Anthology: The Colpix Years

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com essential recording
This two-CD set collects tracks issued between 1959 and 1966. Although Nina Simone was to achieve greater public recognition after leaving Colpix Records, her recordings for the small label set the tone for her later work. Anthology finds the singer-pianist tackling everything from ancient folk tunes ("Black Is the Color of My True Love's Hair" and even a slow-drag version of "Cotton Eyed Joe") to jazz and pop standards ("Fine and Mellow," "The Twelfth of Never"), and the occasional original. Similarly, the backing ranges from full orchestral arrangements to trio and quartet work. While the best known of Simone's music was to come after her tenure at Colpix, these discs well reflect her broad-minded, sensitive aesthetic. --Rickey Wright

Tracks:

Blue Prelude
That's Him Over There
Theme From 'Middle Of The Night'
Willow Weep For Me
Solitaire
Black Is The Color Of My True Love's Hair
Exactly Like You
The Other Woman
You Can Have Him
Cotton Eyed Joe
Fine And Mellow
Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out
Trouble In Mind
Porgy
Little Liza Jane
Rags And Old Iron
No Good Man
Gin House Blues
Work Song
Forbidden Fruit
Come On Back, Jack

Tracks:

He Was Too Good To Me
House Of The Rising Sun
Brown Baby
Children Go Where I Send You
Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me
I Got It Bad
Hey, Buddy Bolden
Solitude
The Gal From Joe's
Blackbird
If You Knew
The Twelfth Of Never
When I Was A Young Girl
Erets Zavat Chalav
The Young Knight
Spring Is Here
Falling In Love Again (Can't Help It)
That's All
Porgy, I Is Your Woman (Bess, You Is My Woman)

Amazon.com essential recording

This two-CD set collects tracks issued between 1959 and 1966. Although Nina Simone was to achieve greater public recognition after leaving Colpix Records, her recordings for the small label set the tone for her later work. Anthology finds the singer-pianist tackling everything from ancient folk tunes ("Black Is the Color of My True Love's Hair" and even a slow-drag version of "Cotton Eyed Joe") to jazz and pop standards ("Fine and Mellow," "The Twelfth of Never"), and the occasional original. Similarly, the backing ranges from full orchestral arrangements to trio and quartet work. While the best known of Simone's music was to come after her tenure at Colpix, these discs well reflect her broad-minded, sensitive aesthetic. --Rickey Wright

Customer Reviews:

A bargain at any price........2006-03-31

Nina Simone's recorded musical legacy is a stunning one from beginning to end, regardless of record label. Her Colpix albums certainly don't pack quite the political punch that her later albums do, but all the emotion that would reach a boiling point in the late 60s can be found here, if at a gentle simmer. This compilation does a wonderful job of distilling the best of early Nina... I won't ramble on with details about each track (or even narrow things down to a list of highlights) because every track is amazing. If you're already a fan, this anthology might be redundant in what I'm sure is an already near-complete collection. If you are new to the club, this and Jazz Masters 17 (from post-Colpix years) are excellent starting points. This may sound a little hyperbolic, but if Amazon were charging three or four times the price for this, it'd still be a hell of a bargain. You don't have to buy this collection, but PLEASE buy SOMETHING by this amazing and sorely missed talent. She will become your best friend.

Utterly terrific!.......1999-12-13

I have to admit that I'm a bit young to really remember Nina from her prime. In my hazy recollection, she was something of a supper club singer. The only reason I purchased this, truth be told, was that I found it for an incredibly low price, and I figured that since it was on Rhino, it would at least have good sound and insightful liner notes.

Boy, talk about getting MORE than you bargained for! It isn't just Nina's sultry, smokey voice, it isn't just the often unbelievable phrasing and perfomances that really get at the essence of the material. No, it's all that plus the fact that within the span of these two discs Nina tackles everything from broadway to folk to jazz and manages to excel at all of it.

When you listen to this you shake your head and wonder why Nina has more-or-less faded from public view. Without a doubt, solely on the basis of this material (and there is other material, from the later '60's on other labels to back this up), Nina is one of THE female vocalists of the recorded era. Her general invisibility today is criminal.

Buy this and make your year.

dap

LOVE HER.......1999-06-25

Ah smooth, sweet Nina - a low sensuous flame - her voice will pick you up like a baby, carry you to bed, tuck you in and stroke your head as you fall asleep. Soooo many gorgeous songs, but for me the killer - the KILLER - is the most heart shreading ode to loving in vain, "If You Knew" on disc 2. Unparalleled in it's ability to destroy you and cover you with kisses as the same time,..those high, swooping background vocals-good lord! Have a few glasses of wine, dim the lights, dredge up those memories of the one that got away and have a good drunken cry curled up in Nina's soft lap of sound.