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Nina Simone: Sings Billie Holiday / Gospel According to Nina Simone

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s


Label: Charly Records
Released: 1972 / 1973
Time:
 69:40
Category: Vocal, Soul, Jazz
Producer(s): Andy Stroud
Rating:
Media type: CD
Web address: www.ninasimone.com
Appears with:
Purchase date: 2012
Price in €: 1,00





 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


         Sings Billie Holiday (1972)

[1] Tell Me More & More Then Some (Holiday) - 5:02
[2] This Year's Kisses (Berlin) - 3:03
[3] Strange Fruit (Allen) - 3:28
[4] Fine & Mellow (Holiday) - 8:43
[5] Don't Explain (Herzog, Holiday) - 4:16
[6] Give Me A Pigfoot And A Bottle Of Beer (Wilson) - 2:12
[7] Just In Time (Comden) - 4:47
[8] Love Me Or Leave Me (Kahn, Donaldson) - 4:06


          Gospel According to Nina Simone (1973)

[9] Anytime, Anywhere - 3:05
[10] Sunday In Savannah - 2:20
[11] You Can't Hide - 3:00
[12] Nobody's Fault But Mine (Blind Willie Johnson) - 4:05
[13] To Be Young, Gifted & Black (Nina Simone / Weldon Irvine) - 3:25
[14] Brown Baby (Oscar Brown Jr.) - 4:50
[15] Sinnerman (Traditional) - 12:30

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


Nina Simone - Vocals, Piano, Arrangements

Bill McAllister - Liner Notes
Andy Stroud - Producer

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


Two original Nina Simone albums on one CD. Simone's tribute to the jazz great from 1972 including her versions of Fine And Mellow and Strange Fruit alongside her 1973 gospel-tinged album. 'Nina Simone Sings Billie Holiday' is Simone's 1972 homage to the legendary Jazz singer whose work provided such inspiration to her throughout her career. Made up of her own unique interpretations of eight of Holiday's best-known songs, it includes an eight-minute version of Fine And Mellow and the controversial and harrowing Strange Fruit. 'Gospel According To Nina Simone' was described by producer Andy Stroud in the original 1973 album's sleeve notes both as being, "The first Nina Simone Gospel album," and "A collection of religious songs of spiritual inspiration and hymns projecting racial pride and Black dignity." As well as including a remake her 1969 hit To Be Young Gifted And Black (which quickly became an anthem of the civil rights movement), the album features a twelve minute version of Sinnerman.



Ostensibly, Nina Simone's Sings Billie Holiday & the Gospel (put together by Charly Records) would be half Billie Holiday covers and half traditional religious songs; while that's mostly true, the compilation feels more like a cobbled-together effort that stretches to fit the restrictions, sometimes failing all together. Only a couple of the tracks are even moderately known Holiday pieces ("Strange Fruit," of course, along with "Fine and Mellow" and "Don't Explain"), the others made famous by another singer and then covered later on by Holiday. For instance, Simone was almost certainly thinking of Bessie Smith's version of "Gimme a Pigfoot (And a Bottle of Beer)," not Billie Holiday's, when she covered it, and though Holiday did indeed sing "Love Me or Leave Me" back in 1940, it was hardly a huge part of her repertoire; Simone, in fact, had far greater success with it. The gospel numbers fair a little better, and though the sound quality here is not particularly fantastic, songs like "You Can't Hide" and "Sinnerman" show off her voice and extraordinary phrasing well. The inclusion of "Young, Gifted and Black" and "Just in Time" - which are both songs Simone sang (the former, in particular, is quite well known, while the latter was made famous by Tony Bennett) but not gospel - is a little perplexing, however, and adds to the very budget-label feel of this collection.

Marisa Brown - All Music Guide
 

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 M P 3   S a m p l e s


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