Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood – A History of Dubious Taste

Late Night Stargazing

At work the other day, somebody mentioned that they were trvelling down to Bristol over the weekend to visit their family.

I happened to mention that Bristol has a terrific nightlife scene, and that when I lived in Cardiff I would often make the short journey to go to the odd gig or two.

In particular, I recalled seeing Idlewild doing an acoustic set at the Trinity Centre, a converted church, and then a little while later going to see Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan at the same venue.

To my surprise, the latter two names drew blank looks.

“You know,” I cajoled, “Mark Lanegan of Screaming Trees, Queens of the Stone Age and…erm…Mark Lanegan fame?”

The same stone faces gazed back at me.

“And Isobel Campbell…used to be in Belle & Sebastian….?”

Nothing. Zip. Nada.

“Commonly described as the modern day Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood ….? No….?”

I despaired.

Here. This. Them:

Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan – Honey Child What Can I Do?

The Hazlewood/Sinatra comparison is justified, and one which they embraced; when I saw them in Bristol and sometime later in Cardiff, they did a cover of this H&S classic:

Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood – Sand

More soon.

Sunday Morning Coming Down

Anyone who reads the Comments section of this here blog will have seen this coming, for last week, after a post mentioning the supposed baritone qualities of my own voice, I received a couple of requests by two of my female readers who rather enjoy a chap with a deep voice.

In the world of the blogger, you realise, this is on a par with Tom Jones having underwear thrown at him.

I have quite a lot of stuff by Lee Hazlewood, but I don’t think any of his solo recordings come anywhere close to touching the songs he recorded with Nancy Sinatra.

I’ve previously drawn a comparison (and I’m not the only one to have done so) between Lee and Nancy, and Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan, a comparison given extra credence by the fact that when I once saw them perform at Cardiff’s sadly now defunct venue The Point, they did a cover of this song:

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