Released April, 1966 The Sonny Side of Chér
(1966) Chér
(1966) Release date April 1966 Label Capitol Records | Length 33:35 Artist Cher Producer Sonny Bono | |
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Recorded September 1965 – February–March 1966 Studio Gold Star Recording Studios, Hollywood, CA Genres Pop music, Rock music, Folk rock, Folk music Similar Cher albums, Pop music albums | ||
The Sonny Side of Chér is the second studio album by American singer-actress Cher, released on April, 1966 by Imperial, as her second album, Cher again collaborated with Sonny Bono and Harold Battiste. The album is by-and-large a covers album and contains two songs written by Bono. The title of the album is a pun on the name of Cher's first husband Sonny Bono. After its release, the album garnered positive reviews from critics. The album was Cher's second successful album of the sixties.
Contents
Album information
After the success of her previous album, Cher quickly recorded another album. The Sonny Side of Chér was in the chart with the second studio album of Sonny & Cher, The Wondrous World of Sonny & Cher. The album follows the same formula of the previous album with rearranged covers and new songs written by Bono. The Sonny Side of Chér was overall less successful than the previous release, but produced bigger hits than the first album did. It contains Cher's first solo Top Ten hit, the Bono-penned song "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)". With "Bang Bang", Cher was definitively settled in the American pop culture. The album also had two songs with French influence, "A Young Girl" and "Our Day Will Come" and Edith Piaf's famous "Milord".
Like her previous album All I Really Want to Do, Cher covered one song written and performed by Bob Dylan, "Like a Rolling Stone". The album also included Tom Jones' "It's Not Unusual", the popular song "Our Day Will Come" and "The Girl from Ipanema". Other covers are "A Young Girl" and "Ol' Man River" (which shows the huge vocal power Cher already had on this early album).
In 1992 the original album and Cher's debut studio album All I Really Want to Do were reissued by EMI on one CD which featured all tracks from both. After in 1995 EMI re-released this version together with the album Cher. The last version of the album was released in 2005 only in UK by BGO Records. These editions feature a different track order than the original LP.
Commercial performance
The Sonny Side of Chér, like Cher's previous album, was a success in the Billboard 200. The album entered into the chart while The Wondrous World of Sonny & Cher was also charting, eventually reaching up to #26. The album also entered in the UK Albums Chart and debuted at #28 in May, and reached its highest position (#11) three weeks later. The album remained in the chart for eleven weeks and exited in July. The Sonny Side of Chér was also Cher's last album that entered in the UK Albums chart until her 1987 comeback album Cher (released by Geffen). The Sonny Side of Chér also entered in the Norway albums chart and peaked at #17.
Singles
Two singles were released from this album; both were written by Bono. "Where Do You Go", the album's first single release, was a Dylan-mimic and reached number twenty five in the Billboard Hot 100 and number seventeen on the Canadian Single Charts. The second single released was Cher's most successful song of the sixties, "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)", which peaked in the US at #2 and which was also a hit in the UK Singles Chart at #3. The song was covered by Bono in the Sonny & Cher live album Live in Las Vegas Vol. 2, and was later re-recorded for the 1987 studio album Cher.
Personnel
Songs
1Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)2:45
2A Young Girl (Une Enfante)2:40
3Where Do You Go3:18