Folk 135 Items

First ever official reissue of Nancy & Lee’s classic 1968 duet album
Definitive reissue with Nancy’s involvement
Includes the bonus tracks, “Tired Of Waiting for You” and “Love Is Strange,” from the album sessions
Newly remastered from the original analog tapes by GRAMMY®-nominated engineer John Baldwin
Vinyl pressed at RTI
Q&A with Nancy & GRAMMY®-nominated reissue co-producer Hunter Lea
Never-before-seen photos from Nancy Sinatra’s personal archive
Beautifully packaged and expanded gatefold LP featuring a 20-page booklet

Light in the Attic is thrilled to announce the first official reissue of Nancy & Lee: the highly-influential 1968 duet album from Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood. This definitive edition of Nancy & Lee features newly-remastered audio by the GRAMMY®-nominated engineer John Baldwin and includes an array of exclusive content, including a new interview with Nancy, never-before-seen photos, and two bonus tracks from the album sessions: an ethereal cover of The Kinks’ “Tired of Waiting for You” and an uptempo version of “Love Is Strange” (first made famous by Mickey & Sylvia in 1956). This release marks the official debut on vinyl for both tracks.

Nancy & Lee can be found in a variety of formats, including vinyl, cassette tape, CD, 8-track, and digital. The vinyl LP, pressed at Record Technology, Inc. (RTI), is presented in an expanded gatefold jacket and features the iconic, original cover photo by Ron Joy. Inside, a 20-page booklet offers an array of photos from the legendary singer, actress, and activist’s personal collection, as well as an in-depth Q&A with Sinatra, conducted by the reissue’s GRAMMY®-nominated co-producer, Hunter Lea (also available in the CD package). In addition to the classic black vinyl pressing, a selection of colorful variants can be found exclusively at NancySinatra.com, LightInTheAttic.net, independent record stores and select online retailers.

In celebration of the release, Nancy Sinatra and fellow musician and longtime friend Don Randi (The Wrecking Crew) visited Record Technology, Inc. (RTI) in Camarillo, CA to take a tour of the plant and get a sneak peek at the Bootique-exclusive pressing of Nancy and Lee. A short video piece documenting the day, including new interviews with Sinatra, Randi, and RTI plant manager, Rick Hashimoto is available here.

MORE ABOUT NANCY & LEE

When Nancy – the eldest daughter of Frank Sinatra – first met Lee Hazlewood in 1965, she was a demure, 25-year-old divorcée, who was struggling to find her place as an artist amid the changing musical landscape. At the urging of her label, she was introduced to the Oklahoma-born songwriter, Lee Hazlewood, who had found success working with guitarist Duane Eddy. While Sinatra and Hazlewood hailed from vastly different worlds, they were about to embark on a partnership that would change the course of their lives. Just months after meeting, Sinatra scored her first No.1 hit with “These Boots Are Made For Walkin’.” Written and produced by Hazlewood, the song became Sinatra’s signature tune – transforming her into a confident and commanding feminist icon.

Initially, Hazlewood maintained a behind-the-scenes role with Sinatra, enlisting arranger and composer Billy Strange, as well as other members of The Wrecking Crew (the famed Los Angeles session musicians) for the singer’s best-selling 1966 debut LP, Boots. But when they returned to the studio later that year for Sinatra’s sophomore effort, How Does That Grab You?, Hazlewood joined the singer for a duet of his song, “Sand.” Over the next year, as Sinatra’s star rose, the artists continued to collaborate in the vocal booth, finding success with “Summer Wine,” “Lady Bird,” and the cinematic “Some Velvet Morning” (all penned by Hazlewood). In 1967, just months after Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash scored a country hit with “Jackson,” Sinatra and Hazlewood released a pop version of the offbeat song, landing in the Top Ten across Europe and peaking at No.14 in the US.

Recalling her duets with Hazlewood, Sinatra laughs, “we used to call it beauty and the beast!” Voices with no blend.” Indeed, no one could have predicted that these two contrasting voices (and personalities) would work together quite so well. Praising the duo’s “sonic alchemy,” Hunter Lea writes, “rarely in music has there been such an unlikely collaboration: Nancy, the sassy and sweet songstress contrasted by Lee, the gruff, psychedelic cowboy. A harmonic partnership that defies conventional logic yet yields so much beauty.”

Before long, it seemed only natural for the artists to release an entire album together. In addition to compiling their recent duets (many of which appeared on Sinatra’s solo LPs), the duo recorded several new covers and Hazlewood originals. Billy Strange and The Wrecking Crew provided lush orchestral arrangements, as the two artists performed a range of material, including folk, pop, and country songs, with a twist of psychedelia.

