Customer Reviews

Boots

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Nancy Sinatra was signed to Reprise Records mainly because her father owned the record label. After a whopping eleven flop singles, Nancy was given "one more chance", with the understanding that she would be dropped by the label if her next record didn't sell. Having nothing to lose, she hooked up with maverick producer/songwriter Lee Hazlewood at her next recording session. The resulting record, "So Long, Babe", wasn't a major hit, but it sold enough copies to save Nancy's job. Then the next record that Lee cooked up for Nancy, "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'", was a major smash and turned her career around. What comes next after a Number One hit single? An album, of course! Nancy first album was centered around that hit (and the sexy cover didn't hurt sales, either). I guess Lee was a little short on material, because over half the album was covers of other people's hits. Artists covered include The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, The Knickerbockers and The Statler Brothers. You know, all the usual suspects. The covers are actually pretty fun, thanks to interesting arrangements by Hazlewood. The CD includes four bonus tracks. "The City Never Sleeps at Night" was the b-side of "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'". "In Our Time" was a relatively unsuccessful single, and "Leave My Dog Alone" was it's b-side. The mono single version of "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'" closes out the album. Recommended to all of Nancy's fans.

In 1995, when Sundazed Records decided to reissue Nancy Sinatra's first four albums, it took me a few hours to search for my eyeballs, which had fallen out of my sockets in amazement. After all, I only had The Hit Years, which I somehow felt didn't do her justice. My assessment turned out accurate when I bought those first four albums. Of the four, Boots wins first place, though two others come very close. Maybe it's because Boots is more pop before she veered off into the easy listening direction with Nancy In London and Sugar, not that I minded that. The inner liner notes and the pictures of her on the CDs were added bonuses.

She's quite the vagabond in "I Move Around," having moved to California, New York, and other places. And her classic signature tune, "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'" is included twice in here, once in a stereo version, the other in the original mono single version. This is definitely on my Top 100 songs list. Besides, with this song being covered by the likes of Geri Halliwell, KMFDM, Megadeth, and Sam Phillips, I can't be wrong on how classic this is.

I find her covering more than just one cover song per album reminiscent to what Bonnie Tyler did on her early albums, and I didn't mind that. She covers two Beatles songs: "Day Tripper" and "Run For Your Life," Bob Dylan's "It Ain't Me Babe" from Another Side, The Statler Brothers' "Flowers On The Wall," and the Rolling Stones' "As Tears Go By." All are done admirably, especially the Stones song.

"Flowers On The Wall" is a cocooners' delight. In addition to the counting flowers, she plays solitaire with 51 cards, smokes cigarettes and watches Captain Kangaroo. I can dig it--if I had my way, I wouldn't want to go outside anyway.

"If He'd Love Me" shows how well Nancy can sing a ballad as well as upbeat pop. "Leave My Dog Alone" is an open statement against narrow-minded people who believe in conformity in the community or society. The people got to her by harassing her pets. First her dog: "All he ever did was wag his tail, people, why did you have to throw my dog in jail." Then her cat: "He never said not a bad word, no not him. Why'd you throw him in the river, you know he can't swim." The bottom message to the people is: "Let me be the way I wanna be." You tell'em, Nance!

OK, what else? "In Our Time" is a time capsule update of what's hip and what wasn't hip anymore. Girls became smokers "Some take trips but never move" is clearly a reference to the drug culture. The line I like was "Mickey Mouse ain't no kid/since he read the wizard of id/He's trying to figure out what it did." "If you're 20, then you're old." 20? Yeesh!

I enjoy her stuff, so I don't have to worry about those boots walking all over me.

"These Boots" always seemed like a funny novelty song; so, like many others, I discarded Nancy Sinatra as a one-hit wonder who cashed in on that famous relative. But this album is a pop masterpiece that is totally evocative of its era. It only could have been recorded in 1966. It's a wondrous mishmash of musical currents: loungy bossa nova, bright Memphis horns, David Rose-style bump-and-grind, easy listening choruses, catchy bumblegum pop, and bold Vegas showstopping. And it all works! The mostly forgotten Lee Hazlewood, who produced the album, was a genius who had a finely tuned ear for commercial music. He crafted Nancy's wholly fabricated tough-chick image to ride on top of his brilliant arrangements. This is one of the most listenable albums of the '60s. When it plays I feel I'm cruising down the Sunset Strip in a convertible ogling mini-skirted girls in front of the Whisky Au Go Go.

