Nancy Sinatra Albums (8)
What The Critics Say
Records like Nancy Sinatra, which take a pop icon, surround her with current admirers for collaborators, and hope for a sound both modern and classic, are quite often disasters and almost never live up to even the most grudging of high hopes. Well, thanks to this (and Loretta Lynn's Van Lear Rose), you can toss that theory out the window, because Nancy Sinatra is a resounding success. Sinatra was never a great singer; she got by on her boots, Lee Hazlewood's songs, and Frank. Believe it or not, her vocals are one of the strong points here. With age her voice seems to have gained some gravitas and strength. She also rarely relies on her trademark arch line deliveries, instead diving into the songs with passion and real feeling. Passion is a strange word to see in association with Nancy (unless preceded by "lack of"), but she sounds invested in the songs her younger collaborators have delivered. Most of them gave her songs that fit her age and abilities, often casting her in the role of world-weary advisor or heartbroken crooner. The collaborations on this record can be grouped into the good, the bad, and the ugly. The good would include "Bossman," a track written by Phil Burns and Andy Holt of electronic band Reno and the album's co-producers, A.J. and Matt Azzarto, that sounds like a modern update (complete with subtly altered vocals) of a classic Lee Hazlewood epic. Other highlights include Calexico's moody cowboy ballad "Burning Down the Spark," the funky "Ain't No Easy Way" with Jon Spencer in the mumbling Hazlewood role, Pete Yorn's rollicking "Don't Mean Nothing," and her neighbor Morrissey's "Let Me Kiss You," which finds Nancy perfectly replicating his phrasing, and if it is a minor composition at least it has a good hook. And Bono and the Edge's "Two Shots of Happy, One Shot of Sad" is a late-night barroom ballad that brings up memories of Frank -- and for once, Nancy sounds like his kid as she pulls it off magnificently. The bad isn't really too bad -- just kind of predictable. Little Steven's "Baby Please Don't Go" is a generic '60s-style rocker that Nancy delivers in a Ronnie Spector croon and almost pulls out of the fire. "About a Fire," by her bandmembers Tom Lilly and Lanny Cordola, is a bland and slick alterna-tune, the kind of over-produced, underwritten material one might expect on a record like this. Luckily, it is the only song to fall into that trap. The ugly belongs solely to Thurston Moore's "Momma's Boy," a tuneless dirge with boringly trite lyrics and thuddingly obvious Sonic Youth-lite guitar work. He seems to be going for a re-creation of classic Lee Hazlewood mystical and faintly evil songs like "Sand" or "Some Velvet Morning," but he misses the mark, his failure is complete, and it leaves a big hole in the middle of the record. On the flip side are Jarvis Cocker's two amazing contributions; "Don't Let Him Waste Your Time" recalls Spector productions with suitably tough and sly lyrics, while "Baby's Coming Back to Me" glides on an atmospheric country & western bed of acoustic guitars, pedal steel, and strings that perfectly mirrors the melancholy vocals. Here and elsewhere, Nancy sounds like the voice of experience, bittersweet and knowing. It's lucky for Nancy as well as for listeners that so many of the people she chose to work with gave her songs that capture her newfound skills. Her work with Lee Hazlewood has to remain her legacy, but this record is a surprisingly strong addition. She won't get the same press that Loretta Lynn got for her "comeback," but this may even be more impressive an accomplishment because it came out of nowhere. ~ Tim Sendra, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Sundazed released a 1996 CD version of the original Movin' With Nancy album, adding three bonus tracks to the 1968 soundtrack from her television special, and it earns high marks for documenting more of the fun and campy escapades of Frank Sinatra's daughter. Without the opportunity to surpass her dad the way Mira Sorvino or Charlie Sheen may have moved beyond Paul Sorvino and Martin Sheen in terms of popularity, Nancy Sinatra deserves credit for a sultry, hip image and the ability to hit a few home runs. It's easy to hit a home run, of course, when your father owns a piece of the record label, Reprise, and a Rodgers & Hammerstein composition makes its way onto track four, like "Younger Than Springtime," sung by "a very close relative." The uncredited Frank Sinatra performance is great, of course, and is followed by a Dean Martin/Nancy Sinatra "duet" on the Bobby Darin song "Things." It sure sounds like dad called up Martin and asked if he wouldn't mind Nancy overdubbing her voice on a pre-existing Martin track -- this was, of course, before the days of putting Natalie Cole on a Nat "King" Cole master. Despite the awkwardness of it, there is a certain charm that adds to the festivities. Make no mistake, this is a festive album. Heck, some kids go to the circus with their folks, Nancy Sinatra got to play at the record company. Her vocal style is on par with Claudine Longet and Jo Jo Laine, not the kind of singing to give Whitney Houston or Jackie DeShannon sleepless nights, but charming nonetheless. Where this Sinatra really shines is when she and producer Lee Hazlewood do the Sonny & Cher routine on the previous hit, "Jackson," and the real gem here, "Some Velvet Morning." When Nancy Sinatra has Hazlewood as her foil, she is