all i got is "funkier than a mosquito's tweeter" and "save me" from the flying funk album. they are both fantastique. i would of course like more along those lines, but i am way open to, well, everything else i guess.
― ZR (teenagequiet), Tuesday, 2 January 2007 22:13 (seventeen years ago) link
Like me, it looks like you'll enjoy Nina's mid-60s to early-70s recordings for RCA the most. There's a "good" way to buy these with a minimum of duplication. To wit:
1) Emergency Ward + It Is Finished + Black Gold - 3 albums on two CDs (via Camden UK):
-- this is live / "fake" live / studio. It has the aformentioned "Mosquito's Tweeter"
-- and true wonders such as "Poppies," "Who Knows Where The Time Goes" and more.
2) To Love Somebody + Here Comes The Sun - 2 albums on one CD (via Camden UK):
-- all studio stuff
3) Nina Simone And Piano! - get the remastered US version with extra tracks
4) Silk & Soul - US version
5) Nina Simone Sings The Blues - US version with extra tracks
This leaves some odds and ends:
6) There's a 2-on-1 CD (Camden UK) of "Sings The Blues" + "Nuff Said." It doesn't have the two extra tracks from the US version, but it adds the unavailable elsewhere "Nuff Said" album.
7) "Forever Young, Gifted And Black: Songs Of Freedom And Spirit" - this is a compilation of music from the above records. But it's got some cool live songs, alternate versions and rarities.
8) "The Very Best Of Nina Simone 1967-1972: Sugar In My Bowl" is a double CD anthology which covers this same era. If you only get one thing, this would probably be it, but personally I think they chose the wrong songs, and there's not too much rare stuff here.
That's it. There's earlier stuff, but this is best stuff in my opinion. There's later stuff too, but it's hit or miss, with one exception - her outstanding "Fodder On My Wings" album, which is now on US CD, despite never originally having been released on CD. It's maybe her best. I was put off by the *idea* of a cover of the wretched "Along Again Naturally," but Nina transforms the tune, arrangement and lyrics into the bitterest and best song ever.
I should add that the titles mentioned in a previous post are great, but from her earlier period.
― Dee Xtrovert (DeeXtrovert), Tuesday, 2 January 2007 22:38 (seventeen years ago) link
great post Dee
Nuff Said is a standout. live album recorded the day after MLK jr was assasinated, she makes the show count.
I haven't heard too much of the RCA years & onward yet. I've got a few of the discs from the mid-sixties albums for Philips, big budgets and arrangements. "Sinnerman" is from Pastel Blues -- that song, along with "Love Me or Leave Me" from Let It All Out, those were my in. There's a 4 CD box of all 7 Philips albums remastered that's on my list called Four Women.
― milton parker (milton parker), Thursday, 4 January 2007 03:14 (seventeen years ago) link