NINA SIMONE Schallplatten & CDs

Review: 'Black Is the Color of My True Love's Hair' has origins as a black folk ballard that was associated with colonial workers across the United States. It has distinctive melodies and a mournful and melancholic feel and has been covered by man artists, but none quite as powerful as the late great Nina Simone. Taken from her Nine Simone at Town Hall album recorded in 1959, it became a staple of her sets which is what in part helped to increase the song's popularity throughout the late 20th century. Here it is presented as a mash up with 'A Hymn' for a beautifully moody new take.

Review: Nina Simone has rather been written out of popular music history because of quite how confrontational and proudly Black she was. She was just as far ahead of her times musically too and this legendary album Baltimore shows why. It arrived with no promotion and no lead singles and so it was an utter commercial failure, but the sleuths of the internet have rediscovered it over the 45 years since its release and helped to make it a cult favourite now regarded as one of the best in her oeuvre. It has distinctive reggae production and of course plenty of beautiful vocals from Simone as she tackles songs written by Judy Collins, Hall & Oates, and Randy Newman.

Review: Nina Simone has never enjoyed the credit she deserves because of quite how confrontational and anti-establishment she often was. Never was that more true than with her performances at Montreux Jazz Festival over the years. Many of them are collected here on this new new double album and many of them are rare and never-before-released recordings. She first played the historic event in 1968 and turned out an emotional show while her famous 1976 showing was much more fiery and unpredictable. Tracks like her fearless 'Four Women' and hauntingly beautiful performance of 'Ne Me Quitte Pas' are all included.

Review: South Street's latest missive gathers together a trio of club-friendly remixes of Nina Simone classics that first appeared on the 2006 compilation "Remixed & Reimagined". Francois K impresses with an A-side revision of Simone's celebrated cover of Beatles classic "Here Comes The Sun" that sounds like a long lost Larry Heard record from his classic Fingers Inc. period. Those after something a little more rolling and funk-fuelled should wrap their ears around Tony Humphries' Dub of "Turn Me On", which boasts a seductive mixture of Romanthony style hard loops and rumbling, UK garage influenced bass. Completing the package is Coldcut's fine re-imagining of "Save Me", which places Simone's heart-arching vocal atop skittish, club-ready drums and looped guitars.