Customer Reviews

Inner Views

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a limited edition (1,500) reissue of Sonny Bono's only solo album, released on CD finally. Inner Views is Sonny's "anti-masterpiece". It came out two years after he had his only solo hit, "Laugh at Me". The album was both a critical and commercial failure, but it's certainly an interesting failure. It seems to be very influenced by Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band in a superficial way, without really understanding what it was about Pepper that made it great. The album has 5 whole songs on it, totaling 33 minutes (the CD version is 69 minutes long). It opens with the 12 minute opus "I Just Sit There", which seems to be about how the world is changing... or something. Then we hear "I Told My Girl To Go Away", about the pain of inter-racial dating. "I Would Marry You Today" sounds like a song from out of the '50s, and seems out of place on a "hip" album from 1967. "My Best Friend's Girl Is Out of Sight" is about the perils of double dating. The album ends with "Pammie's on a Bummer", an eight minute freakout about a prostitute. This is one bizarrely entertaining album that has to be heard to be believed! The CD also includes all of Sonny's solo singles that were released by Atco Records, plus the instrumental backing track to "Laugh at Me". A very thorough job! Here is the complete track listing:

1. I Just Sit There
2. I Told My Girl To Go Away
3. I Would Marry You Today
4. My Best Friend's Girl Is Out of Sight
5. Pammie's on a Bummer
6. Laugh at Me (single version)
7. Tony
8. The Revolution Kind
9. Georgia and John Quetzal
10. Misty Roses
11. Cheryl's Coming Home
12. I Told My Girl To Go Away (single version)
13. Pammie's on a Bummer (single version)
14. My Best Friend's Girl Is Out of Sight (single version)
15. Laugh at Me (original backing track takes 9 & 10)
16. Laugh at Me (album version)

When I call this album a "sleeper", I mean that it grows better the more you listen to it. This item only has the 5 songs released on the original LP platter, no extra tracks, no "bonus" surprises, etc. The songs are as follows:

1. "I Just Sit There,"
This must be what induced the previous reviewer to call the entire disc a "self-indulgent psychedelic-kitsch "classic" solo album". First, it IS a bit repetitive, and Sonny sounds like he's trying too hard to be 'hip' in what was the rapidly changing music scene of 1967. Hence the long (over 12 minutes!) song taking cues from various sources, especially the Beatles.

2. "I Told My Girl To Go Away,"
At first this sounds like it's a take off of "A Day in the Life", but with a typical 'pop' boy-and girl-breaking-up theme, but wait!! Listen to the lyrics carefully (or read them carefully from the insert- you may need to magnify the text to do this). Sonny appears to be writing about a cross-cultural or maybe even a cross-racial relationship! Pretty gutsy EVEN for 1967 in most of the country!

3. "I Would Marry You Today,"
A careful listen to (or reading of) the lyrics pictures a guy willingly entering into a rather disfunctional relationship: that MAY explain how things really were between him and his wife (Cher)!

4. "My Best Friend's Girl Is Out Of Sight"
This is possibly the previous picture from another angle: a guy who's with one girl (his girlfriend) but develops a crush on his BEST FRIEND's girlfriend, who apparently later becomes the BF's WIFE! Pop music did not (yet) take on these subjects in the kind of analysis Sonny gives the situation here.

5. "Pammie's On A Bummer"
At first listen, this song may be painful to take for some, but that's because (as you were warned by the title) the subject of the song is ON A BUMMER!! Sonny uses the darkness of the background to empasize that point. You wouldn't want a light 'happy!', celebratory background for this type of song- you'd sound like it was nothing to worry about. Look at the lyrics, and you'll see that this is a cautionary tale! Having lived through the sixties and part of the seventies among a loose hippy-college group of friends, I can picture this song's background only too well- I can give names if I'm pressed for proof!

Obviously, this is not a fit with the typical Sonny & Cher collection- a LITTLE TOO HEAVY for that crowd, but if you've ever heard of Sonny's other solo pieces ("Laugh at Me", "The Revolution Kind", etc. ... oh yeah, HIS version of "You'd Better Sit Down, Kids" also), you can see this as a logical part of his work.

Also remember that MOST of the songs that he & his then-wife put out were written by Sonny, as well as arranged and produced by Sonny- including her solo recordings most of the way through the seventies!

