Jack Nitzsche

The Lost 1974 Reprise Album: A Forgotten Masterpiece

- First ever vinyl release, with original artwork.

- Includes 4 page insert with notes by Bryan Thomas, and many rare pictures and graphics

Best known as the right-hand-man and arranger of producer Phil Spector and for his work with the Rolling Stones or Neil Young, among many others, Bernard Alfred “Jack” Nitzsche also worked extensively in film scores, notably for films such as Performance, The Exorcist and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (in 1983, he won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for co-writing "Up Where We Belong"). As a solo artist, he scored one of Reprise label’s first pop hits with his instrumental “The Lonely Surfer” in 1963.

Between January 14-23, 1974, Jack Nitzsche recorded a self-titled album at Cinderella Studios in Madison, Tennessee, and a release date was set for April 26, before it was pulled from the label's schedule by Warner Bros. label chief Morris "Mo" Ostin. The project was a collaboration between Nitzsche and underground filmmaker Robert Downey.

The album remained unreleased, abandoned in a North Hollywood storage facility that Warner employees call "the Vault," until Rhino Handmade included all eleven tracks in their Jack Nitzsche collection Three Piece Suit: The Reprise Recordings 1971-1974, a long out of print internet-only CD issued to great critical acclaim in 2001. This Hanky Panky / Mapache LP release marks the first time it has been made available on vinyl, as originally intended.

Press for “Jack Nitzsche”:

“With a nod to primal Todd Rundgren and the quirky harmonic genius of Brian Wilson, tracks such as "Lower California" and "I'm the Loneliest Fool" recall the idiosyncratic nature of his collaborative efforts with Van Dyke Parks, and arrangements for Tim Buckley and the Buffalo Springfield.” Lindsay Planer, allmusic.com

“Acid-trip mariachi, warped lounge music, and Randy Newman-on-a-binge pop. Captivating.” David Browne, Entertainment Weekly

“A key lost chapter of the ultra-hip early 70s Warner Brothers rock scene … done with a style that's a bit like the best Reprise work of Van Dyke Parks, Jimmy Webb, Randy Newman, and Paul and/or Mason Williams.” Dusty Groove

“An ambitious affair in the Smile/Song Cycle mode” Barney Hoskyns, Waiting For The Sun

"Jack's one of the modern-day masters. His creations are on par with Mozart and the composers of the Renaissance" Neil Young