Customer Reviews

Sugar (Stereo Original)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I will be the first to admit it is impossible for me to be impartial about Nancy Sinatra. I love everything she does. Realizing that this is supposed to be a forum to help potential customers decide, I will say it is a radical departure from her previous three albums. If you are only in to "BOOTS" type music, stick with "YOU GO-GO GIRL". If you want to hear a versatile artist take a risk and SOAR, grab this album. WHAT'LL I DO is widely done by others, yet, Nancy makes it her own. She is clearly having fun with SWEET GEORGIA BROWN and HARD HEARTED HANNAH. COASTIN' is one of my favorite songs, if I hadn't seen Lee's name on it, I would've thought it was from the same era. Her monster hit SUGAR TOWN, of course, is on here. Her next album was COUNTRY, MY WAY another departure from the "BOOTS" mold which is also well worth owning. Nancy has never been afraid to take risks, just watch MOVIN' WITH NANCY and you'll see a woman way ahead of her time. Her risks, in my opinion always pay off. Now, on to my soapbox. If you don't like Nancy's music, FINE, you don't like it. We are all entitled to our own opinions. I don't like the Beatles. However, you won't find me writing reviews of Beatle albums that attack them personally. I do not understand the need to be mean to Nancy. She is a warm, wonderful human being (yes, I do know her.)who does not deserve the attacks on her. Just because she is a Sinatra doesn't mean she can't have her feelings hurt. There is this old adage that goes "if you can't say something nice..."

Ok, I admit, when I first bought the LP, many years ago, I bought it for the cover. Funny thing was, after listening to the music, I really came to love that album. It's mostly standards from the 30's, but it has the duet with dad that is great. All these years later, when I saw it, I had to buy it in CD form just to recapture my youth...and this time, only partly for the cover.

After Nancy In London, there came Sugar, which really bucked the trend of her previous albums. Nancy Sinatra came up with a genre album, which, as the inner sleeve says, "sweet, soulful serenades from the old timey years." That includes 1930's swing and blues, which means lots and lots of brass.

I picture Mae West singing some of these tunes, particularly "Hard Hearted Hannah." How hard is she? Well, according to Nancy, she's a misanthrope. "To tease them and thrill'em, to torture and kill them is her delight they all say." "And she's just as sweet as sour milk." Memo: stay away from Hard Hearted Hannah and put a bounty on that woman like my name was Jabba the Hutt.

"All By Myself" is a soothing balm after the loud brass emphasizing Hannah's cruelty. And "Oh! You Beautiful Doll" might as well be about her. Small wonder why "Great Big Beautiful Doll" was the title of the biography of Anna Nicole Smith, another luscious blonde.

"Coastin'" is a song about being cheery. Another upbeat song in that vein is "Mama Goes Where Papa Goes," where Mama makes sure Papa doesn't go astray. Mama seems to be a provider here, "a lovin' Mama who's got everything you need." And on that line, "a husband at home is worth a dozen out of sight"--well, I suppose "a bird in the hand" would've been predictable and cliched, huh?

The old standard "Let's Fall In Love" is her own contribution to the love instead of war motto. Hey, if "even educated fleas do it," "Some Argentines without means do it, people say in boston even beans do it," why couldn't the military establishment that sent U.S. soldiers to Vietnam do what romantic sponges and even gooey jellyfish do? The punchline to the song turns the meaning of the song around.

"Sugar Town" and "Love Eyes" are the two songs closest to contemporary and are oddballs on this collection, but welcome oddballs, I might add. "Sugar Town" is her utopia song and one of my favorites. "If I had a million dollars or ten/I'd give it to you world and then/You'd go away and let me spent my life in sugar town." Neat idea of Lee Hazlewood rhyming Tennessee with Tallahassee. "Love Eyes" is a power ballad that again is one of her best.

"Button Up Your Overcoat" has the same loving provider theme as "Mama Goes Where Papa Goes." Nancy warns her dear one against bootleg hooch, meats, too much sweets, and to take all sorts of precautions.

"Something Stupid," which spent more weeks on #1 than any of her singles, is getting a boost from Nicole Kidman and Robbie Williams's rendition of it from the Moulin Rouge movie. Which is better? I'm leaning towards the original.

The cover of her in pink bikini and go-go boots is an added bonus to the music inside. However, why didn't someone airbrush the front cover? Yeesh! If she was still in her bad girl mode, she'd probably appear wearing just the boots.

An alternative to the angry protest music to be sure. If I recall, this kind of swing came around during the Depression, when people wanted to forget their troubles. I suppose some people were depressed and fed up of having Vietnam on their TV sets day after day, but the difference between the Depression and Vietnam is, we couldn't help being in the first. The second, we should've dropped like a bad cold.

