Nancy Sinatra – Start Walkin’ 1965-1976 (2021) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

If you were Frank Sinatra’s daughter and wanted a career in music, how would you go about stepping out of your father’s shadow? After a couple of cutesy singles cut with the producer behind Annette Funicello records, Nancy Sinatra, Frank’s oldest child found her groove as the kind of female badass rebel that her father likely adored: fashion influencer who brought miniskirts from Carnaby Street to America’s Main Street; daring agitator who shared a rare interracial kiss with dad’s pal Sammy Davis Jr. on national TV; Playboy cover star at age 54. It’s the attitude and image that’s given her career a lasting aura and made it influential for artists as diverse as Primal Scream, Morrissey and Lana Del Rey who has modestly referred to herself as a “Gangster Nancy Sinatra.”

As this well-curated compilation proves, Sinatra’s most influential music comes from her ’60s collaboration with oddball pop chameleon Lee Hazlewood. Although the pair’s vaguely sensual duet on the still puzzling, hippie-cowboy epic, “Some Velvet Morning,” earned them artistic credibility, the crowning achievement of their partnership and Sinatra’s calling card was 1965’s “These Boots Are Made For Walkin'”—a Hazlewood original that he originally intended to sing. Sinatra convinced him it needed a women’s voice to turn it from a tale of spousal abuse to one of female empowerment. Her instincts proved prescient and her deadpan delivery and Hazlewood’s snappy production style built around an unforgettable bass line birthed a defiant feminist ’60s anthem. Other Sinatra/Hazlewood numbers included here are the fuzz guitar march, “Lightning’s Girls,” a tremolo-guitar led version of “Bang Bang” (Cher’s first million selling single), and duets that charted with Hazlewood: “Summer Wine,” “Jackson.” The ace card in the Sinatra/Hazlewood union was using Los Angeles studio vets the Wrecking Crew as the backing band. With pros like Hal Blaine on drums, Al Casey, Glen Campbell and Larry Carlton on guitar and Carol Kaye on bass, it’s all well-recorded and beautifully mixed music, solid and stylish, and brimming with a confident Angelino brand of white pop soul. – Robert Baird

Tracklist:
01. Nancy Sinatra – Bang Bang (02:41)
02. Nancy Sinatra – These Boots Are Made for Walkin’ (02:46)
03. Nancy Sinatra – Sugar Town (02:24)
04. Nancy Sinatra – So Long Babe (03:07)
05. Nancy Sinatra – How Does That Grab You, Darlin’? (02:33)
06. Nancy Sinatra – Friday’s Child (02:28)
07. Nancy Sinatra – You Only Live Twice (02:58)
08. Nancy Sinatra – Summer Wine (03:44)
09. Nancy Sinatra – Some Velvet Morning (03:40)
10. Nancy Sinatra – Lightning’s Girl (02:56)
11. Nancy Sinatra – Sand (03:46)
12. Nancy Sinatra – Lady Bird (03:03)
13. Nancy Sinatra – Jackson (02:49)
14. Nancy Sinatra – Happy (02:36)
15. Nancy Sinatra – How Are Things in California (02:32)
16. Nancy Sinatra – Hook and Ladder (03:08)
17. Nancy Sinatra – Hello L.a., Bye-Bye Birmingham (03:12)
18. Nancy Sinatra – Paris Summer (02:58)
19. Nancy Sinatra – Arkansas Coal (Suite) (05:39)
20. Nancy Sinatra – Down from Dover (03:38)
21. Nancy Sinatra – Kind of a Woman (03:02)
22. Nancy Sinatra – Machine Gun Kelly (03:19)
23. Nancy Sinatra – (L’été Indien) Indian Summer (03:24)