The Essential Collection

Nina Simone was one of the most talented women of the twentieth century. Even these three CDs (45 tracks) cannot cover all that is essential. So buy this - AND - 'The Very Best of Nina Simone'. The tracks here are a mixture of studio and live concert recordings. There is an amazing range to her versatility including, folk and protest, jazz and blues, opera and cabaret, pop and classics, spiritual and gospel and there is the command that she has over the piano including improvisation and the influence of Bach. She is stunningly real in an age that approved of the false and trivial. When she sang 'Don't Smoke in bed', it had real significance. There is a tremendous honesty, particularly when approaching issues around race and around feminism. On these performances there are great moments for string bass, electric bass, harmonica, saxophone, brass chorus, drums, strings, synthesiser and many others. To understand the world of the middle to late 20th century these are essential and fine documents and they also have continuing significance.

I just saw a documentary on Nina Simone on Netflix two weeks ago. And after listening to her wanted to find out more. So came on Amazon to see if I could purchase some of her CDs. I really have not regretted it. She is that good, phew! And the fact that my daughter has been learning to play piano for the past 2 years encouraged me more to discover what NINA SIMONE is about.Regarding the collection, I think I like best CD1 and CD3. It is not to say that CD2 is bad, it is just not that good like the others, that is all (the opinion is subjective). Other than that, I recommend buying this collection. If you want something to chill out, that is the one.

Most likely my fault I should have read in to that a lot of them are live recordings which may be nice for some people but the live versions are a bit too choppy for example the main song I was lookin forward to was I Want a Little Sugar in My Bowl the live version is nothing like the recording

A must have for any fan.

excellent

Just bad production and recordings. They do not do justice to this wonderful musician. It is cheap for a reason

AAA

Delighted