Admittedly, this is not to everybody's taste, but this description should help you know whether or not it might be for you.

EP from Sonny Bono(sans Cher)is scattershot, half-baked, dated--but it's a glittering relic. A high-minded and spotty bid at success(with an underlying feel of complete indifference to the pop market). The effort could've used a better music editor, for the songs go on too long. The lyrics are a fruity batch of witticisms, but Bono's singing isn't bad and on the slower, tender "I Told My Girl To Go Away", he almost renders a throwaway classic.

This is the version of SONNY BONO'S 1967 " INNER VIEWS " that a Sonny and Cher fan will want to have, released on Rhino Handmade, and not in print any longer. This version has the full album , plus single edits and versions not on the album. Collector's Choice has since re-issued only the original 5 song album, which is inexpensive, but you will miss out not only on the complete Sonny Atco discography, but also the booklet with a very detailed essay loaded with information. This album is a real trip, with stream of consciousness lyrics and long jams that go on and on. I WOULD MARRY YOU TODAY is a sweet , tight beauty of a song. Sonny's original songs define the best of Sonny and Cher. I'd love to see more released of their late 60's Atco period, which include a handful of non-album singles from 1968-1970 . Among these are the phenomenal single CIRCUS , another pychedelic, trippy record that shockingly did not chart on the Top 100 singles chart. The liner notes state that there are also some unreleased Sonny & Cher, and Sonny songs that were recorded , but never released. Some of these are lost, and with a fire in Altantic's vaults, maybe the master tapes are lost on the non-album singles. But hoping that another Sonny & Cher CD is released that includes these rare singles & unreleased. This " INNER VIEWS " serves as a great companion CD to Rhino Handmade's expanded version of CHER'S 1969 Atco album " 3614 JACKSON HIGHWAY " , which has many non-album singles and detailed liner notes also. Any Cher and S&C fan needs these CD's in their collections.

Sonny Bono is an unsung hero of Rock and Roll. He loved music and wanted to be a part of the industry, more importantly, a part of the glee and and bliss of the culture. He banged tambourines on Phil Spector hits, wrote an early classic, "Needles and Pins", and studied studied studied what was happenin' now.

Sonny was not esp. talented, but he had an amazing ability to grasp the temper of the times. After Spector hits faded, he realized Folk/rock was next. Whether it was his discovery or true love of CHER, he knew that there was a market there and he could be creative on his own terms.

Sonny and Cher had plenty of top 40 hits by the time this solo LP/CD came out in 1967. Cher had "Bang Bang" " Better Sit Down Kids" all produced by Sonny. He apparently thought, why not me?

This solo LP is a museum piece of pop ick fun like. "My Best Friend's Girl is Outta Sight", and total weirdness like the anti-drug "Pammie's On a Bummer", which sounded like more fun than he would have intended. Sonny was determined against the so-called Hippie culture of the 1960s, he made short films that were shown in elementary/middle/high school multi-purpose rooms as educational exposes of the evil of drugs and following the crowd.
All well and good, except most kids thought of him in a fur jacket and a Moe haircut and thought he was high anyway.

Sonny was smart. His real talent was enthusiasm and never giving up.
After Sonny and Cher stopped having hits, he had Cher solo, thenh Sonny and Cher TV show, where she made fun of him...hah! he had the rights.

Later, of course, Sonny had a restaurant in Palm Spring ,was elected mayor of Palm Springs,elected to Congress, and had a respected career as a CA advocate. He remained to his death an American success story of determination, love, and the beat goes on.

Sonny Bono's infamous, self-indulgent psychedelic-kitsch "classic" solo album, from 1967. This edition, on Collector's Choice Music, only includes the five original tracks from the 1967 LP. It does NOT also include all the bonus tracks that were included on an earlier Rhino Handmade release. The CCM version has five songs on it. They are: "I Just Sit There," "I Told My Girl To Go Away," "I Would Marry You Today," "My Best Friend's Girl Is Out Of Sight" and "Pammie's On A Bummer" ...And they are pretty funny, in a painful, "The 'Sixties were so kooky" kinda way.

You know how some people consider "Plan 9 From Outer Space" the worst movie ever made? Well this could be the worst LP ever made! It's SO BAD it's a must have!!