Sorting Through Nina Simone's Catalog
I bought
my first Nina Simone collection after mulling it over the past few months
scanning eBay selections. I figured I should start at the beginning and got a 2
CDS mono collection of her Colpix 45 releases from 1959 to 1964 for $13. It is
not her earlier commercial breakthrough, nor her lounge act covers and live RCA
sides, or even her more racially specific activist works later on. I may get to
them later.
I waited a long time to buy
my first Nina Simone album. There are so many of her albums on the market, and
so many supposedly greatest hits, it is hard to choose which albums are
essential. The first album I bought was “The Colpix Singles,” the years she
recorded with them from 1959 to 1963. The singles, sides A&B, are a good
indication of the direction her music was taking. Therefore, the 2 CD set is
essential to understand Nina Simone.
But then I had to decide where I should go
next; which album should I buy to understand this great artist? The second
collection I bought was a 3-CD “The Real…” her RCA years; 1967 to 1973. It's
when she was at her most commercial.
I considered buying a complete 5-CD set of her Phillips
recordings; seven albums she made for them from 1965 to 1967, but any artist
whose company releases seven albums in three years has put out more than they
should and probably more than she wanted to, so I bought a CD of her greatest
hits from her Philip years; 1965 to 67. Next, I went to her beginning, her
first hit. “I loves You Porgy”, from her 1959 Republic album “Little Girls
Sings the Blues” which also contains a song from a commercial used from her
first album, a song she got no royalties from; “I Can Only Love You.” Finally.
I bought her famous “Baltimore” album from 1979; her comeback album.
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