REDISCOVERED

JACK NITZSCHE

Jack Nitzsche HANKY PANKY/MAPACHE

5/10

A singular, strange record finally out on vinyl

JACK NITZSCHE, who died in 2000 at the age of 63, had a remarkable four-decade run as an arranger (Phil Spector, Neil Young), sideman (The Rolling Stones, Crazy Horse), film scorer (, ), songwriter (“Needles, for which Nitzsche wrote the orchestral arrangements and recorded them with the London Symphony Orchestra. While he had the LSO in the studio, he cut the classical album on Neil’s dime; released in 1972, it has the dubious distinction of being the lowest-selling album in Reprise annals. Nonetheless, Warner/Reprise chairman Mo Ostin agreed to let Nitzsche record the follow-up, hoping he’d be getting a more commercial album from the increasingly mercurial artist. The lyricist on the project, oddly, was underground filmmaker Robert Downey, for whom Nitzsche had scored the 1972 revisionist western . When he cut the self-titled LP in Nashville, Nitzsche was believed to be under the influence of any substance he could snort, pop and/or guzzle. And when he delivered it, Ostin promptly dropped him from the roster and wrote off the $114k in production costs.