Anthology

Nina: The Essential Nina Simone 18 of the finest by the original African power diva, all at a fantastic low price! Featuring a varied repertoire that includes both classic songs and well-known hits, this collection is ideal introduction to anyone that's ever been curious about Simone, as well as an ear-opener ...	The Very Best Of Nina Simone, 1967-1972 : Sugar In My Bowl With characteristic willfulness, Nina Simone plunged into a range of songbooks and styles between 1966 and 1973, when she recorded nine LPs for RCA. This two-disc overview demonstrates just how unpredictable and headstrong the seething songstress was during a period that was tumu...	The Blues	Feeling Good: The Very Best of Nina Simone Fantastic collection from Universal featuring 20 of her most memorable tunes. Highlights include, 'I Put A Spell On You', 'See Line Woman', 'My Baby Just Cares For Me', 'Feeling Good', 'I Love You Porgy' and many more. Polygram International/Universal. 1994.	Back to Black Amy Winehouse's second album, Back to Black, is one of the finest soul albums, British or otherwise, to come out for years. Frank, her first album, was a sparse and stripped-down affair; Back to Black, meanwhile, is neither of these things. This time around, she's taken her inspi...
Nina Simone's Finest Hour Nina Simone communicates with a unique force on this Finest Hour collection, a welling, riveting power that's beyond the range of other singers. It's there whether the song is romantic or political, whimsical or sentimental, and these recordings from the 1960s demonstrate the ran...	Nina Simone at the Village Gate Nina Simone recorded for Columbia Pictures adjunct Colpix records from 1959 through 1964, cutting 10 records for the imprint. Five of her Colpix records were concert recordings, a setting that suits her idiosyncrasies while protecting her from overproduction, and one she's return...	Remixed & Reimagined 2007 collection of new remixes and reworkings of classic tracks from the often-sampled Jazz vocalist. 13 tracks including 'I Can't See Nobody' (Daniel Y. Remix), 'Funkier Than a Mosquito's Tweeter' (Jazzeem's All Styles Remix), 'Westwind' (Organica Remix) and more. Sony/BMG.	Nina Simone Sings the Blues	Lady Day: The Best of Billie Holiday Lady Day: The Best Of Billie Holiday is an ideal introduction to the Voice of Jazz in all its enduring glory. This incomparable collection draws on the 10-CD boxed set Lady Day: The Complete Billie Holiday on Columbia (1933-1944) (CXK 85470), representing not only her finest work...

Nina Simone is truly a gem
What more can be said of Nina Simone? She is truly a one of a kind performer. Her voice, her style, her passion is unique in all her songs. If this is the first CD you get, you will not be disappointed.

A brilliant musician who can do anything--and does on this CD!
The fact that Nina Simone is not a household name, like Sarah Vaughan, is inconceivable. She's a brilliant musician--terrific singer, Juilliard-trained classical pianist who accompanies herself no matter what the genre is, and composer, arranger, and consummate actress with a song. On this anthology of thirty-one of her best songs, she is at her peak, doing it all with panache and all but hanging her soul out to dry. In "I Loves You, Porgy," one of the many favorites on this CD, Simone performs the definitive version of this song, keeping it simple with a simple piano, often singing almost a capella, and often in a whisper, creating an honest and very dramatic mood. "Black is the Color of My True Love's Hair," a folk tune, becomes a drama here with Simone totally controlling both the voice and accompaniment. "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood," a passionate original song, is especially poignant and soulful, since we now know she was bipolar (and to some extent self-destructive) for her entire career, singing here about how her intentions are good though she often takes things out on others. Bessie Smith's "Nobody Knows You When You Are Down and Out," related in message, takes on new life in Simone's hands. "I Want a Little Sugar in my Bowl," is an impassioned and unabashedly sexual plea for love. A number of songs here are from the beginning of the civil rights protest movement in the early sixties, a time of great danger for activist performers. Her own song "Mississippi Goddam," which also references Tennessee and Alabama, is one of the first such songs, with "Four Women" (a song study of women of varying complexions) and their lives depicted vibrantly. "I Wish I Knew How It Felt to be Free," is sung like a revival hymn while "Revolution," is a rousing, hand-clapping inspirational tune. Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit," sung sensitively, contains greater anger than Billie's powerful, almost naïve, version. Her vocal tribute to Rev. Martin Luther King, "Why (The King of Love is Dead)," a quiet tribute to the man, asks the question "Will the murders never cease?" For me the highlight of the CD is "Sinnerman," ten minutes of powerful, rock `em - sock `em, hand-clapping, folk revival music, a version you must hear to believe (and which you will never forget)! (It is song #14 of Disc One for an Amazon sample.) Though the CD also features torch songs, blues, soul, gospel, and pop, Simone is primarily a jazz singer extraordinaire, one of the most passionate of the era--but one who can do everything else, too. A CD that shows Simone in all her brilliant moods and at the peak of her powers. n Mary Whipple Nina Simone at the Village Gate Nina Simone - Live at Montreux 1976--DVD The Very Best Of Nina Simone, 1967-1972 : Sugar In My Bowl I Put A Spell On You: The Autobiography Of Nina Simone Nina: The Essential Nina Simone

A truly great album!
Feel too humbled by her music to write a review. Nina's great, she's brilliant, and her songs are mesmerizing. I'm just a fan of hers now, someone who's filled with amazement at her sheer talent and courage. The only tinge of regret is that she lived in a time when such a vast amount of her energies seemed to have been spent in challenging the obvious wrongs of society at that time. Would her music have been even more beautiful - and more harmonious - if she had lived in our time, or did she derive greater inspiration from the challenges that she faced during hers?

Really disappointed
This woman had an incredible voice that could melt people across time. Sadly, the versions on the selections here are TERRIBLE. If you like Nina, look elsewhere. There are also major gaps in the selections; "Angel of the Morning" isn't included, but a miserable version of "Everyone's Gone to the Moon" is? I may return it because of the version of "Trouble in Mind" alone. Great singer, lousy selections.

She is divine
Nina Simone has one of the most beautiful, inspiring voices in recorded history. There are greats, and she is right there with them. Whether from the heart with the stage musicals, or her soul rending "The Other Woman", she makes one wish to become a singer just to express feelings with such an honestly pure emotion.