Sonny & Cher Look At Us CD

The duo's debut album on CD for the first time ever! Features the original artwork, new liner notes & 3 bonus tracks: 'It's The Little Things', 'Don't Talk To Strangers' & 'Hello'. Originally released on Atco in 1965, it now features a total of 15 tracks, also including their #1 smash 'I Got You Babe', plus the hits 'Just You' & 'The Letter'. 1998 Sundazed release.

Personnel: Sonny Bono, Cher (vocals); Donald Peake, Monte Dunn, Steve Mann, Barney Kessel (guitar); Don Randi, Harold Battiste (piano); Michel Rubini (harpsichord); Frank Capp, Hal Blaine (drums); Gene Estes, Brian Stone (percussion).
Liner Note Author: Ken Sharp.
Recording information: Gold Star Studios, Hollywood, CA.
Arranger: Sonny Bono.
For their first album-length excursion in the wake of "I Got You Babe," Sonny & Cher don't tread too far outside the influence of Phil Spector, including covers of "Unchained Melody," "Then He Kissed Me," and "Why Don't They Let Us Fall in Love," of which the latter shows off the most appealing elements of each singers' voice. "It's Gonna Rain," which Ahmet Ertegun favored over "I Got You Babe," is a sub-Rascals attempt at white electric soul, while "500 Miles" is Spectorized folk-rock that Sonny carries for one verse and a chorus longer than he should have. The three bonus cuts are as valuable as anything off the original album -- "It's the Little Things" and "Don't Talk to Strangers" (not the Beau Brummels tune) are both throwbacks to a slightly older Spector sound, without as much concession to the folk-rock influences of 1965 as the album material. "Hello" is a B-side on which they simply talk, George Burns & Gracie Allen-style, in a distant precursor to the between-song patter that helped get them a television series and a second career. ~ Bruce Eder
Sonny and Cher had released a handful of previous singles, under both their own names and the pseudonyms Caesar and Cleo, but this is their full length debut album, a curious mix of folk-rock jangle and Spector-influenced orchestral pop. Sonny Bono worked under Spector as a go-fer, session musician and staff songwriter, and his admiration for the producer's patented Wall of Sound verges on slavish imitation in spots. It's clearly felt on "Let It Be Me" and a note-for-note cover of the Crystals' "Then He Kissed Me." It's the folk-rock material, like the enormous hit "I Got You Babe," the sweet "Five Hundred Miles," and a terrific version of the Beau Brummels' "Don't Talk To Strangers," that's the most interesting. Wisely, Sundazed chose to use the superior mono mixes for this excellent reissue.