Review: Lee Hazlewood

Review: Lee Hazlewood

Lee Hazlewood 'Cake or Death': Aidin Vaziri | He has a way of making even dying sound like fun. Facing a losing battle with cancer, Lee Hazlewood is throwing himself a great wake on his album "Cake or Death." At 77, the gravel-voiced outlaw most famous for the hits he wrote and produced for Nancy Sinatra doesn't sound remotely gloomy. Instead, he celebrates an eventful life with a mix of wit, wisdom and weirdness. He offers barbed social commentary, sings duets with a Swedish jazz singer and a German actor, jams with his protege Duane Eddy, drops in a couple of cartoonish Western ballads and then finds time to revisit his classics. Alongside a dusty version of "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'," he's got his 8-year-old granddaughter, Phaedra, singing "Some Velvet Morning." In the end, he can't resist a quick tug on the heartstrings: "Have you seen the old man?" Hazlewood growls. "He's ready to go."