Throughout the album, a palpable chemistry can be heard between Sinatra and Hazlewood – from the frisky banter on “Greenwich Village Folk Song Salesman” to the tongue-in-cheek delivery of “I’ve Been Down So Long (It Looks Up To Me).” But the artists also reveal their softer sides – particularly in the romantic balladry of “Sand.” Their languid rendition of “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling,” meanwhile, is downright erotic, despite the lyrics. But, as Sinatra asserts, her decades-long relationship with Hazlewood was always platonic. “We had sort of a love/hate relationship,” she explains. “Maybe it was a sexual tension because we never had any kind of affair. I don’t know exactly what it was, but it worked.”

That je ne sais quoi certainly did work. Upon its release in the spring of 1968, Nancy & Lee became a critical and commercial hit on both sides of the Atlantic, peaking at No.13 on the Billboard 200 and No.17 in the UK. By 1970, the album was certified Gold by the RIAA. Over the decades, however, the appeal of Nancy & Lee has only grown, while the album has amassed an enduring cult status that few titles achieve. Multiple generations of artists, including Sonic Youth, Lana Del Rey, and the Jesus & Mary Chain, have cited Nancy & Lee as an influence.

In recent years, Nancy & Lee has also inspired a groundswell of recognition from such outlets as Rolling Stone, which ranked the pair at No.9 on their 20 Greatest Duos of All Time list. Pitchfork included Nancy & Lee in their “Best Albums of the 1960s” roundup, hailing the record as “a document of a flawless collaboration.” The UK’s Far Out Magazine declared Nancy & Lee to be “a masterpiece that still ripples in the sonic waves today.” NPR, meanwhile, noted that “Sinatra and Hazlewood masterfully marry sunshiny orchestral elements with lyrics that dig at something darker about the human condition.” They went on to praise Sinatra’s work on Nancy & Lee as “some of the best that she’s ever recorded…it proved that she would hardly allow herself to be pigeonholed into one-hit wonder territory. Here, she made it clear that she was capable of so much more.”

Today, Sinatra reflects fondly on her time with Hazlewood. “The most fun was when there were two mics in the studio, and Lee was on one and I was on one,” she recalls. When asked about the lasting appeal of Nancy & Lee, the artist credits much of its success to her partner. “Lee has a following that continues to this day. He’s beloved; people love him all over the world.”

Sinatra’s legacy, meanwhile, continues to grow, as new generations discover her impressive catalog (which boasts nearly 20 studio albums – her duets with Hazlewood among them – and dozens of charting singles, including the theme song to the 1967 James Bond film, You Only Live Twice). In 2020, Sinatra was recognized by her peers when “These Boots Are Made For Walkin’” was inducted into the GRAMMY® Hall of Fame. That same year, Sinatra partnered with Light in the Attic Records for Nancy Sinatra: Start Walkin’ 1965-1976, a definitive survey of her most prolific period. At the end of 2021, LITA reissued Sinatra’s classic debut, Boots, while the label will continue to celebrate Sinatra with a variety of special releases, exclusive merch, and more.

A long-lost Japanese acid folk gem, Niningashi’s 1974 private press debut Heavy Way shimmers with originality, deft song writing and a dream-like groove.

Although he was training as a pharmacist, Kazuhisa Okubo was much more interested in prescribing musical medicine.

A coming-of-age album, Heavy Way captured a turning point in Okubo’s life, and Japanese society more widely as a nostalgia for the pastoral calm of the traditional life, met the cosmopolitan thrill of coffee, sex and cigarettes in the big city.

Intoxicated by Tokyo, driven by a passion for music and surrounded by a thriving acid folk scene, the young student filtered his experiences through a psychedelic cocktail of soulful influences from the US and Japan.

Niningashi was his first band, and Heavy Way was their only album. It was honest and raw, deep and strangely funky, in an off-beat kind of way. Across nine tracks, Okubo and the 6-piece band put their own spin on the new folk sound of Japan, combining witty lyrics with electric guitar-driven solos and crisp, understated grooves.

Melancholy and profound, opening track ‘Ameagari’ feels like a synthesis of Harvest-era Neil Young and Haruomi Hosono’s Happy End. Then there’s the whimsical washboard country sound of ‘Semai Boku No Heyade’; the moody, low-lit charm of ‘Restaurant’; and ‘Hitoribotchi’, a sensitive portrayal of childhood, steeped in memories of rainfall that will resonate with fans of Woo and Mac Demarco.

