Nina Simone on CD thread...

Did a search, pretty thin.

Just got the 2CD Nina Simone Anthology, from 2003, which is supposedly the first career-spanning CD collection, covering all the myriad labels she was on. Mastered by Mark Wilder, it sounds very good.

To me, her sound is a sort of triangulation between jazz, soul and pop. Very effective. Way too accomplished for soul and pop, maybe not sophisticated enough for the jazz crowd.

Where does one go from here if one wanted to compile a personal "box set" of Simone albums on CD? Probably looking for other comps that cover individual periods of her sound and the record companies she was on at the time. She's recorded WAY too many individual albums to collect them in best-remastered form...

 

The Four Women box set is very nice,it covers the Philips years from the 60's.Also
Black Gold is a very nice concert album to have.But I believe is only available as
an import.There seems to be a lot of single disc compilations available it would be nice if
a more definitive box set was available.

 

Actually, you'd be surprised. Her releases have been pretty well organized on CD lately.

I suspect, from some of your other posts, that your musical taste is such that you may prefer her time at RCA, in the mid-to-late 1960's. This period is a little less jazz/Broadway oriented and much more political and experimental and for me it's the best phase of her career. There were nine albums from this period, which have been reissued by Camden UK on four packages:

Nina Simone & Piano + Silk & Soul (single CD)
Emergency Ward + Is It Finished + Black Gold (this is a 2xCD)
Sings The Blues + Nuff Said (single CD)
To Love Somebody + Here Comes The Sun (single CD)

I'd urge you to get all these. They're cheap (the single CDs are under £8 from Amazon UK.) Each album has a miss or two on it, but they all have tremendous moments as well. The live albums (the double CD) are particularly intense and wild. You can easily imagine the Pop Group grooving to them!

There is a double CD on RCA called "Sugar In My Bowl: The Very Best Of Nina Simone, 1967-1972" which anthologizes this period and throws in five or so previously unreleased tracks - including the mind-blowing "22nd Century," a cover of a song by Caribbean weirdo Exuma. Worth getting for that, but it's a bit redundant if you have the four Camden CDs. This double CD is nicely done, but veers a little too closely to Nina's slightly more conventional side.

If you have all that, you've got all the RCA material, barring four outtakes appearing on the US issue of "Nina Simone & Piano." If you forego the Camden CD with this album on it and buy the US version, you can then buy the Camden CD of "Silk & Soul" alone and have it all. That's right, Camden released all of Nina's albums on CD both as individual titles and as two-fers - for the same price. Don't ask me why.

Prior to Nina's time on RCA, she was on Philips. "Four Women: The Nina Simone Philips Recordings" is a 4xCD box set in very small packaging and it contains everything she did (seven albums and an odd song or two) for the label. I found a copy for $35, which is a pretty sweet deal.

Prior to THAT, she was on Colpix. Rhino has a nice 2xCD called "Nina Simone Anthology: The Colpix Years" with 40 tracks from this period. Conversely, you could track down the individual albums, all of which were issued either by Collectables (that's most of them) or Westside UK and some by both labels. These are generally two albums on one CD deals, but they're not paired the same way, so it's a pain in the butt, and at least one of the Westside titles has some bonus tracks, so there'd be some duplication there no matter how you slice it. That said, this is one period where you're probably best served by the 2xCD anthology and not the individual albums, which are kind of patchy.

Prior to THAT, she was on Bethlehem. These songs are licensed everywhere and it's a mess. Often, live tracks from much later periods are added as bonus tracks. My copy of this material is on the Crimson UK label and it's called "The Best Of Nina Simone: My Baby Just Cares For Me." This is the version to get (from what I remember figuring) as it contains all 14 Bethlehem tracks, an extended mix of "My Baby Just Cares For Me" and five live tracks.

I've gone backwards from RCA, but going forwards, she never recorded much after the RCA period. Two albums worth checking out are "Baltimore" on CTI, the live "Let It Be Me" on Verve and Elektra's "A Single Woman." (The last one is not quite as good as the preceding two as is recommended largely because it's easy to find, legitimate and nicely recorded.)

Most of what remains is nothing more than repackaging of the above. You can get a nearly complete Nina Simone collection for under $175. I'd start with the RCA individual albums, grab the "Four Women" box, the Colpix 2xCD, the Crimson comp of Bethlehem recordings and the Verve live album and "Baltimore." If you really need more, you'll figure it out from there.

 

Listen to her early work which was very sophisticated indeed. Her Bethlehem work was loved by the jazz crowd.

 

aswyth, you rule! Thanks. Looks like I'll be getting that Colpix Rhino set and the Sugar In My Bowl comp, I'll report back when I get them!

 

aswyth, thanks for the summary. I have the Four Women box and I recommend it highly. Looking forward to getting the rest of the early stuff you mentioned.

Jason

 

Baltimore is a MUST HAVE and one of my all-time favorite Simone releases. Not too bad on CD, either.

 

Incidentally, if you want a sealed copy of the Nina Simone Colpix 2CD anthology on Rhino, I am selling one for $20 including shipping. PM me if interested.

(Personally, this is my favorite Simone collection although the quality of the original masters is hit and miss...)

