Customer Reviews

Lightning's Girl: Greatest Hits 1965-1971

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This is easily the most comprehensive single-cd retrospective of Nancy's work to emerge yet, running her full gamut of musical styles. They're all covered: The gleeful verbal spankings of "Boots" and "Sorry 'bout That," the surprisingly bluesy "Friday's Child," the catchy country of "Jackson" and "Hooks and Ladder," and the haunting beauty of "Summer Wine" and "Some Velvet Morning"--both with Lee Hazlewood. The latter of those is the epitome of a haunting, atmospheric, ethereal ballad that roams your head for awhile after you hear it: I loved it when it came out in the winter of 1968, and it still blows me away to this day! I was a bit disappointed, however, in some of the mastering: Particularly during the section highlighting Nancy & Lee's duets, tape hiss is quite noticeable--even between the songs (like someone threw on a second-generation reel-to-reel tape and just let it roll.) An older mix of "Summer Wine" is used, with the vocals all the way to one stereo channel and the song faded out where the old 45 was faded. The far superior mix, also running almost a half-minute longer, can be found on "Fairy Tales & Fantasies." (I had hoped to be able to sell that cd--given that ten of its fifteen tracks are included here--but after hearing the above example and the mediocre mastering on the other N&L tracks, believe I'd be wise to hold onto it.) But hey, don't let me talk you out of buying this cd if you want a great Nancy comp: This far eclipses Rhino's best-of from several years back--which only had 18 tracks while this boasts 26 (with only one stinker in the bunch, "Drummer Man." And certainly, "You Only Live Twice" stands shoulder-to-shoulder with "Goldfinger" as the crown jewels of the Bond movie themes. Finally, the price is quite reasonable for an import with the amount of music contained here. So by all means, buy this cd--but you also might want to get "Fairy Tales & Fantasies" to get the best available sound on the N&L duets.

More tracks than the Rhino "Greatest Hits" CD and liner notes by Nancy herself. This is the definitive Nancy Sinatra CD retrospective.

At 26 tracks, this is a very complete overview of Nancy's work. It also puts "Summer Wine", "Sand", and "Some Velvet Morning" in one place, a distinct advantage over other Nancy discs.

Nancy wasn't the best singer, dancer, or actress, but she had a crafty eye for suitable material and teachability. "Friday's Child" is one of my favorite solo songs of hers. In singing it, she effectively has to negate her own sexiness to bring the tale across. Taking chances on such songs was the proof that she could and did grow artistically.

The Nancy and Lee duets comprise tracks 15-24. I can't add much new to what's already been said about the most celebrated duets. Suffice it to say, "Summer Wine", "Some Velvet Morning", and "Sand" are about as baroque and bizarre as pop music ever got.

The inclusion of a later Nancy/Lee duet, "Down From Dover" shows just how much Nancy had learned since "Boots". This time, Lee is in the predatory role, singing in an unusually low register, even for him. Nancy gives just the right amount of theatrics to the heroine of the song. What's unique about this number is that Nancy and Lee have taken a highly acclaimed songwriter, Dolly Parton, and fitted one of her darkest compositions into their style with results that make all three of them look good. This ain't bubblegum, folks.

The problem with this disc is the sound. Nobody has surpassed Rhino's "Nancy Sinatra The Hit Years", released in 1986. Though you'll miss "Sand" and "Down From Dover" on Rhino's release, most everything else of importance is there.

Nancy made many excellent records, as this compilation shows. All the essential tracks are here, including These boots are made for walking, an international number one hit, How does that grab you darling and Sugar town. Among Nancy's other solo tracks are a couple of James Bond songs, You only live twice and The last of the secret agents.

Nancy also had several big hits via duets with Lee Hazelwood. Did you ever was a British hit, while Summer wine, Jackson and Some velvet morning were American hits. Ladybird was a hit in both countries. Among their other duets, Down from Dover is a cover of an early Dolly Parton song, which Dolly herself re-recorded for her Little sparrow album.

Nancy's most famous duet is the one she did with her father, Something stupid. Robbie Williams and Nicole Kidman recently revived this song in the Moulin Rouge soundtrack, bringing the song to a whole new generation of listeners.

This is a great introduction to her music, but does not display the full range of her talent - for example, she did a superb country album (Country my way) which is not represented on this collection. Even so, if you only ever buy one Nancy Sinatra collection, this is the one to choose.

Most will say Nancy had a given; Daddy Frank had wrangled a record company: Reprise Records and recorded his friends Dean and Sammy how could he let his baby girl wallow in trying to get a hit. BUT! Reprise did well as a semi-independant record company with Warner Bros./7 Arts assistance. Nancy was coming off a divorce from Tommy Sands and wanted to sing/do something!

Nancy cut 45 sides that were promoted with Picture Sleeves and probably a strong arm towards radio stations if they knew what was best for them. Nary a hit no matter because she recorded crap.

