo, Texas, the group blended garage punk with killer harmonies and a slight sense of the absurd. Picking up steam locally in the mid-'60s, the members started to think about cracking it on a bigger scale, and, in 1966, moved to LA. 'Almost immediately upon arrival, we auditioned for Lee,' says guitarist/vocalist Mark Creamer. 'He said, "Deal."' Another of Hazlewood's coterie, Suzi Jane Hokom, was charged with producing the group, making her a de facto female pioneer in the industry. By 1968, The Kitchen Cinq issued a total of five impressive singles and one album, Everything But. They recorded a surprisingly vast amount of material, all of which is collected here. Their version of The Beau Brummels' 'Still In Love With You Baby' was a regional hit in many cities, but they were still chasing a big hit, and the LA dream was wearing thin. In the end, the industry burned them out: the endless gigging, the radio spots, the long journeys -- including an ill-fated East Coast tour that required them to drive from LA to Florida in three days. 'I think LA ate the Texas boys; I really feel that way,' says guitarist/vocalist Jim Parker. The group split in '68, and the members spread off into bands including Them, rock outfit Armageddon and, eventually, careers in studios. One -- temporary member J.D. Souther -- has a recurring role on the popular soap opera Nashville. The Kitchen Cinq was just a springboard for each of them, but listening to these overlooked works of beat-pop brilliance, you can't help but wonder why it didn't work out for the Texans at the time. Their songs -- all of them -- live on in this anthology."
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