It remains the best-known, if misrepresentative, track of her entire career. perfume ad, significantly boosting her then-lagging popularity. In 1987 Chanel used Simone’s breezy “My Baby Just Cares for Me” in a U.K. Her father’s death is poignantly recalled in her reworking of Gilbert O’Sullivan’s “Alone Again (Naturally).” And her unyielding campaign for civil rights is artfully explored in the yin-yang of the dark, vengeful “I Was Just a Stupid Dog to Them” and playful, joyous “Color Is a Beautiful Thing.” Though Simone never shied away from expressing her innermost thoughts and beliefs, this Parisian session serves up a singularly vibrant self-portrait, beginning in high style with the exuberant “I Sing Just to Know That I’m Alive.” She celebrates her satisfying years in Africa (“Liberian Calypso”) and reflects on her dismal time in Switzerland (“Le Peuple en Suisse”). Then came the thunderously climactic “Mississippi Goddam,” Simone driving home her fist-shaking condemnation with an emphatic “and I mean every word.” Recording across three nights at Carnegie Hall, she left SRO crowds suitably roused with her “Pirate Jenny,” the Weill-Brecht show tune brilliantly transformed into a chilling portrait of black oppression her cunning upending of “separate but equal” laws with “Old Jim Crow” and the nursery-rhyme lilt of “Go Limp,” her winking yarn of sexual hijinks amid protest marches. Awash in heartache and longing-offset by the sensuous “In the Dark,” flirtatious “Day and Night” and lusty “Buck”- Sings the Blues is exquisitely crafted, reaching its apex as Simone indulges the carnal cravings of “I Want a Little Sugar in My Bowl.” Though at the height of her civil rights fervor, she nods to the cause just once, teaming with Langston Hughes to shape the emboldened “Backlash Blues.”īy 1964 Simone’s activist zeal was fully ignited and she was ready to growl.
#The best nina simone plus
So powerful yet amorphous a body of work is difficult to dissect, but here, in rank order, are nine must-hear Simone albums plus a heterogeneous endnote.įocusing on lean, lithe blues, Simone savors every moment, in perfect sync with guitarists Rudy Stevenson and Eric Gale, channeling the sass and interpretive heft of Bessie Smith.
Not one to be pigeonholed, Simone bounced freely between jazz, pop, blues, folk and gospel, often with classical undertones that harkened back to her earliest career ambitions.
Despite her consistent lack of sales power she recorded steadily for 35 years, often for major labels, and she stands, alongside Sinatra, as one of few artists of her era whose catalog remains near-entirely in print.
While Nina Simone’s discography spans more than 40 albums, the closest she ever came to a genuine bestseller in the U.S. The booklet that comes with the disc states: " Bittersweet is the first Nina Simone compilation to include repertoire from the Bethlehem, Colpix, Philips and RCA labels." It is a first-rate and essential collection sure to capture new fans for Simone, while satisfying those who have followed her career over the many artistic decades covered here.Nina Simone meets the press at Carnegie Hall, 1965 Nathan's book, The Soulful Divas, has the perspective of the founder of Simone's British fan club, which makes for great accompaniment to this CD.
according to Nathan's wonderful liner notes. Jimmy Webb's "Do What You Gotta Do" has the same personnel as "Ain't Got No (I Got Life)," with a stunningly different vibe, both songs obtaining heavy airplay in the U.K. It sounds like the fake studio applause, which the liner notes say was included on the 45 rpm version, has been removed, and this gem just shines. The 16 tracks are marvelous, from "My Baby Just Cares for Me" recorded in New York in 1957 to the Top 100 hit "Ain't Got No (I Got Life)" with Wilbur Bascomb, Bernard Purdie, and other luminaries. A stunning 16-page booklet featuring photographs, track listings, musicians, recording dates, and detailed liner notes by David Nathan is included in this excellent release compiled and sequenced by Buzz Ravineau, produced by Paul Williams with digital remastering by Bill Lacey. What can be said about the woman's music that hasn't already been written? That her rendition of "I Put a Spell on You" may be the most haunting if not the definitive version? That she recaptures the original inspiration of what might be the Bee Gees' single most important statement of their long and storied career, a reading of "To Love Somebody" that is as valuable - though much different - as Janis Joplin's interpretation? The key to Bittersweet: The Very Best of Nina Simone is in the presentation. The beauty of a compilation released 43 years after the first three tracks on this disc were recorded and 29 years after the most recent recording (the rendition of the traditional "Jelly Roll" in 1971) is that the fans of Nina Simone who have turned experts can present this valuable art to the world with the loving care and devotion that it deserves.
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