Just picked up a mint copy of the original UK MFP issue of 1966 in a Canadian Salvation Army Thrift Store for around 75p. The God's must have been smiling that day.

5/5It's no wonder that The Very Special World of Lee Hazlewood went unnoticed upon its release in 1966. Not only did it arrive amidst Pet Sounds and Sgt. Pepper, arguably the 2 most important records in history, but also upon examining the record its sole eccentricity would prevent it from reaching to a wide audience.Years later, once the fog dissipated from Hazlewood's early recordings, it became clear that The Special World was not only his strongest collection of songs aside compilations, but also that Hazlewood's trademark elements - from his self conscious ridicule to his overblown arrangements - were recreated in upcoming genres from Countrypolitan to the Lounge revival in the 90s'. Most importantly, Special World is a portrait of the fading aesthetic of the 60s' adult music market processed into a bizarre, almost psychedelic vision. Hazlewood takes advantage of the vision of conservative America (represented by fading trends from Lounge to Spy Music and all the way back to the crooners), and distorts it into odd, heavily orchestrated pieces in a country-like fashion. Hazlewood sings and narrates themes that range from romantic melodramas to full-blown spaghetti comedies, all delivered by him with a darkly humorous croon.Because of the sheer eccentricity of the album's themes it falls more into Baroque territory; the flamboyant melancholy of songs like "Your Sweet Love" and "My Autumn's Done Come" would be borrowed by upcoming baroque acts from Love to The Left Banke. Musically it resembles the masterful orchestrations of contemporaries like Burt Bacharach. Also, the narrational, humorously self loathing singing style were likely partly based on Frank Zappa, but later on the Chamber Pop act Lambchop would borrow from it greatly.Hazlewood would later on in his career delve into less orchestrated and even more eccentric territory with mixed results, but far and wide Special World lies on the high part of his career's slope. Even up to this date Special World lies overlooked as the masterpiece it truly is, but when it comes to examining Orchestral Pop, its influence is immense.