Here, history gets fuzzy.... Some say it was Frank that brought writer/producer/singer Lee Hazelwood to Nancy and others think that oh heck let the mystery remain.

What happened was "Boot's are Made for Walkin'". Rumor/RnR unconfirmed history has Lee Hazelwood insisting that "Boots" was a man's song until Daddy Frank took him aside and convinced him otherwise. This put Nancy as a young hip '60's girl witha rich Daddy but off on her own. Nancy Sinatra sold more white Go-Go boots than any Thom McCann/Macy's Tiger Shop/local dept. store witha poster of her posed hands on hips shaked to the side and grinned like she knew what girls oughta know.

A string of top 40 hits followed. "Sugar Town" "How Does That Grab You Darlin.?" "Ladybird". Nancy was able to do what her father couldn't do..get a top 40 Country/Western hit "Jackson".

Some will say it was Lee Hazelwood, her partner, her producer that made that all possible. It is clear that Lee was genius at finding the right songs and being the deep voice standing tall by Nancy. Lee Hazelwood has his own elbow nudge in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Nancy was picture perfect '60s. This CD has her hits and is deserving of a retrospective. Good gosh ignore her Playboy pictorial early '90s!

In 2004 I saw a no-longer-young Nancy Sinatra doing her hits from back when. It wasn't the same without the great orchestration or Lee Hazlewood. I can guarantee though the very best of her works including my favorite "Summer Wine" are all here. There are even bonus songs I frankly don't remember. Nothing wrong with this package, but note: it is a little pricey.

Ever since her career launched off in 1965, Nancy became a national icon with the release of "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'", one of many songs that mentor Lee Hazlewood was able to formulate. Overshadowed by a very famous close relative (you know who.. here's a hint - his eyes are blue) - Nancy was shown as a one hit wonder who tried to gain success from her father's name. The one hit wonder title, however, is only a misled assumption. This CD captures 26 of Nancy's greatest songs that had been recorded over six years. With her several LP releases, Nancy's popularity spread like how a cold would with the song "Boots" that became a national phenomenom. Songs on this CD contain songs which involve duets with her mentor Lee Hazlewood and dearest father. For me, the highlights of this CD are "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'," "Lightning's Girl," "You Only Live Twice," "This Town," "Jackon," "Summer Wine," "Some Velvet Morning," and "100 Years," - Most of which were written by Lee Hazlewood. Nancy and Lee made a great team together - their chemisty was undeniable. Although these songs may be favorites of mine, there are many other songs that are just delightful to listen to.

This was released in 2002 - it was about time they finally released a CD which contained all of Nancy's best. But as a big fan of Nancy, I have most of her CDs and there are many great songs that are of absence. Overall, this CD contains many great Nancy Sinatra hits which you may never grow tired of listening to. Nancy Sinatra captures what was the 60s era where great, fun music was out there and more people were being introduced to great music.

Nancy was lucky to team up with Lee Hazelwood. He was the musical genius. She was the pretty singer. The tough as nails daddy's girl act was a bit silly, but who really cares, together they belted out some really memorable hits that have become part of any space capsule of that time.

THIS ALBUM REALLY CAPTURES THE 60'S.THIS GAL WAS FRANK SINATRA'S DAUGHTER BUT SHE HELD HER OWN. AFTER HER DIVORCE FROM TOMMY SANDS, NANCY TELLS US SHE WAS ORIGINALLY BEING GIVEN THE "ANNETTE FUNICELLO TREATMENT" . IT'S NO DOUBT EASY TO IMAGINE ANNETTE SINGING "THESE BOOTS ARE MADE FOR WALKING" BUT NANCY MANAGED TO HAVE SEVERAL BIG HITS WITHOUT EVER BEING COMPARED TO ANYONE ELSE.NANCY HAD A DISTINCTIVE VOICE AND APPEARANCE. WHILE ANNETTE EPITOMIZED THE GOOD GIRL, NANCY HAD MORE OF THE BAD GIRL LOOK. YOU'LL LOVE ALL THE ORIGINAL AND WONDERFUL SONGS IN THIS COLLECTION. IT'S NOT THE ENGLISH INVASION NOR THE HIPPY SOUND, BUT AN ALL-AMERICAN SOUND THAT FOUGHT TO SUSTAIN THE CHARTS.YOU HAVE TO GIVE THESE GIRLS CREDIT, BECAUSE THE ENGLISH SOUND HAD CONQUERED THE WHOLE UNITED STATES!.ENGLAND BROUGHT US SANDY SHAW, CILLA BLACK AND LULU TO NAME A FEW, BUT NANCY STAYED UP THERE IN THE CHARTS.DON'T MISS OUT ON THIS COLLECTION.YOU'LL REALLY ENJOY GOING BACK TO THOSE WONDERFUL 60'S. BUY IT!!!!