The Sonny Side of Chér

The Sonny Side of Chér is the second studio album by American singer-actress Cher, released on March 28, 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. Cher's second successful album of the sixties, it was released on CD in 1992 by EMI together with Cher's first album as a 2fer.[1] In 1995 EMI re-released this 2fer with the album Chér.[1] 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.

The Sonny Side of Chér
Studio album by
Cher
ReleasedMarch 28, 1966
RecordedSeptember 1965 – February–March 1966
StudioGold Star Recording Studios, Hollywood, CA
Genre
Length33:35
Label
ProducerSonny Bono
Cher chronology
All I Really Want to Do
(1965)		 The Sonny Side of Chér
(1966)		 Chér
(1966)
Singles from The Sonny Side of Chér
  1. "Where Do You Go"
    Released: September 27, 1965
  2. "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)"
    Released: February 21, 1966

Background and production

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.[2] 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)".[3] 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".[2]

Like her previous album All I Really Want to Do, Cher covered one song written and performed by Bob Dylan, "Like a Rolling Stone".[4] The album also included Tom Jones' "It's Not Unusual", the popular song "Our Day Will Come" and "The Girl from Ipanema".[4] Other covers are "A Young Girl" and "Ol' Man River" (which shows the huge vocal power Cher already had on this early album).[4]

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[4] and reached number 25 in the Billboard Hot 100 and number 17 on the Canadian Singles Chart.[3][5][6] 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 No. 2 and which was also a hit in the UK Singles Chart at No. 3.[3][7] 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.

Critical reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[2]
BillboardFavorable[8]
Record Mirror[9]

The album has received mixed reviews from music critics. Tim Sendra from AllMusic website has written that even though the album uses "the folk-rock formula that had made her previous album such a delight" The Sonny Side of Cher is "nothing more than a chuckle-inducing curiosity, just the kind of silly record casual listeners might expect from the duo." He praised the cover songs "Like a Rolling Stone" by Bob Dylan, "Elusive Butterfly" and "Come to Your Window" by Bob Lind but criticized the folk-rock sound in pop tunes like "It's Not Unusual," "Our Day Will Come," and "The Girl from Ipanema." He concluded that "the album is doomed by its lack of heart and inability to rise above the formulaic." A Billboard magazine review called the album "well produced", "well performed" and a "fast-moving item".

Commercial performance

The Sonny Side of Chér peaked at number 26 on the Billboard 200. The album entered into the chart while The Wondrous World of Sonny & Cher was also charting. The album also entered in the UK Albums Chart and debuted at number 28 in May, and reached its highest position at number eleven, three weeks later.[10] The album remained in the chart for eleven weeks and exited in July.[10] 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 No. 17.[11]

Track listing
Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)"Sonny Bono2:40
2."A Young Girl (Une enfante)"
3:22
3."Where Do You Go"Bono3:12
4."Our Day Will Come"
2:12
5."Elusive Butterfly"Bob Lind2:30
6."Like a Rolling Stone"Bob Dylan3:45
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Ol' Man River"
2:50
2."Come to Your Window"Lind2:48
3."The Girl from Ipanema"
2:09
4."It's Not Unusual"
2:08
5."Time"Michael Merchant3:16
6."Milord"
2:43

Personnel

No musicians were credited, only: "A very special thanks to some of the greatest musicians in Hollywood for their part in making this album possible"

Charts

References
  1. "All I Really Want to Do albums". Homepages.ihug.com.au. Archived from the original on July 17, 2009. Retrieved 2009-08-11.
  2. AllMusic review
  3. "Cher Chart History: Hot 100". Billboard. Retrieved October 7, 2018.
  4. "The Sonny Side of Chèr Review". CherScholar.com. Retrieved 2009-02-05.
  5. "Cher Singles Discography". RPM. RPM Library Archives. Archived from the original on 2012-10-12. Retrieved 2009-12-09.
  6. "RPM Play Sheet" (PDF). Collectionscanada.gc.ca. Retrieved 2022-03-14.
  7. "Cher Singles Discography". The Official Charts Company. 1965–2005. Retrieved 2009-12-09.
  8. Billboard: Album Reviews. 9 April 1966. pp. 75–. ISSN 0006-2510.
  9. Jones, Peter; Jopling, Norman (18 June 1966). "Cher: The Sonny Side Of Cher" (PDF). Record Mirror. No. 275. p. 8. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 April 2022. Retrieved 18 November 2022.
  10. "The Sonny Side of Chér UK chart". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 2009-08-12.
  11. "norwegiancharts.com - Norwegian charts portal". norwegiancharts.com. Retrieved 2021-09-19.
  12. Pennanen, Timo (2021). "Cher". Sisältää hitin - 2. laitos Levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla 1.1.1960–30.6.2021 (PDF) (in Finnish). Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. p. 46.
  13. Norway's LPs Best Sellers Americanradiohistory.com. Retrieved October 15, 2020.
  14. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved August 25, 2022.
  15. "Cher Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved August 25, 2022.
  16. "The CASH BOX Year-End Charts: 1966". Archived from the original on August 26, 2012.. Cash Box magazine.
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