Park Foundation Music App

Home > Releases

Arizona's Finest

Overview

Arizona's Finest --- 2023

The magic of Arizona rock’n’roll passes through the hands of Lee Hazlewood. This legendary producer, musician and composer, who in the mid-60s became an icon of pop music after achieving the massive success of Nancy Sinatra’s These Boots Are Made For Waking, was like a magnet for any talent that approached him, already from the mid 50’s, when he began to work as DJ on several Arizona radio stations. In those years he became the architect of the Duane Eddy guitar sound, but shortly before he had his first hit with THE FOOL, a song written by Hazlewood and sung by Sandford Clark, with the great Al Casey on guitar. THE FOOL was a big hit for Lee Hazlewood and Sanford Clark, which won them the confidence of Dot, but unfortunately, they did not get a follow-up that would consolidate Sanford’s career. Despite this, first Clark’s recordings at Dot Records, and then at Jamie, are some of the most personal and haunting rock’n’roll and rockabilly recordings of the second half of the 50s. Sanford’s honeyed, velvety voice fit Lee’s compositions like a glove, something that is well reflected in songs like BAD LUCK, STILL AS THE NIGHT or THE CHEAT. This LP features 10 fantastic rockers recorded by Sanford and produced by Lee Hazlewood during his tenure with Dot and Jamie, including jivers like LOU BE DOU or the dancefloor winner MODERN ROMANCE, as well as more intimate and personal songs. A selection that shows how unfair the music business can be, overlooking all these jewels and condemning Sanford to the long list of the one hit wonders. DeeJay Francho 2022