This was Simone’s second album for RCA, following Nina Simone Sings the Blues, and was recorded in RCA Victor Studio B in New York. It includes great renditions of “The Look of Love” and “Cherish” neither of which I thought of as particularly Nina Simone material, along with a brilliant “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free” which is more what you’d expect from Simone.
I love the way people used to write liner notes:
It is incongruous to attempt to categorize her. She defies any of the limpid classifications we apply to purveyors of song. She is neither all jazz nor all pop; neither all soul nor all R& B. She is neither all folk nor all folk protest; neither poetess nor balladeer. She is simple Nina Simone, a voice in this wilderness of modernity and industrialized society which cries out to be heard.
del shields (sleeve notes)
My copy is the Vinyl Me, Please Classics reissue from March 2024, with listening notes by Ashawnta Jackson.
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