Customer Reviews

Movin With Nancy

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3 star:		(2)
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The "Movin' with Nancy" album (1967) is actually (as stated on the cover), the soundtrack to her most-definitely-needs-to-be-released-on-home-video Emmy-winning TV special of the same name. Each of the fifteen songs (including the bonus tracks) demonstrates Nancy's adaptability to a variety of musical genres. "Who Will Buy" exemplifies her vocal range, "Wait Till You See Him," and the glorious "See the Little Children" all illustrate the softer side of Nancy. Which, in this case, is just as magnificent as her "tough-girl" side. While the novelty "Things" with Dean Martin, the mesmerizing and somniferous "Some Velvet Morning" with Lee Hazlewood, the country-flavored "Jackson," the rousing "Up, Up and Away," the '60s power-ballads "This Town," and "Friday's Child" each glorify Nancy to heights unimaginable. And while up there, she manages to make us feel the "high" she's at as well. It's Nancy at her VERY best!

This is a nice album of music from Nancy's TV special. Particular highlights are 'I Gotta Get Out Of This Town' (a great, rousing opener), 'Some Velvet Morning' (a classic, weird and atmospheric song with its odd time signature changes), 'Up, Up And Away' (nice happy version of the Jimmy Webb song), 'Friday's Child' (another great song written by Lee), and 'This Town' (a cool, melancholic number). Amongst the extra bonus tracks are 'drummer man', a weird and unusual song and 'Good Time Girl', a happy pop song. It's a highly enjoyable CD.

This is good stuff from Nancy Sinatra and what fun to listen to. She evokes her mini-skirt clad tough girl in songs like "I gotta get out this town" and a sweet sensual side in "wait till you see him." Her voice, while not a superior instrument, blends nicely with her 60s pop arrangements, though her Up, Up and Away has a hokeyness to it that seems OK. "Younger than Springtime" is sung by her dad. Originally a love ballad from South Pacific, father now sings it adoringly to his most talented child. Be careful though if you've seen the TV special, you won't find "Sugartown" on this disc. But easily available on her disc "The Hit Years." And that's a good buy, too.

Nancy tossed the cowboy boots and hat and did a TV special, from which this album is derived. "I Gotta Get Out Of This Town" is reminiscent of her early incarnation. "Who Will Buy" starts out as a ballad, then launches into overblown Broadway-style horns and strings.

"Wait Till You See Him" is used as a lead-in for her father to sing "Younger Than Springtime" from South Pacific. What was the point of including Frank here, huh? At least he only appears once so it doesn't become a Frank Sinatra album, but an entire song done by him on a Nancy album?

All her duets are winners, the Lee Hazlewood ones being "Jackson," and the lush "Some Velvet Morning." Lee sings about that velvet morning when he's straight. I detect some drug references and some fairies and a nature goddess (Phaedra) in the song from: "Flowers growing on a hill/dragonflies and daffodils/Learn from us very much/Look at us but do not touch/Phaedra is my name." According to the greatest hits I have, the meaning of the song was lost. Nancy sings the chorus while Lee does the verses. It's strangely weird and it's one of my favorites on this album. She and Dean Martin sing about "Things" they used to do but her contributions don't seem substantial.

The quiet and lush "See The Little Children" highlights her ballad capabilities well. So does the reflective "This Town," which is a "make you town or break you town/and bring you down town." It's a revisit to the place of harassment in "Flowers On The Wall." "A love you town/shove you down/and push you around town," "that's all right town for an uptight town"--hey, that sounds like Farmington, NM!

Two cover songs she does are the Fifth Dimension's "Up, Up And Away" (you know--"up, up and away in my beautiful balloon) and Ray Charles' "What'd I Say," both tastefully done, with positive energy brimming off the first. I'd heard the original before but didn't know the title of it. Needless to say, when I heard Nancy's version of the 5D's song, I thought, "Whoa! So that's the name of this song. Now who originally did it?" And she shows she can rock and roll in "What'd I Say."

Two old tunes show up here--"Jackson" and "Friday's Child." And of the Reprise singles, "Good Time Girl" is my favorite. All in all, it's a mixture of Boots and Nancy In London stuff. It's like going out trick or treating and only getting either Snickers or Gummy Bears. Well, on her next album, the bag's got more kinds of treats, so stay tuned!