While Okubo would go on to taste success with psychedelic folk bands Neko and Kaze, the latter of which scored three #1 albums, little is known about his mysterious debut with Niningashi.

Self-released by Okubo in 1974, and featuring album artwork by his brother, it has slowly generated a cult following online, intrigued by its soft and enchanting sound. So few records were ultimately pressed that those remaining have fetched up to £1,500 online.

Featured on Time Capsule’s era-spanning collection Nippon Acid Folk, Niningashi’s Heavy Way is a deep-cut grail of a vibrant time in Japan’s musical history, where even the pharmacists were making jams.

Cauthen first earned his reputation as a fire-breathing truth teller with the acclaimed roots rock band Sons of Fathers, but it wasn’t until the 2016 release of his solo debut, ‘My Gospel,’ that he truly tapped into the full depth of his prodigious talents. Rolling Stone called the album “a triple-barreled blast of Texas country, soul and holy-roller rockabilly delivered by a big-voiced crooner,” while Vice Noisey dubbed it “a somber reminder of how lucky we are to be alive,” and Texas Monthly raved that Cauthen “sound[s] like the Highwaymen all rolled into one: he’s got Willie’s phrasing, Johnny’s haggard quiver, Kristofferson’s knack for storytelling, and Waylon’s baritone.” The album landed on a slew of Best Of lists at the year’s end and earned Cauthen dates with Elle King, Margo Price, Billy Joe Shaver, and Cody Jinks, along with festival appearances from Austin City Limits and Pickathon to Stagecoach and Tumbleweed. He followed it up two years later with ‘Have Mercy,’ an EP that prompted Rolling Stoneto dub him “one of the most fascinating, and eccentric, new voices in country music” and NPR’s Ann Powers to proclaim it “the year of Paul Cauthen.”

Piero Umiliani’s Africa was released in January 1972, a years-ahead record that includes the prog-tingedblack rhythm of “Africa To-Day”, the ‘fourth world’ inspiration coming from Jon Hassell’s “Green Dawn”, the‘exotic’ references in Martin Denny’s style (“Lonely Village”, “Echos”), the electronic new wave (hearing is believing!) of “Sortilège”, the folk music (“Rite”, “Folk-Tune”). An incredible album summarizes sounds and styles that will make the fortune of much more celebrated and popular musicians and artists.

Africa (1972) In 1972 Piero Umiliani was above all the man of a thousand soundtracks and the first Italian jazz experiments; from his later career we’ll soon learn that wasn’t enough for him, showing just a tiny part of a more complex picture. Closed within the walls of his Sound Work Shop Studio, the Maestro was weaving much more complicated and satisfying plots, incorporating dozens of influences from a life spent experimenting and discovering new sounds. Among the most fascinating ones, those who came from a continent like Africa, as much fabled as actually little known, but enchanting to the point that Umiliani dedicated to it the entire Africa - which is paired with its twin-record Continente Nero - and released it as M. Zalla, pseudonym used when it came to tidying up uncompromising and avant-garde music textures, as will later happen with masterpieces such as Suspense, Problemi D’Oggi or Mondo Inquieto. Always keep in mind when this album had been released, in January 1972, before approaching its content: here the prog-tinged black rhythm of Africa To-Day, the ‘fourth world’ inspiration coming from Jon Hassell’s Green Dawn, the ‘exotic’ references in Martin Denny’s style (Lonely Village, Echos), the electronic new wave (hearing is believing!) of Sortilège, the folk music (Rite, Folk-Tune). Many years in advance, in Africa Piero Umiliani summarizes sounds and styles that will make the fortune of much more celebrated and popular musicians and artists.

When Rey Sapienz was eight years old, the Democratic Republic of Congo was plunged into the Second Congo War. The conflict last five years and was the bloodiest since World War II, leaving an indelible mark on East Africa and creating mass displacement and loss of life. But Sapienz endured, cutting his teeth as a young rapper at twelve, first performing to celebrate Congo's independence day. When he finished school, he headed to nearby Kampala to hone his craft and collaborate with local producers. But civil war broke out back home and he was forced to extend his stay in Uganda. Since then, Sapienz has established himself as a force to be reckoned with, co-founding the Hakuna Kulala label, teaching his Ableton Live skills to Kampala's young producers and releasing two acclaimed EPs. For his debut album, Sapienz embarks on an ambitious project that travels beyond the avant beatscapes of his early material. Alongside traditional percussionist, vocalist and dancer Papalas Palata and rapper Fresh Doggis, he has formed The Congo Techno Ensemble, utilizing their skills and experience to offer a statement that speaks to the past, present and future of the DRC. On "Eza Makambo", the trio channel rich musical traditions and historic tension, evolving electronic and traditional forms into boundless sci-fi mutations. The track breaks open the stories all three artists accumulated in the DRC, augmenting radioactive techno-dancehall beats with radical, open-hearted words and rhymes. "Eza Makambo" is a heady cocktail of stylistic futurism and harsh reality that could be compared with Zizou Bikaye's seminal "Noir et Blanc or Danis Mpunga & Paul K.'s genre-breaking electronic experiments. But marked by the DRC's recent scars, it's a critical work that stands painfully alone.