I was a kid in 1972 and traveling in Japan with my family. Being a James Bond fanatic, I picked up a Greatest Hits cassette to listen to hear "You Only Live Twice," and got hooked on the other songs instead.

I still have that cassette and have since listened to a number of her CDs and now the new DVD "Movin' With Nancy," which is a wonderful 60s time capsule for those of us who missed it.

I can't disagree more strongly withe people who have minimized Ms. Sinatra's voice. She is as good as anyone out there - especially when given songs that display her ability to be a little sultry. The stuff she did with producer/singer Lee Hazelwood is pop at its very best.

Part of her appeal is that she was a stunningly beautiful woman. (I haven't seen her on tv lately. She likely still is).

Buy this album or most of her others (Hit Years and You Go Go Girl) and you will be amazed how enjoyable they are. I wish someone would do some remasters.

There are times I honestly envy people younger than myself. This is not one of them. You can have your Witless Spears and Christina Uglulara. This is the real thing. Nancy Sinatra may just appear like some girl trading off her Daddy's fame; but there was more raw, animal sexuality in a twinkle of her eye than Madonna and all her wanna-be's put together. Yeah, back in the sixties I knew what sex was and I had crushes on several girls in high school; but it was Nancy Sinatra that awoken the lustful sexual hunger in me. I will never forget it. Nancy strutting toward the camera in her mini-skirt and go-go boots with several girl dancers behind her and she sang in a smoky knowing voice that made me want her more the more she pushed me away.

I also don't want to hear any more of this B.S. about how Yoko Ono opened up rock `n' roll for other women. Nancy Sinatra knew more about rock than Ms. Lennon ever would know and showed other women how it was done while Yoko was still a pampered co-ed at Sarah Lawrence. Joni Mitchell, Melanie and an all female band called Fanny all should be considered female rock pioneers long before Ono ever comes up. But at the top of the list should be Nancy Sinatra along few others.

Admittedly, Nancy's his first album, BOOTS, doesn't appear all that promising-basically a lot of covers and several songs by an unknown by the name of Lee Hazelwood. But it was Lee Hazelwood that was the catalyst that brought out the warrior princess in Ms. Sinatra. First, he told her to drop her voice from her school-choir soprano to whisky tinged alto that ignited rivers of testosterone. While most of the covers were well known in their time, even with these Nancy made them interesting all over again. But it was the Hazelwood songs that gave Nancy the musky scent of mystery that she would be remembered for. They positively haunted me as I made my way through my school day up into the last moments of sleepy consciousness.

Later, Nancy would record an album called SUGAR in which she appeared in an amber-wheat field in pink bikini with her left thumb hooked in the side pulling her bottom down just so to be still decent enough and yet more than a little suggestive. That album sold millions just on the basis of that photograph alone. But Nancy was no bimbo and only a fool would say so. Years later, a more mature Nancy Sinatra would do a nude layout for Playboy magazine that caused quite a bit of notoriety. One can only imagine what it would have done to all us young boys and men if she had done a similar layout in the late sixties.

These days, many would discount Ms. Sinatra's career for her open sex appeal. But it was all apart of the package that was Nancy. Her voice dripped in carnal desire-it was inescapable. Many women rockers would later practically give you a guidebook to their sex lives. But, much like Hitchcock who made you think you saw more than you actually did, Nancy let you feel you had "known" her better than you really had. I am happy this music is finally available to us again.

I read that Nancy Sinatra was the first inductee into the Go-Go Boots Hall of Fame. Of course that might have been just something somebody made up on the internet, but it sure seems plausible to me. The boots Nancy wars on the cover of her debut album are not the classic white go-go boots we usually associate with her, but 'tis enough; t'will serve. I started listening to Nancy Sinatra to bug my mom, who worshipped Daddy Sinatra. Nancy was never a great singer, but she was certainly more than competent and she had good production people around her (especially Lee Hazzlewood later on).