"Movin' With Nancy" is the Soundtrack to Nancy Sinatra's 1968 television special, which explains why her father and his pal Dean Martin show up, along with her constant singing partner Lee Hazelwood. The mix of songs is pretty much what you would expect from a late Sixties television special, especially one that is trying to span the generations represented by father and daughter. This is why you end up with a couple of Broadway Show tunes, "Who Will Buy?" from "Oliver" and "Younger Than Springtime" from "South Pacific," along with the always interesting compositions of Hazelwood and Jimmy Webb's perky little "Up Up and Away."

For me the best part is hearing "Some Velvet Morning" done live; when my father was stationed in Japan and we moved there, in the weeks before our stuff arrived, all we had was a radio with one station in English (Armed Forces Radio, of course). "Some Velvet Morning" was on the charts at that point, and every time the introductory string section would begin it would make my day. What does the song mean? Well, now that I teach both Jean Racine's neo-classical drama "Phedre" and the original Greek tragedy "Hippolytus" by Euripides, from which we get the story of Phaedra, I have even less of a clue than before. Phaedra was the young wife of Theseus, who fell in love with his son Hippolytus, who spurned her and led to a tragic fate, which means I am forced to conclude that Hazelwood just liked the sound of the name. But then the magic of his songs was just the contrast of the two voices as well as the parts each sang in the song.

Even on the songs that he did not write, Lee Hazelwood's touch as the producer on this effort is strong and sure. The idea here was clearly to have fun, which tempers the artistic pretensions of the work, but that is what happens when you go on television to sing rather than back into the recording studio. The result is that "Movin' With Nancy" is not a classic Nancy Sinatra album, but a more than decent supplement for those of us who spent more time listening to her than daddy during the Sixties. Plus this 1996 CD reissue tacks on three more songs for our enjoyment.

While Barbra Streisand's TV Specials wowed us with that voice, Nancy's wow's us with music videos way before there was music videos. It contains some new tracks and tracks on previous albums. This is again I feel Nancy's attempt to channel Barbra-but differently and successfully on her own without being a copy.

Moving With Nancy is a enjoyable cd. With Nancy's great voice and a duet with Dean Martin and a song by Frank Sinatra, this was nice to listen to. Also 3 bonus tracks. Lee Hazelwood who wrote so many of Nancy's hits has writen several on this album as well.

The Soundtrack to Nancy Sinatra's 1967 T.V. Special. The show was sponsored by the Mad, Mad, Mad Cola - RC Cola. This is her best CD. Buy the DVD of the T.V. special - The best retro 60's show - Nancy kicks ass!

My parents had this record album when I was 7 in 1967. I remember listening to it for several years until I found my own interest in the 1970's pop music. As a kid, I liked this record a lot...I used to sing along with Up Up and Away. When my taste changed, I got rid of the album (Grrrr, shouldn't have!). Something I saw recently online reminded me of this particular album, which I had totally forgotten about, so looked it up on Amazon and here it was! I bought the CD and just listened to it again for the first time in probably 40+ years, and I love it! It's almost exactly as I remember it from my childhood, so it brings back a lot of fun memories, but now (at age 51) I can appreciate Nancy Sinatra's lovely voice and the emotion she displays in each song. Listening to it today was like being reunited with an old friend. Thanks, Amazon, for having this available.

First I have to say that if Nancy were not Frank's daughter she would not have taken so much flack by critics back in her day as well as today. She was a true and very smart innovator along with Lee in the performance and execution of this TV Special. The music video format is practically invented by Nancy, Lee and Jack Haley Jr. and superbly done in this program. The CD remastering is crystal clear and well balanced. The versions of "Who will Buy"
"This Town" "Things" and "Jackson" as well as "Some Velvet Morning" are excellent. "Fridays Child" reminds me of something Pat Benatar could have Remade but Nancy originated it. What a strong, smart, savvy, and talented lady Nancy is for having had the great career that she did and we still get to enjoy the fruits of her labors! Thanks Nancy!