Nina Simone – The Soul Of Nina Simone (DualDisc) +

Nina Simone Sings The Blues (CD)

 

Picture: C+     Sound: B     Extras: D     DVD-Video content: B+

CD Sound: B     Music: B+

 

 

Nina Simone is one of the great artists who should not be forgotten, but because of her politics, is being ignored more than she should be.  As a singer and musician, she defines multi-talented in a way that annihilates most people in the music business you could apply that to today.  Not only was she a brilliant pianist, she moved from genres like Rock, Jazz, Showtunes, R&B, political music, Blues and Standards with an ease few could even dream of.  Having started cutting records at the likes of Bethlehem and Colpix, she eventually moved over to RCA and the Sony/BMG Legacy arm have issued two tremendous collections that are among the best the Legacy se4ries has seen to date.

 

Nina Simone Sings The Blues is an exceptional CD collection that shows her power and range with the following songs:

 

1)     Do I Move You?

2)     Day & Night

3)     In The Dark

4)     Real Real

5)     My Man’s Gone Now

6)     Backlash Blues

7)     I Want A Little Sugar In My Bowl

8)     Buck

9)     Since I Fell For You

10)  The House Of the Rising Sun

11)  Blues For Mama

12)  Do I Move You? (Second version)

13)  Whatever I Am (You Made Me)

 

 

As is the case with all artists of music genius, Miss Simone makes her own any song she covers and often adds nuance and power many would not expect from certain compositions.  It is even more interesting when she runs with one that is already established as great, as she does with The Animals’ classic The House Of the Rising Sun.  It is a solid CD and all you will want is more, which is exactly what the DualDisc The Soul Of Nina Simone delivers.

 

The audio side is terrific enough, offering the following:

 

1)     Feeling Good

2)     In The Dark

3)     Since I Fell For You

4)     Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood

5)     To Love Somebody

6)     My Man’s Gone Now

7)     I Think It’s Going To Rain Today

8)     My Baby Just Cares For Me

9)     I Want A Little Sugar In My Bowl

10)  Save Me

11)  The Look Of Love

12)  I Get Along Without You Very Well (Except Sometimes)

13)  Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues

14)  Nobody’s Fault But Mine

15)  Porgy & Bess Medley

 

Even a little more than the Blues CD, the Soul collection’s audio side is a stunner.  They are powerful, often brilliant works that have remained too unheard and untouched for our own good.  The flipside of the DualDisc is DVD-Video, though the sound quality of the studio recordings is so good, that I bet a DVD-Audio or SACD version would yield remarkable results.

 

What is great about the video side is that is shows the evolution, effects, affects and reactions to the 1960s by Simone from and to events that transpired.  The video footage is as follows, the first two from The Ed Sullivan Show in 1960, next two from The Bitter End Café in 1968 and final four from The Harlem Festival in 1969:

 

1)     Love Me Or Leave Me

2)     I Loves You Porgy

3)     House Of the Rising Sun

4)     (You’ll) Go To Hell

5)     Revolution

6)     Four Women

7)     Ain’t Got No – I Got Life

8)     To Be Young, Gifted & Black

 

 

The 1960 footage has her as a master of safer music at a time African Americans were still invisible on television.  By 1968, with The Civil Rights Movement clashing with the establishment, hate, Vietnam and other outrageous events, her songs focus on mortality and the more serious tone of the time.  The latter half of the songs at what is the largest concert of the three are absolutely, gloriously Afro-Centric in dealing with the moment, the pain, the loss and the battles won and lost.  The one common denominator in all these performance is living and identity, which Simone manages to bring into the song by her superior voice and its incredible phrasing.  It is time for a Nina Simone revival!

 

The 1.33 X 1 image on the DVD-Video side of the DualDisc is as good as analog NTSC video is going to get.  One of the best such sides in this format to date, from the black and white analog NTSC footage from The Ed Sullivan Show in 1960 (as vivid as it can get like the current DVDs of The Judy Garland Show reviewed elsewhere on this site) to color NTSC from the Bitter End Café in 1968 and The Harlem Festival in 1969.  The sound is PCM 16bit 2.0 Stereo in all cases, but the CD sides are at 44.1 kHz, while the Dual Disc is at 48 kHz.  Though it should not be so different, the DualDisc sounds much better, fuller, richer and wider.  There are no extras, but both titles are winners and it has never been a better time to rediscover the work of such an amazing artist.

 

For more Nina, try this link:

 

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/4492/Nina+Simone+%E2%80%93+Live

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo