A House Safe for Tigers

perfect¡

Different

Hot on the heels of 'The LHI Years: Singles, Nudes and Backsides' comes another obscure Lee Hazlewood oddity, this time from 1975. Apparently the vinyl LP now sells for hundreds of dollars but I can emphatically confirm that is solely because of its extreme rarity - definitely NOT the quality of the music. And I say that as a dedicated Lee Hazlewood fan. The truth is that Lee's work scaled the heights of brilliance in his heyday ('66-'71) but also occasionally hit the depths of bland mediocrity. This CD is firmly in the latter category.HSFT was conceived during Lee's extended stay in Scandinavia in the early seventies. Somewhere in here is a TV film which he describes as "a half-Swedish, half-English semi-documentary". It certainly seems very odd and the soundtrack therefore needs to be viewed in that context. Even the title itself is confusing because on the two versions of the title song both Lee (track 2) and the choir (10) are clearly saying "a house safe FROM tigers", thereby giving the lyric an entirely different meaning, if indeed it has one at all. The phrase "May your house be safe from tigers" is originally from an ancient Buddhist prayer.Tracks:1. 'Souls Island' (6'34) - long, slow. The instrumental middle section is the highlight.2. 'A House Safe For Tigers' (2'45) - the title track is OK (no more) and features a lush strings/horns outro.3. 'Our Little Boy Blue' (2'26) - almost fifty years old, this is an early Lee song and is simply atrocious - a sub-nursery rhyme set to an awful trite childrens tune. Seems totally out of place on this CD.4. 'Absent Friends' (3'53) - an inconsequential string instrumental version of (2) and (10), obviously recorded as atmospheric background for the film but it doesn't stand up as a CD track.5. 'Sand Hill Anna And The Russian Mouse' (2'58) - a plodding melody and rather tired lyric with an unremarkable, clumsy chorus. The arrangement is a long way from the greatest you will ever hear on a Hazlewood track but at least this is a genuine Lee song, although it would never have got close to meriting inclusion on any of the albums from his golden era.6. 'Lars Gunnar And Me' (2'52) - slightly better but almost ruined by a clichéd '70s lead-guitar.7. 'Souls Island (Narration)' (6'34) - a note-for-note repeat of (1) but with a Swedish narration crudely superimposed over the instrumental sections - i.e. the opening track's best bits.8. 'Las Vegas' (2'51) - a chaotic jazz instrumental, vaguely reminiscent of seventies TV backing music from 'Starsky & Hutch' or 'Kojak' but not nearly as good.9. 'The Nights' (3'13) - when HSFT was first released this song was already nine years old, originally included on 'Its Cause And Cure' (MGM, 1966), on which it was one of the weakest tracks. But on this poor CD it stands out as possibly the strongest. Lee's vocal is spoken and very similar in stanza/structure to 'Jose', the other (rather better known) spoken vocal track from 'Its Cause And Cure'10. 'A House Safe For Tigers' (2'02) - a pointless choral version of (2). Instantly forgettable.So when the above is broken down - i.e. when you remove the duplicate of 'Souls Island' (7), the two filler instrumentals (4 and 8), the choral version of the title song (10) and the horrible regurgitated track from 1963 (3) - what you are left with is very threadbare, less than twenty minutes of music of which the highlight (9) is an old track from 45 years ago. As with many other posthumously released Lee Hazlewood CDs the best thing about this album is yet again the accompanying booklet. Wyndham Wallace provides a useful insight into this phase of Lee's career to follow his excellent liner notes for 'The LHI Years'.Even the greatest songwriters have recorded turkeys. These reviews are supposed to offer prospective buyers an impartial opinion and so, with that in mind, I must advise that if you are new to Lee Hazlewood and wish to investigate his brilliant songwriting then this is clearly not the CD to buy. Get it only if you are a die-hard Lee fan and need to complete the collection or if you want to read the booklet.Apparently there are further Hazlewood re-releases in the pipeline from Light In The Attic. So expect more of the same - out-takes, remasters, obscure curiosities, the occasional great track, tasteful packaging and some excellent liner notes. I for one can't wait!

This has been a long time comming. a very well produced cd from the 70,s Great front cover as well as liner notes. Soles Island is a stand out track as there are three versions of this the last being the best. Would I recomened this yes I would. Hope fully other LH cds will follow S.Scott

Lee Hazlewood influenced Phil Spector; he founded the Jamie record label; he discovered Duane Eddy and created his deep, twangy guitar sound; he cut the wonderful album "Love And Other Crimes"; he produced some notable hits for Nancy Sinatra; he released an iconic album of duets with her and, at the height of his success in 1971, he packed his bags and went to live in Sweden!There he made TV films with his friend Torbjorn Axelman. He also cut several obscure albums but none as obscure as this 1975 recording which has now been released outside of Sweden for the first time. It was produced as the soundtrack to a film directed by Axelman about their childhood days. The film was described by Hazelwood as "strange".I've never seen the film so I can't tell how the music relates to the content but, surprisingly, it's rather good. The album kicks off with the beautiful "Soul's Island" with a sublime orchestral sweep and Hazelwood's baritone conveying a mystic grandeur. There is an equally grand reprise with Axelman providing a narration in Swedish.There is a superior version of "The Nights" his epic song of love and genocide among Native Americans which first appeared on "This Is Lee Hazelwood" in 1967 and a charming version of "Our Little Boy Blue" that he first cut in 1963 with The Shacklefords, a folk group that he formed with his first wife and Marty Cooper.But there is nothing predictable about Lee Hazlewood and this is followed by the melodic "Absent Friends" performed by a baroque string ensemble that develops into, and ends with, a drum led jazz fusion.The title song is typical of Lee's country ballads and again there are two versions. The album ends with a choral rendition of the song.This is not for those dipping into the Hazlewood catalogue for the first time. This is an album for those aficionados who are familiar with his unpredictability and his eccentricity but who are also aware of his great talent as a performer, a songwriter and a producer.

No different from any other Lee album, a total winner! I would recommend this album and any other from his back catalogue!