Winner of Best World Music Album in the 1994 Grammy Awards. The illustrated booklet [from the CD edition] contains four pages of notes describing the equipment used for the recording and background on Ry Cooder & V.M. Bhatt, Bhatt's mohan vina (an instrument he designed himself, featuring twelve sympathetic strings, three melody strings and five drone strings, played -like Cooder's guitar- with a slide), the recording and the circumstances that brought them together. The second drummer, Joachim Cooder, is Ry Cooder's son. NB: In the book that came with the 1993 [i]Trance Europe Express[/i] 2CD compilation, Alex Paterson of The Orb included this release among his top 12 ambient albums of all-time, adding "I only wish we [The Orb] could have produced some of this record. It would be a match made in heaven."

Through a musical collaboration between Italian musician Samuele Strufaldi and the villagers of Gohouo-Zagna in the Ivory Coast, a new album called Davorio released on Música Macondo Records, will raise money for a new community library and space in the village. Davorio is the joint efforts of Samuele Strufaldi, and the Guéré musicians of Gohouo-Zagna, located in the Ivory Coast’s Guemon region. The record is a cross-cultural-conversation that tells the villagers’ stories through a modern musical language; one that blends together Guéré music, jazz, and electronica. More than just a record, Davorio is a story about the villagers of Gohouo-Zagna, with their lives, traditions, and cultures animated across the album’s 16-tracks. The profits from the vinyl and digital music streams of the project and the money raised from a Go Fund Me fundraising page, will be used to help construct a library for the villagers, that will provide them with the infrastructure to help further their culture and storytelling for years to come.

Real people music recorded at a Quaker Boarding school in the mid-'70s. Mixing soft psych, vocal jazz, and sunshine soul, Shira Small and her high school music teacher Lars Clutterham created a peerless artifact of outsider magic. Imagination, wonder, the existential dread of Vietnam and math class and getting caught smoking weed in Nixon's America... it's all here. Is your life alright?

Steel Fringe's dreamy country rock blends lazy twanged-out guitars and ethereal vocals, painting vivid landscapes of the Cascades. New on Curation Records, their psychedelic soundscapes capture the essence of the untamed West, invoking a sense of wanderlust and reverence for the rugged beauty of the region.

Bongo Joe presents "Club Coco", a summary outernational latin and afro rooted music compilation curated by Coco María.

Powerfull nice grooves from a series that might be beer named: "Acid folk renaissance " – as most of the work here come from the 70s, and a lot from those great years of the UK and US scene where it also seemed like there was plenty of folk in the music as well! A few of these cuts are downright acid , and all are filled with great instrumenta&on – in an approach that's a nice change from some of the more familiar Brit and US manners of the same genera&on. The &tles include, among the others: Nirvana’s Nova Sketch , Fi.y Foot Hose’s Rose, Pyranha ‘s Clepsydre , Kaleidoscope’s Keep your mind open, and more .