Before we even get to Nancy's most famous song, the #1 hit "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" we get to listen to her cover songs by the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, and Bob Dylan. When my dad taped this album for me many, many years ago he must have gotten the sides wrong, because I would have sworn "In My Room" was the first cut on the album. It certainly sets the tone for the rest of the album. Anyhow, like the good people at Rhino, those at Sundazed have added some extras to this 1966 Reprise album (who ever came up with the idea of "padding" old albums from the Sixties so that the CDs were not less than half an hour long deserves a medal).

Nancy Sinatra's debut album made it to #5 on the Billboard pop chart. There are four such bonus tracks on "Boots," including the Mono Single Version of "These Boots Are Made for Walkin,'" just for those who crave a sense of completeness to their music collection. The common denominator is that Hazlewood wrote all four songs. Ultimately, there are no claims to be made that this was a great album by a great artist, but just fond memories of one of the sexy sirens of Sixties music.

"These Boots" always seemed like a funny novelty song; so, like many others, I discarded Nancy Sinatra as a one-hit wonder who cashed in on that famous relative. But this album is a pop masterpiece that is totally evocative of its era. It only could have been recorded in 1966. It's a wondrous mishmash of musical currents: loungy bossa nova, bright Memphis horns, David Rose-style bump-and-grind, easy listening choruses, catchy bumblegum pop, and bold Vegas showstopping. And it all works! The mostly forgotten Lee Hazlewood, who produced the album, was a genius who had a finely tuned ear for commercial music. He crafted Nancy's wholly fabricated tough-chick image to ride on top of his brilliant arrangements. This is one of the most listenable albums of the '60s. When it plays I feel I'm cruising down the Sunset Strip in a convertible ogling mini-skirted girls in front of the Whiksy Au Go Go.

When I was a little kid in the early '70's, Nancy had already gotten married and pretty much put albums on the backburner. Boy, was I born too late! I 'discovered' Boots in 1990 while shopping in a record store and heard "Somethin' Stupid" over the sound system. Hooked ever since, I cannot express in words what she does with a song. She doesn't BELT or SCREAM a number, she whispers when it's called for(for intimacy that's unmatched)and she gets tough when she has to. Best tracks here: "I Move Around" and the pithy "Flowers on the Wall". This was before they started laying too many novelty items on Nance(which were also good, but not as straight-forward as these earlier tracks). She's at her pure, purring, crooning, cooing best here and I just love her.

Nancy Sinatra honors the Sinatra family name and puts out fantastic music. This album is a landmark and will bring back many fond memories. The fact that cuts from this album are still regularly played on the radio and are found in jukeboxes around the world is evidence of its timelessness. Nancy's voice is as sexy and rythmic as ever on this CD...and if you're lucky enough to catch her in concert today...you'll see that she still looks and sings like a gal half her age! Buy a piece of americana! Get this album!

Nancy Sinatra's freshman effort, "Boots" (1966) was naturally built around her mega-hit "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'." Yet, despite a strong '60s sound, the album lacks a certain irresistable charm Nancy developed on her other albums. The mellow cover of the Rolling Stones' "As Tears Go By" starts off the collection, but is a bit of a downer. Following is the "femme-fatale" version of the Beatles' "Day Tripper." The song is fun, but the album doesn't officially "start" until the third tune "I Move Around." It is here that Nancy grasps your eardrums and pleasures you, musically, as only she can. The cover of the Turtles' "It Ain't Me Babe" (written by Bob Dylan) is wonderful and this is followed by "These Boots," which I cannot say enough good things about. The organ-ridden "In My Room" is a worthy and commendable follow-up, but "Lies," the ensuing track sounds like a bunch of girls screaming (which, in essence, it is). "So Long, Babe," the subsequent track is Nancy at her mellow, groovy best and "If He'd Love Me" also demonstrates (as did "In My Room") Nancy's underrated vocal abilities. "Flowers On the Wall" is pure kitsch and "Run For Your Life" greatly exemplifies the "tough-girl" mode we all know and love. Perhaps the lack of including more Hazlewood-penned songs hampers this album critically. Aside from what should have been a more invigorating album, Nancy's solid vocals and brassy, rousing arrangements make up for the lack of preeminent delectation. It's a direct time-warp to the 1960s so you might as well enjoy the ride!