Nina Simone - Nina Simone sings the Blues
Nina Simone - Nina Simone sings the Blues
Nina Simone - Nina Simone sings the Blues
Nina Simone - Nina Simone sings the Blues

Nina Simone - Nina Simone sings the Blues

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Nina Simone - piano, vocals [click here to see more vinyl featuring Nina Simone]

Rudy Stevenson, Eric Gale (g); Ernest Hayes (org); Bob Bushnell (b); Bernard Purdie (dr)

Written by Nina Simone (A1, A4, A6, B1, B5), Rudy Stevenson (A2), Lil Green (A3), DuBose Heyward (A5), George Gershwin (A5), Langston Hughes (A6), Andy Stroud (B2), Buddy Johnson (B3), Alan Price (B4), Abbey Lincoln (B5)

 

1LP, standard sleeve

Original  Master Tape :   Yes

Heavy Press : 180g

Record color : black

Speed : 33 RPM

Size : 12'’

Stereo

Studio

Record Press : Pallas

Label: Speakers Corner

Original label: RCA

Recording: December 19, 1966 by Ray Hall and Mickey Crofford at RCA Victor’s Studio, New York

Production: Danny Davis

Originally released March 20th 1967

Reissued in May 2003

 

Tracks :

Side A :

  1. Do I Move You?
  2. Day And Night
  3. In The Dark
  4. Real Real
  5. My Man's Gone Now
  6. Backlash Blues

Side B :

  1. I Want A Little Sugar In My Bowl
  2. Buck
  3. Since I Fell For You
  4. The House Of The Rising Sun
  5. 11. Blues For Mama

 

Reviews :

« Nina Simone Sings the Blues, issued in 1967, was her RCA label debut, and was a brave departure from the material she had been recording for Phillips. Indeed, her final album for that label, High Priestess of Soul, featured the singer, pianist, and songwriter fronting a virtual orchestra. Here, Simone is backed by a pair of guitarists (Eric Gale and Rudy Stevenson), bassist (Bob Bushnell), drummer (Bernard "Pretty" Purdie), organist (Ernie Hayes), and harmonica player who doubled on saxophone (Buddy Lucas). Simone handled the piano chores. The song selection is key here. Because for all intents and purposes this is perhaps the rawest record Simone ever cut. It opens with the sultry, nocturnal, slow-burning original "Do I Move You," which doesn't beg the question but demands an answer: "Do I move you?/Are you willin'?/Do I groove you?/Is it thrillin'?/Do I soothe you?/Tell the truth now?/Do I move you?/Are you loose now?/The answer better be yeah...It pleases me...." As the guitarists slip and slide around her husky vocal, a harmonica wails in the space between, and Simone's piano is the authority, hard and purposely slow. The other tune in that vein, "In the Dark," is equally tense and unnerving; the band sounds as if it's literally sitting around as she plays and sings. There are a number of Simone signature tunes on this set, including "I Want a Little Sugar in My Bowl," "Backlash Blues," and her singular, hallmark, definitive reading of "My Man's Gone Now" from Porgy and Bess. Other notable tracks are the raucous, sexual roadhouse blues of "Buck," written by Simone's then husband Andy Stroud, and the woolly gospel blues of "Real Real," with the Hammond B-3 soaring around her vocal. The cover of Buddy Johnson's "Since I Fell for You" literally drips with ache and want. Simone also reprised her earlier performance of "House of the Rising Sun" (released on a 1962 Colpix live platter called At the Village Gate). It has more authority in this setting as a barrelhouse blues; it's fast, loud, proud, and wailing with harmonica and B-3 leading the charge. The original set closes with the slow yet sassy "Blues for Mama," ending with the same sexy strut the album began with, giving it the feel of a Möbius strip. Nina Simone Sings the Blues is a hallmark recording that endures; it deserves to be called a classic. » AllMusic Review by Thom Jurek

In both her public and private life, Nina Simone was adamant about one thing, namely, what she simply would not tolerate. She sometimes complained about the miserable erotic prowess of her lovers, while at other times her audience were a target for her tongue. Sometimes she cancelled her performances at short notice and held a tirade against show business as such. In her music, rooted in gospel, she sought a path which took her down a middle course between jazz and pop, thus earning her the title of High Priestess Of Soul (as in the LP title) with her rock fans in the Sixties..

The present blues album was recorded during what was undisputedly her most productive phase. It is a recording which does not swim with the tide of the times in that it does not employ massive forces or seek the twang of electrification. Instead Nina Simone’s wonderfully sleek contralto voice bathes in the gentle timbre of an organ and a pithy, pulsating – but by no means stomping – rhythm. The cool, unemotional number “Sings The Blues“ guarantees riveting tension and the authenticity of the genre which is, of course, the be all and end all of music for every black artist. Surely no compilation, no matter how carefully conceived, could possibly mark the diva’s 70th birthday in February and sudden death in April 2003 better than this re-release.

 

Ratings

Allmusic :   5 / 5               Discogs :  4.40 / 5        Rate your Music : 3.93 / 5 

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