The Very Best of Nina Simone (2006)

Not doing anything too out of the ordinary for my first post here. I was inspired by my housemates' declarations that they have 'no idea who Nina Simone is' to post one of her albums. I've always had somewhat of a distaste for greatest hits albums, but sadly I'm not that familiar with her very large discography and was not able to find an album I like quite as much as the 2006 release “The Very Best of Nina Simone.” Rest assured, most of her studio albums are just as eclectic as this collection. Because I'm posting her greatest hits, I'm largely going to talk about her career in general.

Nina Simone was a classically trained pianist (she studied at Julliard), singer, songwriter, and civil rights activist. She had a very low voice for a woman and wins one over easily with a voice that conveys emotions and energy so well. She has easily become one of my favorite female singers of all time. Simone is most often labeled as a jazz or soul artist, but is more easily seen as a singer who dabbled in whatever she damn well felt like, often crossing into R&B, pop, gospel, or folk. Every once in a while you might hear a glimpse of baroque counterpoint work its way into her jazz piano playing, and it's oh-so awesome. She released a whopping thirty-eight albums, along with six greatest hit albums.

Simone is well known for her live performances. Part of this is due to the large number of different music styles she would juxtapose with one another, even sometimes performing classical piano pieces. She would incorporate acting, dancing, or her activism in her performances, seeming to move from one to another on a whim. Sometimes this would mean stopping a song midway if she felt that she had something to say. Sadly, most of the videos I've been able to find online are a little light on these sorts of antics, but you still easily get a feel for her stage presence and attitude. I did find an impressive clip where she instructs her band to continue playing the verse riff while she goes off improvising lyrics for a few moments.

An awful lot of the songs on this album, you will notice, are covers. Many of them are from Broadway musicals and one is even from an Opera, although you would never know it by hearing them. More recognizable covers would include songs by Jay Hawkins', Bob Dylan (“The Times They Are A-Changin'”), and the Beatles (“Here Comes The Sun”). She had a core collection of covers she would often play on stage, and her emotional performances make them very much her own.

Simone was known to struggle with bipolar disorder, which wasn't well understood in her younger years. She passed away in 2003.

Notable Tracks:

1) “Feeling Good” A song from the 1965 musical The Roar of the Greasepaint—the Smell of the Crowd. My favorite song on the album and also one of the most energetic. Like many of her recordings that I enjoy the most it is a slow crescendo to an explosive ending. The song ends as lyrics become lost in scat-singing before the last time she makes the uplifting declaration “I'm feelin' good.”

2) “Ain't Got No/I Got Life” A medley, arranged by Simone, of two songs from the musical Hair. It's hard not to look at the song as commentary on what it was like being a black woman born in the 1930s; Simone makes it seem that way, though I know nothing about the musical it came from. Nevertheless, the song is inspirational in its assertion of strength and hope despite oppression and hardship.

3) “I Put a Spell on You” Screamin' Jay Hawkins' famous song that has been covered a thousand times. If only the original Hawkins version and Simone's cover survived some disaster it would be fine with me. The song was part of her repertoire to such a degree that she named her autobiography after it. I not only urge everyone to listen to this version, but also the original if they've missed it all these years. The 1957 original might be the first popular song that can be called 'hard.' Very rock and roll.

4) “I Think It's Gonna Rain Today” I'm not 100% positive, but I'm pretty sure this was written by Randy Newman. It's another song featuring a slow crescendo throughout. I like this song for the grittiness of its climax, where Simone is unafraid to loudly hold a long overly-flat note.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=9QOTNIAL

(I didn't check the DL myself, since I just found it rather than uploading it myself. Hopefully it's correctly labeled.)