2024 restock. Sky Girl is a mysteriously unshakeable companion, a deeply melancholic and sentimental journey through folk-pop, new wave and art music micro presses that span 1961-1991. It's a DIY collection of different genres, from different countries across different decades, that are all bound by the same longing sentiment. A concept compilation! A seemingly disparate suite of selections of forgotten fables by more or less never-knowns, Sky Girl forms a beautifully coherent and utterly sublime whole deftly compiled by French collectors DJ Sundae and Julien Dechery. From Scott Seskind's adolescent musical road movie to Karen Marks' icy Oz-wave, the charming DIY storytelling of Italian-American go-getter Joe Tossini and the ethereal slow dance themes of Parisian artists Nini Raviolette and Hugo Weris, Sky Girl resonates on a wide spectrum historically, geographically and stylistically. It unites in a singular, longing, almost intangible ambience. If the names sound wholly unfamiliar that doesn't matter, the nature of the compositions swiftly nurtures an intimacy with these lonely, poignant, openhearted wanderers. Most were available in a very limited capacity at the time of their release, some were never really released at all - Gary Davenport declined to release "Sarra" after he split with the girl for whom the track is named - years later a friend convinced Davenport to allow him to put 100 copies online to sell and DJ Sundae was quick enough to snare one. Beyond their scarcity, these tracks are bound together by a certain raw beauty that's achievable when music is made and no one is listening. Sky Girl comprises of fifteen officially licensed songs, a two year international scavenger hunt through long-folded home label operations, the depths of internet forums and traceless acetates. Both compilers are well trained record sleuths - DJ Sundae's labels Hollie and Idle Press have reissued Arthur Russell affiliate Nirosta Steel and DIY relic Pitch, while Julien Dechery previously compiled Fire Star, a retrospective on Tamil film composer Ilaiyaraaja, for Bombay Connection. Released by popular NTS show "Noise In My Head" offshoot Efficient Space, Sky Girl is enriched with artwork from Perks and Mini mutant Misha Hollenbach and appropriately elegant sleeve notes courtesy of Ivan Smagghe. Includes digital download. Also features: Linda Smith, Bruce Langhorne, The Seraphims, Some of My Best Friends Are Canadians, The Rising Storm, Warfield Spillers, Joyce Heath, Angel, Nora Guthrie and Once.

180g Colored Vinyl! Hand-picked titles by Françoise Hardy, France Gall. Annie Philippe, Elsa, Violaine, Pussy Cat, Brigitte Bardot, Delphine and Liz Brady!

Uzelli Kaset was established in 1971 by Muammer and Yavuz Uzelli in Frankfurt, Germany. Their music resonated not only with the longing that Gastarbeiter (guest workers) felt for the homelands and families they had left behind and the melancholy brought by their difficult living and working conditions in Germany, but also with the joy that welled up at village weddings on their days off, and the long car or train journeys home. Reaching the remotest corners of Germany as well as Turkey, Uzelli Kaset was soon more than just a music company; it became a companion to Turkish workers living far from home. Not counting the handful of 8-track tapes and 14 LPs released in the early days, the catalog consisted entirely of cassettes.
When they opened their Istanbul office in 1977, Uzelli moved beyond production and became successful in the areas of reproduction, distribution and marketing. Taking the catalogs of other production companies under its umbrella, it continued its rapid growth.
The 90s became the CD decade, and because Uzelli Kaset had not released its catalog in CD format, hundreds of albums remained unavailable to an entire new generation. Because the albums had not been released in LP form either, musical explorers ran into the same problem. Remaining active and serving in various areas of the music industry, Uzelli carefully preserved its visual, audio and document archives, ensuring their survival to the present day.
After an immense amount of work, this catalog, which had long awaited discovery by new generations, was finally released in digital format. For record collectors seeking the spirit of those times, we also began offering this special selection of compilation albums in vinyl format. As we created this series, our goal was to guide listeners toward new discoveries, and open new pages for music lovers to explore. Leaving our rich, multifaceted catalog to genuine musicians, curators and artists, our desire became to approach the recordings of that period from a different perspective.
We are overjoyed to know that our continuing meticulous work will bear fruits whose taste and aroma have been long forgotten.
Uzelli

Wau Wau Collectif's second album, Mariage, is instilled with a newfound sense of purpose. Expanding upon the inspirational themes of their acclaimed 2021 debut, Yaral Sa Doom (Educate The Young), this long distance collaboration from musicians in Senegal and Sweden's Karl Jonas Winqvist is an even more stylistically expansive affair Joyful children's songs collide with fuzzy guitar solos and thumping hip-hop beats. Shimmering synths lift off from the plunky percussion of the balafon and versatile sounds of the 22-string kora. Familiar voices from the first album return with more explicitly political lyrics, while the music feels both rhythmically dense and sonically weightless, flowing from one spellbinding moment to the next. For Mariage, band members from each country were inspired to include a wider array of instrumental flourishes unique to their cross-continental collaboration. "Yay Balma" revolves around the cycling riffs of Jango Diabaté's xalam guitar, as this song's fuzzy tones and soaring sax solos open side two with a bang. "Pitchi Goubidi" provides a stark contrast, with the kora played like a harp and Gilbert Badji's gravelly lyrics about "the bird of the night" disappearing into dubbed-out chamber pop. Winqvist's omnichord hovers back into focus on "Yonou Natangue," a free-floating jam that maintains the messages of Wau Wau Collectif's debut, promoting youth education to address the social issues facing contemporary Senegal: "Peace is the better wealth / The way to wander."

Quantity: 5500
Release type: RSD Exclusive Release

2nd LP contains all of the session outtakes, included in the 2006 4CD box set The Complete Atlantic Sessions.