The
Something Special album has a strange history, even by the standards of
Lee Hazlewood's incredibly strange solo career. Recorded (with the exception of one number) in 1967, it was scheduled for release by MGM and even given a catalog number and a cover, but was canceled; it did come out in Germany 20 years later.
Hazlewood fans eager to investigate an album that's never been easy to hear may be disappointed to find it a spare, almost nonchalant collection that sounds like the work of a sozzled if unpredictably eccentric lounge combo. It's almost totally lacking the gorgeous, eccentric arrangements and memorably quirky pop songs of his productions for
Nancy Sinatra (and for that matter his two prior MGM LPs from 1966-1967,
The Very Special World of Lee Hazlewood and Lee Hazlewood-ism: Its Cause and Cure). One song, "Shades," does recall those first two albums, for the very good reason that it was recorded in 1966 during sessions for Lee Hazlewood-ism: Its Cause and Cure, though it wasn't as good as most of the songs that ended up on that LP. Otherwise
Something Special sounds like an outlet for humorous, slightly off-the-wall, and quite uncommercial
Hazlewood ditties blending jazz, country, folksy philosophy, and a bit of folk and blues. Occasional dumb sub-
Louis Armstrong scatting in the background (by
Billy Strange) adds to the air of a project that doesn't seem intended to have been taken that seriously.
Something Special was included in its entirety on the 2002 Big Beat release These Boots Are Made for Walkin': The Complete MGM Recordings, and earned a straight reissue on Water in 2007. ~ Richie Unterberger