Only the Best of Nina Simone

• Artist: Nina Simone
• Rating:
• Release Date: November 27, 2007
• Type: Compilation (best of)
• Genre: Vocal Music

Review

In 2007, Collectables reissued ten classic Nina Simone albums, nine of which were originally released on the Colpix label. The Amazing Nina Simone and Nina Simone at Town Hall date from 1959; Nina Simone at Newport is from 1960, and Forbidden Fruit came out in 1961; Nina Sings Ellington and Nina Simone at the Village Gate (courtesy of Roulette Records) appeared in 1962. Nina's Choice and Nina Simone at Carnegie Hall are vintage 1963; Folksy Nina" is emblematic of 1964, and Nina with Strings, the latest of the albums reissued here, is dated 1966. This six-CD set covers more ground than both the Roulette and Rhino reissues of Simone's Colpix material, a body of work that documents her career between her early Bethlehem sessions and the universally acclaimed records she cut for Philips during the late '60s. ~ arwulf arwulf, All Music Guide

Tracks

CD 1

Track Title	Composers	Performers	Time
Just in Time [Live at the Village Gate]		Nina Simone	(6:36)
He Was Too Good to Me [Live at the Village Gate]		Nina Simone	(5:02)
House of the Rising Sun [Live at the Village Gate]		Nina Simone	(4:29)
Bye Bye Blackbird [Live at the Village Gate]		Nina Simone	(8:16)
Brown Baby [Live at the Village Gate]		Nina Simone	(5:48)
Zungo [Live at the Village Gate]		Nina Simone	(3:00)
If He Had Changed My Name [Live at the Village Gate]		Nina Simone	(3:59)
Children Go Where I Send You [Live at the Village Gate]		Nina Simone	(7:48)

CD 2

Track Title	Composers	Performers	Time
Blue Prelude		Nina Simone	(3:22)
Children Go Where I Send You		Nina Simone	(2:52)
Tomorrow (We Will Meet Once More)		Nina Simone	(3:02)
Stompin' at the Savoy (Lyrics)	Chick Webb, Benny Goodman & His Orchestra, Andy Razaf, Edgar Sampson	Nina Simone	(2:11)
It Might as Well Be Spring (Lyrics)	Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II	Nina Simone	(3:56)
You've Been Gone Too Long		Nina Simone	(2:13)
That's Him Over There (Lyrics)	Marilyn Keith	Nina Simone	(2:31)
Chilly Winds Don't Blow	Hecky Krasnow	Nina Simone	(2:43)
Theme from Middle of the Night		Nina Simone	(2:30)
Can't Get out of This Mood (Lyrics)		Nina Simone	(2:33)
Willow Weep for Me		Nina Simone	(3:14)
Solitaire (Lyrics)	Guion	Nina Simone	(3:28)
Black Is the Color of My True Loves Hair	Traditional	Nina Simone	(3:32)
Exactly Like You (Lyrics)	Jimmy McHugh, Dorothy Fields	Nina Simone	(3:14)
The Other Woman	Jessie Mae Robinson	Nina Simone	(3:01)
Under the Lowest		Nina Simone	(5:32)
I Don't Want Him (Anymore)		Nina Simone	(5:49)
Summertime [Instrumental]	DuBose Heyward, George Gershwin	Nina Simone	(2:54)
Summertime [Vocals]	George Gershwin, DuBose Heyward	Nina Simone	(2:43)
Cotton Eyed Joe	Traditional	Nina Simone	(2:53)
Return Home		Nina Simone	(5:28)
Wild Is the Wind (Lyrics)		Nina Simone	(3:29)
Fine and Mellow		Nina Simone	(3:31)

CD 3

Track Title	Composers	Performers	Time
Rags and Old Iron		Nina Simone	(4:08)
No Good Man (Lyrics)		Nina Simone	(3:39)
Gin House Blues (Lyrics)	Henry Troy, Fletcher Henderson	Nina Simone	(3:06)
I'll Look Around (Lyrics)	Douglass Cross	Nina Simone	(5:08)
I Love to Love		Nina Simone	(3:27)
Work Song (Lyrics)		Nina Simone	(2:36)
Where Can I Go Without You		Nina Simone	(2:51)
Just Say I Love Him	Martin Kalmanoff, Jack Val	Nina Simone	(6:39)
Memphis in June		Nina Simone	(2:39)
Forbidden Fruit		Nina Simone	(3:50)
Trouble in Mind (Lyrics)	Richard M. Jones	Nina Simone	(5:41)
Porgy		Nina Simone	(5:10)
Little Liza Jane	Traditional	Nina Simone	(4:31)
You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To (Lyrics)		Nina Simone	(5:24)
Flo Me La		Nina Simone	(7:12)
Nina's Blues		Nina Simone	(6:10)
In the Evening by the Moonlight	Traditional	Nina Simone	(6:09)

