Customer Reviews

Lightning's Girl

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Just great stuff - spanning her hit years of the mid 60s to early 70s, with just about every hit and classic duets with Lee Hazlewood (the baroque splendour of "Some Velvet Morning") and Frank Sinatra ("Somethin' Stupid"). Unless you're an absolute fanatic this contains everything you could want from Ms Sinatra.

When my father was stationed in Japan in the late Sixties we joined him well before all of our belongings. With a new home and a new school in a new country, the only sense of place was Armed Forces radio. Every time "Some Velvet Morning" played I would feel better. To this day, listening to Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood sing that song takes me back to that time and how I felt. Besides, my mom was a big Frank Sinatra fan so I could cause trouble by saying at least there was one person in that family who could sing and it was not old blue eyes (Mea culpa. I was young. It was the Sixties. She made me wear a crew cut). My father made reel-to-reel tapes of all of Nancy's albums but they are long gone. Now, all of those albums are available on CD. But for many of you having one Nancy Sinatra CD is going to be enough and in that case "Lightning's Girl: Greatest Hits 1965-1971" is the one you should pick up. This has everything that was on "Nancy Sinatra: The Hit Years" but another eight songs, so this is an easy call to make. However, I have never thought of "Lightning's Girl" as being a definitive Nancy Sinatra song.

"Lightning's Girl" has all of your favorite Nancy Sinatra songs and probably one or two songs that might be new to you but that you may well enjoy. "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'," "The Last of the Secret Agents," "Sugar Town," and "You Only Live Twice," are included. In addition to "Some Velvet Morning" there are nine other duets with Lee Hazelwood, the best of which are "Summer Wine," "Jackson" and "Lady Bird." Of course, there is also "Somethin' Stupid," sung with daddy (in only two takes). The liner notes are wrong the lady herself and, of course, the cover provides the obligatory shot of Nancy in white go-go boots. I think these songs hold up a lot better than a lot of the other stuff I listened to back then in Japan, as does Nancy herself as we all found out a few years ago in a revealing pictorial in a noted gentleman's publication.

This is the Australian edition of the compilation - it has the same title and tracks as the American edition but different artwork.

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.

This Audio-CD version of Nancy Sinatra's "Lightning's Girl" album oozes some nice toe-tappin' Nancy ditties, including some of my favorites from the famous boot-wearing singer.

Some of the songs included in this collection of 24 tracks are: "Jackson", "Sugar Town", "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'", "Some Velvet Morning", "Friday's Child", "Good Time Girl", and the duet with her father, "Something Stupid".

Some Fast Nancy Facts ......................................

>> Nancy Sinatra was born on June 8, 1940, in Jersey City, New Jersey. Papa Frank Sinatra was just 24 years old when Nancy was born.

>> Nancy's TV debut, at age 17, was on her father's television series, "The Frank Sinatra Show", on November 1, 1957. She would often pop up on TV's "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In" as well, among a few other shows of the era.

>> In 1967, Nancy starred in her own one-hour NBC-TV special, called "Movin' With Nancy", which further solidified her as one of the most popular female vocalists of the 1960s. Looking back now at the well-polished "Movin' With Nancy" special is like entering a "1960s time machine". The sounds, colors, clothing styles, make-up, hair-dos, and location settings just scream "The '60s"! That '67 Nancy special is available on DVD and VHS video as well, and is well worth the asking price.

>> Nancy's first (of very few) feature films was 1964's "For Those Who Think Young", in which she played the role of "Karen Cross" (opposite star James Darren). Other familiar names dotting the cast list of that film include the likes of: Tina Louise, Bob Denver, Paul Lynde, Robert Middleton, and a 31-year-old Ellen Burstyn. That was Burstyn's motion-picture debut as well.

"Lightning's Girl" contains 71+ minutes of music with Nancy, Lee Hazlewood, and daddy Frank Sinatra. If you're a fan of Nancy's, it's worth a listen -- and a purchase.

I really like Nancy Sinatra, and this CD has all the reasons why on it. What a voice! What a talent! From Jackson to Dover this Lady-Bird really soars. My personal favorite is "Some Velvet Morning" (don't ask me to explain its meaning), but, just like her father, Nancy manages to inject greatness into everything she sings. Do your ears a favor and get this one.