Search - Nancy Sinatra :: Nancy Sinatra - Lightning's Girl: Greatest Hits 1965-1971

Five Stars For Content; Three For Mastering

07/02/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"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."

Definitive

R. Riis | NY | 09/29/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

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

Best compilation of Nancy's music

Peter Durward Harris | Leicester England | 04/04/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"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."