»Boots« was Nancy Sinatra’s debut album. The hits, »These Boots Are Made For Walking« and “So Long, Babe”, two songs penned by Lee Hazlewood, are evergreens. In addition to these compositions, the 1966 album contains pop versions of songs by the Beatles, Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones and the Statler Brothers (»Flowers On The Wall«). Lee Hazlewood also produced »Boots«, which was to become a joint career kick-start for the couple. The music was recorded by members of the Wrecking Crew, a band of first-class studio musicians around Carol Kaye, Glen Campbell, Hal Blaine and Larry Knechtel, who could be heard on many productions recorded in Los Angeles from the early 1960s to the mid-1970s by Phil Spector, the Beach Boys, Elvis Presley, Sam Cooke, Herb Alpert, Frank Sinatra or the Byrds. To celebrate its fiftieth anniversary, »Boots« is now reissued as a deluxe version with two bonus tracks (the B-side of the »These Boots Are Made For Walkin’« single as well as a previously unreleased song) remastered from the original analogue tapes, including a Q&A interview with Nancy Sinatra and co-producer Hunter Lea.
Maria Somerville
Luster
4AD