Amazon.co.uk Review
Although
Nice 'n' Easy wasn't designed with the cohesive vision of such conceptual masterpieces as
In the Wee Small Hours and
Only the Lonely, this "contractual obligation album" is as strong as anything
Frank Sinatra ever did. The lightweight title song sets a relaxed tone that's a little misleading--just when you think you can kick back in the recliner and take it "nice 'n' easy", Sinatra plunges off the emotional deep end with "That Old Feeling". It's like waking up from an afternoon nap to find yourself afflicted by insomnia in the wee small hours. OK, so he contradicts himself. The first song is about taking your time along the smoothly paved road to romance; the second is about driving straight into the ditch of romantic obsession--the difference, say, between Mia Farrow and Ava Gardner. From this point on, the album's tone is definitely Gardner. And Sinatra's singing has never been more spine-tingling than on the next three songs, sounding unfathomable depths in "How Deep Is the Ocean", seductively cooing "I've Got a Crush on You" in his lover's ear, and unabashedly succumbing to the delirious intoxication of "You Go to My Head". You can get drunk on this record.
--Jim Emerson