Kwad

 

Picked up the 2CD set: Sugar In My Bowl, which covers her career with RCA (67-72). There are two credits: "Digital Transfers: Mike Hartry", and "Digital Restoration: Bill Lacey". Sound quality is pretty good, if a bit crispy and bright, a bit louder than it needs to be, but not bad. There is tape hiss present, but it is suspiciously low in volume, I am wondering if part of "digital restoration" is subtle no-noising? Anyway, not quite as good-sounding as the 2CD Anthology from 2003, but still good enough and not objectionable to me. Great music though!

 

I also picked up the Four Women box set, mastered by Jeff Willens. Sounds way better than the original Philips CDs. No denoising too, thankfully. There's noise all over the live tracks.

How does this material compare to "Nina Simone and Piano!"? I'm thinking that's my next purchase. It was Simone's personal favorite.

 

I've picked up both the Four Women and the Sugar in My Bowl sets based on comments in this thread and am enjoying both of them.

markl: any interest in a Sarah Vaughan on CD thread?

 

I got the Colpix Years 2CD on Rhino from '96. This covers her early-mid-60's work for Columbia's record label. Fantastic music.

This is not mastered by Inglot, but by Chris Clarke and Bob Fisher. Sound quality is very good. Lots of tape hiss, so no-noise was not used. There are a bunch of glitches in the tapes used that are kind of jarring when they occur, where the sound kind of drops out for a milisecond, I can only assume no digital repair work was even attempted on the masters which may be good news to some here. It's a little too loud, a little sweetened up top, and a little hard and steely-sounding. It also does that weird thing I've noticed on a lot of Rhino CDs from around '95-'99 where the sound kind of takes these weird stabbing jumps that project forward and almost come directly at your eardrum. This happens on transients when there's a large leap in volume or emphasis, on this set it's really noticeable when Nina gets worked up vocally, it's a sort of projecting sound that happens in an instant, it leaps forward then falls back, it's weird, I don't know exactly how to describe it. I've never heard this effect on any other CDs, except those from Rhino. I had assumed it was an artefact of Inglot's mastering technique but now I wonder if that's not related to the equipment they were using at Rhino during this period, since Inglot did not do this set?

Anyway, overall, I'd rate the sound quality fairly high, it's clear as a bell. I've also ordered the Four Women box set of her Phillips years from mid to late 60's, that should arrive shortly, then I'll have all the Nina I need.

GregY, I know the name, but I don't know anything about her.

 

I much prefer the new "Four Women" set as opposed to the older transfers. The twofers sound kinda sterile and noisy to me. Her Philips stuff is noisy anyway, but the box set seems warmer and nicer all around.

 

Ok, Four Women, the Phillips box set is in which covers her mid-60's peak. This is by far the best-sounding set so far. Remastered by Jeff Willens, he did a GREAT job.

I'm so glad I "discovered" her, this is a true artist, with such presence and originality. She transcends all the genres she plays with and marks all her material with her own distinctive stamp. You are never in doubt of who you are listening to, even if she's covering standards.

I'm not a major jazz-head at all, and maybe that's why I respond to her music so much. It's simpler and more direct than a lot of jazz, more soulful and blues-y. It's easier to relate to, more accessible, but no less accomplished.

Anyway, I can't recommend this stuff more highly. It's in a class by itself. The kind of music you can appreciate over a lifetime. Well worth going on your own Nina journey. Check her out!

 

Quick follow-up. Got both versions of her '74 album Baltimore, the 1995 and the 2001 remaster. Both sound good, but I'd give the nod to the 2001 Mark Wilder remaster by a nose, they really sound quite different. Yes, it's louder and more "modern"-sounding, but it's cleaner and clearer as well, the '95 is more subdued, a little grainy, but a bit warmer. Very nice album, too, and yes, the title track is the Randy Newman tune. It also has a version of Hall & Oates Rich Girl. Sounds like odd material for her to cover, but it works somehow.

 

Funny to see this thread bumped today as I just got copies of Nina Simone & Piano and the To Love Somebody + Here Comes The Sun import. I enjoyed Sugar in My Bowl so much that I decided to pick up the albums and I've also been enjoying the Four Women box.

What a terrific talent she was!

 

I picked up a comp of the Bethlehem material a couple of weeks ago that's currently out on the Charly label. I haven't checked audio quality yet as I've only had a chance to listen to it in the car, but regarding the performances of songs here that she would later revisit in her Phillips period, I have to go with the Phillips recordings. The Bethlehem material is fine, but she is much more assured and seems very comfortable with the songs once she gets to Phillips. She seems to be able to tear into the songs more passionately. "Mood Indigo" and "Love Me Or Leave Me" are particularly good, and the live take of "I Loves You, Porgy" on the Phillips set absolutely trumps every other version she (or anyone else, for my money) ever did. I do like "My Baby Just Cares For Me" from the Bethlehem material, and I don't think she ever re-recorded that, so this set is good for that one song and "African Mailman," an instrumental that I like quite a lot.

I'll post again once I've had a chance to evaluate the sound of the disc.

Jason

 

I just picked up a hiterto-unknown-to-me album called "Fodder On My Wings," which was apparently only ever released in France, circa 1981, until now. It's astonishingly great, possibly her best ever, with 13 songs, including a version of "Alone Again Naturally" that (to me) totally redeems the song with a radical rearrangement, plus an assortment of jazz, soul, calypso and weirdness. It's at all the Border's and online - I highly recommend it, especially if you like her RCA period.