After this breath of fresh air, Nancy would do yet another genre album. Hint: can you say two-stepping?

Fetching in a pink bikini (which she also wore, if I'm not mistaken, right around this time-period in an episode of "Man From U.N.C.L.E."), Nancy pours on the charm in "Sugar" right from the start! It's not her best album--it's mostly made up of novelty numbers from the '30's--but it's highly engaging for fans who want more than the usual roster of Nancy's hits. For those folks, it does have "Coastin'", "Sugar Town" (hotcha!) and the CD bonus "Somethin' Stupid", but I really loved "Button Up Your Overcoat" and "Limehouse Blues". Neat to hear these chestnuts as done by the one and only Boots!

Irving Berlin is to Nancy as Harold Arlen was to Barbra Streisand on her second album. She covers two Berlin songs and one Arlen song and I think she updates them well; Let's Fall In Love, What'll I do and All by Myself Nancy swings her way through these swing-era songs and I think its a perfect fit. I adore Beautiful Doll and I love Button Up Your Overcoat almost as much as I loved Annette Hanshaw's version! Of course there's the hits Sugar Town and Somethin' Stupid. I'm glad Nancy did this album-she may not have the powerhouse voice that Barbra has, but she's fun and sexy and gives these her all. Overall an excellent pop album!

bought it for sugartown- but being a fan of dixieland style of music- and Nancy's voice- I have a new favorite cd, Gosh,she has a great voice

These are mostly moldy-oldies of course, but Nancy puts a lot pizazz into these songs. This is jazzy, bouncy fun. The band is great too, but never overpowering. There is some humor here too in a couple of the songs. This is just a rollicking good time and succeeds in many ways. Probably somewhat different than most of Nancy's stuff. Worth it alone for the hit "Sugar Town" and the bonus track of "Something Stupid", which is also a great song (duet with her father). The pink bikini picture is another plus, but I would have bought this album even with a plain white cover.

This is my favorite Nancy Sinatra album. It contains two of her greatest hits, Something Stupid, and Sugar Town. However, what I enjoy most about this CD is Nancy's interpretations of several standards, which include Button Up Your Overcoat and My Buddy. The reparte with the boys in the band at the end of Let's Fall in Love is a hoot, and Nancy demonstrates that she is as comfortable in jazz settings as she is with a pop environment. She is clearly having fun on this album and her sense of humour is engaging. Unlike other, more myopic reviewers, I'm glad that Nancy chose some older standards for this album-it shows that her range and taste in music is broad. Of course, Nancy does have the help of some excellent musicians who back her up with verve. But then again, her dad also fronted some of the greatest bands. I'm sure that her dad liked this album-his taste was always impeccable. Good music is timeless, and like her father, Nancy knows how to choose the best material to record. Brava Nancy!

Una muy grata sorpresa haber descubierto este album por casualidad en amazon; un album que a mi parecer estuvo muy cerca de ser un ALBUM CONCEPTUAL, tomando como idea base los CLASICAS DE LOS 20s Y 30s como eje central de la tematica; con todo, Nancy nos ha entregado un material muy NOSTALGICO, SENCILLO y con ese SABOR A AÑEJO tan agradable que estas grandes canciones nos da (aparte de la magnifica portada en "ROSA", de las mas sexys de la musica); muy bonitas baladas como OH! BEAUTIFUL DOLL, ALL BY MYSELF, LET'S FALL IN LOVE, WHAT'LL I DO y la simplemente preciosa MY BUDDY, Clasicos del tipo "entertainer" como VAGABOND SHOES, HARD HEARTED HANNAH, MAMA GOES WHERE PAPA GOES, LIMEHOUSE BLUES (con ciertos arreglos "a lo Japones") y la version mas divertida y simpatica de SWEET GEORGIA BROWN que he escuchado, donde Nancy simplemente se DIVIERTE a lo grande con la tonada (demostrando que se puede disfrutar plenamente en un estudio de grabacion); y como broche de oro, los hitazos SUGAR TOWN y SOMETHING STUPID (con su padre), que son los "pesos pesados" del album; sin dejar de mencionar muy buenas composiciones originales como COASTIN' y LOVE EYES, muy buenas... un GRAN PAQUETE para nadar en el mar maravilloso de la nostalgia con un maravilloso album!!

I like "Sugar Town" and "Somethin' Stupid", and it was worth purchasing this disc even only just for those songs; however since I like only two tracks on 'Sugar' it's only worth 2 stars, and if I'd thought hard about it I might have bought the Greatest Hits disc instead of this one.
At any rate, buying this one leaves open the possibility there may be other noncompilation Nancy discs to buy-- but frankly (no pun intended) how could there be anything better than "Somethin' Stupid" and "Sugar Town"?