outstanding. Though "Some Velvet Morning" was number nine out of her Top Ten hits as far as chart action goes, it is her strongest performance here, and proves she had more of a voice than maybe she even realized. She walks through Jimmy Webb's "Up, Up and Away," but it works, as does, surprisingly enough, the cover of Ray Charles' "What I'd Say," which closes the vinyl version of this project. Do the math: two hit singles, a duet with Dean Martin, an appearance by the Chairman of the Board (the legend, not the band), and superb production by Lee Hazlewood all make for a highly entertaining disc. Yes, she was lucky to have those doors open for her, but while other showbiz kids fell by the wayside, Movin' With Nancy delivered the goods. You can't help but like her. ~ Joe Viglione, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Retroactively, certain segments of the intelligentsia are trying to establish this as a long lost Nancy Sinatra masterpiece. For awhile it was pretty much long lost, the singer's own superb management of a new millenium career revival pretty much taking care of that problem. As for the rest, it would be sweet if it were true. The haze of past creative decisions made under some kind of commercial pressure must hang in the air at recording studios like an invisible shroud. Interpreting it all requires a great deal of guessing, even if there is a helpful amount of recollection, perhaps even knowledge, to back it up. What Woman sounds like, for the most part, is producer Jimmy Bowen's attempt to sell Nancy Sinatra as another Karen Carpenter. Hedging bets, direct help is brought from two singers that were also particularly happening in the early '70s. Kim Carnes contributes two songs, neither of which seems like a candidate for anyone's desert island stash, not unless they can figure out a way to make tortillas out of them. Donna Fargo's hit of the time, the somewhat creepy "Happiest Girl in the Whole USA", also gets a cover version. Going country turned out to be a good move for Nancy Sinatra in the '70s, artistically if not commercially. Even if Donna Fargo is hardly great country and western, it shows that Nancy can be Donna just like she can be Kim or Karen or anyone else for that matter. She can sing in any style more than just effectively, plus has the ability to put across distinct, vivid personalities as part of the material. She is the sassy girl with the boots, she is Phaedra with the flowers and on that subject it should be mentioned that this is at least the third time in her career that she gets to sing about pretty things that are grown and sniffed. Arranger Larry Muhobarec keeps things sounding clean and he probably didn't have to spare much expense in terms of hiring an uncredited crew of professionals to further sugar up the singer who came across much better when she was walking the streets of Sugartown. That is a good way to segue into an appropriate comment from one expert on contemporary music who studies the history of music based solely on cover art imagery: "Woman flopped because Nancy no longer looked sexy, she wears a virginal white dress. As a result nobody bought the album." Such chatter would surely depress the feminists who have described this album as a landmark, once again long lost and forgotten, in the history of their cause's expression in contemporary culture. On the opening "Kind of a Woman", the producer was trying to appease somebody, not feminists however. This is a stab at a Lee Hazelwood style song, full of clever lyrics and turns of phrase with at times nowhere to breath in between them. ~ Eugene Chadbourne, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
The change of locale for Nancy Sinatra's third album didn't change her approach much: it's dominated by humdrum covers of contemporary pop and rock hits and pop standards, with some second-rank Lee Hazlewood country songs thrown in, though his compositions "Friday Child" and "Summer Wine" (the second of which is a Sinatra/Hazlewood duet) are strong, moody highlights. The four bonus tracks, taken from singles, outclass the original LP: "100 Years," "You Only Live Twice" (the single version), "Tony Rome," and her cringingly dated duet with her father, "Life's a Trippy Thing." ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide
'How Does That Grab You?'
Release Date 1/1/1966
Tracks 15
Label Sundazed
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Nancy Sinatra's sophomore effort How Does That Grab You? sticks to her usual LP formula: a hit title track, a bunch of pop covers ("Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)" is the best), and some unremarkable Lee Hazlewood songs, the exception being the classy Nancy & Lee duet "Sand." There are four notable bonus tracks on the CD reissue from 45's: the fuzz-guitar-driven single "Lightning's Girl" (one of her very best songs), a cover of Buffy Sainte-Marie's "Until It's Time for You to Go," the single "The Last of the Secret Agents," and the breezy California pop duet with her father, "Feelin' Kinda Sunday." ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Unexceptional debut album built around "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" and covers of contemporary rock and pop hits, with a couple of other Lee Hazlewood songs. The CD reissue adds a few rare early single tracks (all penned by Hazlewood) as bonus cuts, as well as the mono single version of "Boots." ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide
