Nancy Sinatra's third album brought the hitmaking singer to the Swingin' center of the world.  Nancy in London, originally released in 1966, was produced and arranged by her usual team of Lee Hazlewood and Billy Strange, respectively, but the setting was very different than the typical Hollywood environs.  Nancy was booked into Pye Studios on Great Cumberland Place near Marble Arch in London, the same studios in which Petula Clark had cut "Downtown" and Nancy's Reprise labelmates The Kinks called home.  Sessions took place over just three days, a testament to the professionalism of both Nancy and her team and the veteran British musicians who lent it a distinctive feel.  The resulting album, a delightful British-American hybrid, was her third album of 1966.  Now, it's the next of Nancy's LPs to be reissued by Light in the Attic as part of the label's Nancy Sinatra Archival Series.  It arrives on September 6 in CD, LP, and digital formats.

"Recording in London was definitely a different experience than recording in America," Nancy told Al Quaglieri in 1995.  "First of all, because the guys in America were my age and younger...And when you walked into the studio in London, there were guys with gray beards and white hair...[It] was a little scary, a little intimidating, just to be recording in London, let alone with these wonderful, experienced, London Philharmonic-type musicians.  And me with my little bitty voice!"  She reflected to Quaglieri of its blend of Lee Hazlewood songs and material by others, "Maybe that's what gives it texture and color.  I don't know, but I really do like it.  It's a good album.  We did a good job."  Indeed, the tunestack was well-tailored to Sinatra's style.  Hazlewood offered four songs, most notably "Summer Wine" (on which he duetted with Nancy).  He had recorded it at MGM with Suzi Jane Hokom, but his rendition with Nancy took the vivid, ethereal-meets-earthy ballad to the next level.  His other compositions on Nancy in London included "Shades," "Friday's Child," and "Hutchinson Jail."  (Never one to neglect a good song, "Friday's Child" and "Hutchinson Jail" had appeared on a Hazlewood Reprise 45, while "Shades" opened his MGM album Something Special and also was recorded by Dean Martin, Sanford Clark, and the 98% American Mom & Apple Pie 1929 Crash Band!)

Of the non-Hazlewood songs, Nancy brought her sensual flair to such strong selections as Burt Bacharach and Hal David's "Wishin' and Hopin'" (previously surveyed by both Dionne Warwick and Dusty Springfield, the latter of whom took it to the U.S. top ten in 1964); Leiber, Stoller, Mann, and Weil's classic "On Broadway;" John D. Loudermilk's "This Little Bird;" and Mack Gordon and Harry Warren's 1945 standard "The More I See You," which had been introduced by crooner Dick Haymes in 1945.  "The End," a top ten hit for singer-pianist Earl Grant in 1958, bore a co-writing credit for future Harvey Comics editor Sid Jacobson.  Tommy Jennings' "Step Aside" had been recorded by Lee's friend Sanford Clark on a single co-produced by Waylon Jennings.

Despite the dearth of British material, Nancy in London beautifully captured the spirit and hip ethos of the era as only she, Hazlewood, and Strange could.  Light in the Attic adds a quartet of bonus tracks to the original Reprise LP sequence, comprising Nancy in London '69.  These sessions took place with British producer Mickie Most (Lulu, Donovan) and encompass the 1969 single "The Highway Song" b/w "Are You Growing Tired of My Love," "Zodiac Blues" (first released in 1999), and the previously unissued "Colors are Changing."  This release marks the first time the full four-song session has been presented in full.

The LP of Nancy in London is being offered on black vinyl and limited-edition colored vinyl (including "Summer Wine" red or "Little Bird Blue" with peach splatter), both available from Nancy's Bootique.  All formats feature audio remastered from the original analog tapes by John Baldwin. Pressed at Record Technology, Inc. (RTI), the vinyl edition is presented in an expanded gatefold jacket accompanied by a 20-page booklet (featuring a new Q&A with Sinatra conducted by reissue co-producer Hunter Lea, plus never-before-seen photos from Sinatra's personal archive).  The CD version also contains a deluxe booklet.

The expanded and remastered Nancy in London arrives from LITA on September 6.  You'll find pre-order links below.  As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

Nancy Sinatra, Nancy in London (Reprise RS 6221, 1966 - reissued Light in the Attic, 2024)

CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Nancy's Bootique / Light in the Attic
LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Nancy's Bootique (Peach Splatter Vinyl) / Light in the Attic (Summer Wine Red Vinyl)

1. On Broadway
2. The End
3. Step Aside
4. I Can't Grow Peaches On A Cherry Tree
5. Summer Wine
6. Wishin' And Hopin'
7. This Little Bird
8. Shades
9. The More I See You
10. Hutchinson Jail
11. Friday's Child

Bonus Tracks: Nancy in London '69

12. The Highway Song
13. Are You Growing Tired Of My Love
14. Zodiac Blues
15. Colors Are Changing (previously unreleased)

Tracks 12-13 from various singles including Reprise (U.K.) single RS 20869, 1969
Track 14 first released on You Go-Go, Girl!, Varese Sarabande 302 066 059 2, 1999