CD 4

Track Title	Composers	Performers	Time
Silver City Bound		Nina Simone	(5:10)
When I Was a Young Girl		Nina Simone	(5:42)
Erets Zavat Chalav	Eliahu Gamliel	Nina Simone	(4:25)
Lass of the Low Country		Nina Simone	(6:08)
The Young Knight	C. Kingsly	Nina Simone	(5:28)
Twelfth of Never	Paul Francis Webster, Jerry Livingston	Nina Simone	(3:27)
Vanetihu		Nina Simone	(2:22)
You Can Sing a Rainbow		Nina Simone	(3:05)
Hush Little Baby		Nina Simone	(4:08)
I Loves You Porgy		Nina Simone	(4:03)
Blackbird	Herbert E Sacker	Nina Simone	(2:04)
Falling in Love Again (Can't Help It)		Nina Simone	(2:35)
Baubles, Bangles and Beads		Nina Simone	(2:05)
Spring Is Here (Lyrics)	Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart	Nina Simone	(2:38)
That's All	Merle Travis, Bob Haymes	Nina Simone	(2:23)
Chain Gang (The Work Song)		Nina Simone	(2:42)
The Man with a Horn (Lyrics)		Nina Simone	(3:14)
Porgy, I Is Your Woman (Bess, You Is My Woman)		Nina Simone	(3:20)
Gimme a Pigfoot (And a Bottle of Beer)		Nina Simone	(2:04)

CD 5

Track Title	Composers	Performers	Time
Trouble in Mind (Lyrics)	Richard M. Jones	Nina Simone	(5:41)
Memphis in June		Nina Simone	(2:39)
Cotton Eyed Joe	Traditional	Nina Simone	(2:53)
Work Song (Lyrics)		Nina Simone	(2:36)
Forbidden Fruit		Nina Simone	(3:50)
Little Liza Jane	Traditional	Nina Simone	(4:32)
Rags and Old Iron		Nina Simone	(4:08)
You Can Have Him (Lyrics)		Nina Simone	(6:00)
Just Say I Love Him	Jack Val, Sam Ward, Martin Kalmanoff	Nina Simone	(6:37)

CD 6

Track Title	Composers	Performers	Time
Do Nothin' Till You Hear from Me (Lyrics)		Nina Simone	(2:50)
I Got It Bad (Lyrics)		Nina Simone	(4:06)
Hey, Buddy Bolden (Lyrics)		Nina Simone	(2:28)
Merry Mending		Nina Simone	(2:35)
Something to Live For (Lyrics)	Duke Ellington	Nina Simone	(2:55)
You Better Know It		Nina Simone	(2:24)
I Like the Sunrise		Nina Simone	(3:01)
Solitude (Lyrics)	Duke Ellington	Nina Simone	(3:45)
The Gal from Joe's		Nina Simone	(2:08)
Satin Doll		Nina Simone	(3:37)
It Don't Mean a Thing (Lyrics)	Duke Ellington	Nina Simone	(2:33)
Black Swan [From the Medium]		Nina Simone	(6:04)
Theme from Samson and Delilah		Nina Simone	(5:49)
If You Knew (Lyrics)		Nina Simone	(3:28)
Theme from Sayonara		Nina Simone	(3:17)
The Twelfth of Never	Paul Francis Webster, Jerry Livingston	Nina Simone	(3:27)
Will I Find My Love Today		Nina Simone	(6:44)
The Other Woman/Cotton Eyed Joe	Traditional	Nina Simone	(7:21)

Credits

Nina Simone (Arranger), Al Shackman (Guitar), Chris White (Bass), David Nathan (Liner Notes), Nina Simone (Adaptation), Jack Lewis (Producer), Bob Hamilton (Drums)