1.My Baby Just Cares for Me
2.I Loves You, Porgy
3.Love Me or Leave Me
4.He Needs Me
5.I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good)
6.Mood Indigo
7.Don't Smoke in Bed
8.Solitude
9.Do Nothin' Till You Hear from Me
10.Spring Is Here
11.Hey, Buddy Bolden
12.The Gal from Joe's
13.Something to Live For
14.I Like the Sunrise
15.You Better Know It
16.Little Girl Blue
17.Since My Love Is Gone
18.It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)
19.Black Is the Color of My True Love's Hair
20.Work Song
21.Angel of the Morning
22.My Baby Just Cares for Me

There are some excellent Nina Simone compilations and it is tempting to stick with one of them. Let's face it, they'll all have "My Baby..." and the other familiar tunes. That would be a mistake, if it meant ignoring her individual albums. particularly this one. It's got some gems (My Baby, Love Me Or Leave Me, He's Got The Whole World In His Hands etc.) and, really, there's not a weak track in sight. Piano and vocals are both highlighted and leave you just wondering at her talent. Give this one a go and you won't regret it - in fact, you might even buy some more of her stuff. ---Nr. Rodney J. Semple, amazon.com

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1. To Be Young, Gifted And Black 
2. Backlash Blues (Live)   
3. I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free  
4. Why? (The King Of Love Is Dead) (Live) 
5. Mississippi Goddam (Live)   
6. Revolution (Parts 1 & 2) 
7. Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is A Season)   
8. Ain't Got No/I Got Life  
9. Westwind (Live) 
10. The Times They Are A-Changin' 
11. To Be Young, Gifted And Black (Live)

Forever Young, Gifted & Black: Songs of Freedom and Spirit is a textbook case for preparing a compilation by a single artist, thematically. These 11 tracks were recorded between 1967 and 1969, at the split seam in cultural and political history, where the African-American civil rights movement ceded its popularity -- among young people -- to the more visceral and visual Black Power movement. As an artist, Nina Simone was a presence and participant in both. Her influence continues to be an anchor and an inspiration to songwriters and singers from Alicia Keys (who wrote a short liner essay here) to Tracy Chapman, Robinella, Me'Shell NdegéOcello, and Lauryn Hill, to name a few. The compilation contains a smattering of her many songs that deal with struggle, equality, and perseverance. It opens with "To Be Young, Gifted and Black," issued as a single in 1969 (the CD is bookended by this version and a live one at the end). The song itself is timeless; it rings with assertiveness and conviction nearly four decades later. But this is merely the beginning. There are three unedited performances here, all of which were originally cut and reshaped by producers for various recordings. The first of these, "Why (The King of Love Is Dead)," was written by her bassist, Gene Taylor, after hearing that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. The previously issued version was part of the "Martin Luther King Suite." Here, it contains full spoken and sung sections and is nearly 13 minutes long. To call it stunning and revelatory would be an understatement. Ditto the full version of "Mississippi Goddam," which was also part of the aforementioned suite. This is the first time either of these recordings have appeared on CD in full unedited versions. Likewise, "Revolution (Pts. 1-2)" is restored as one tune instead of two as it appeared on To Love Somebody in 1969. A couple of unreleased alternates are fine touches and offer different shadings, colors, and interpretive gestures to their album-issued counterparts: Simone's wonderful read of "Turn! Turn! Turn!," stripped to her voice, piano, and a pair of backing vocalists; and "Ain't Got No/I Got Life," cut for 'Nuff Said!, which contains a horn section. Other tracks here, such as Simone's reading of Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are A-Changin'" and "I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free," are strident, forceful, soulful, and deeply moving. Fans will want this comp for the unreleased material and for its thematic slant. Those seeking out Simone for the first time may look to other sources, but this is a side of the artist that was present in everything she ever recorded, and deserves the focus it receives here. In these dark times in the early 21st century, these are songs of hope delivered by a true American original. ---Thom Jurek, AllMusic Review

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01) Mood Indigo
02) Don't Smoke In Bed 
03) He Needs Me
04) Little Girl Blue
05) Love Me Or Leave Me
06) My Baby Just Cares For Me
07) Good Bait
08) Plain Gold Ring
09) You'll Never Walk Alone
10) I Loves You Porgy
11) Central Park Blues
12) He's Got The Whole World In His Hands
13) For All We Know
14) African Mailman
15) My Baby Just Cares For Me [extended version]

Bass – Jimmy Bond
Drums – Albert Heath
Piano, Vocals – Nina Simone 

Nina Simone's first official album, 1958's Jazz as Played in an Exclusive Side Street Club, is pure perfection, an amazing accomplishment for a 24-year-old pianist arranging and singing studio renditions of songs from her live set. Captured here are moments of intrigue, as Simone magically takes the listener through musical caverns that want to be explored again with repeated spins. The rendition of "Plain Gold Ring" is exotic and draws the listener back, just as the Richard Rodgers/Lorenz Hart classic "Little Girl Blue" (the alternate title of the album stamped on the label of the vinyl as well as on the back cover) is a gorgeous work of art, Simone adding the melody from the traditional "Good King Wenceslas" to the standard Janis Joplin would bring to rock audiences a decade later. The cover photograph of the artist on a park bench in Central Park is a play on her only songwriting contribution, "Central Park Blues," which concludes the LP. In her autobiography, Simone gives insight into the recording of this masterpiece, an album that sets different tones with each melodic adventure. The uptempo blues of "Mood Indigo" drops quietly into "Don't Smoke in Bed" and the even deeper blues of "He Needs Me." One can hear Billie Holiday's influence pushing Simone on her own musical path. While Roger Williams was tearing up the popular charts with his middle-of-the-road magic, Simone elegantly plays her jazz with adult contemporary leanings, cracking the Top 20 herself with "I Loves You, Porgy" in 1959. Jazz as Played in an Exclusive Side Street Club (aka Little Girl Blue) is a superb fusion of jazz, blues, and pop that reveals something new each time it is played. ---Joe Viglione, AllMusic Review

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1.: My Baby Just Cares For Me 
2.: Sugar In My Bowl  
3.: Fodder On My Wings  
4.: Be My Husband  
5.: Just Like A Woman  
6.: Balm In Gilead  
7.: Stars  
8.: If You Pray Right (Heaven Belongs To You)
9.: If You Knew  
10.: Let It Be Me  

Drums – Cornell McFadden
Guitar, Bass [Electric] – Arthur Adams
Vocals, Piano – Nina Simone

The twists and turns of Nicole Scherzinger's solo career are proof that, in pop, nothing is predictable. What should have been a seamless transition from her status as lead Pussycat Doll seemed to have foundered before it had even set sail, amidst the wreckage of public indifference and an entirely aborted album. Yet four years later, there she is, sitting pretty at the top of the charts – thanks mostly to, of all things, her role as guest judge on The X Factor reviving interest in her.

The truth is, though, that Scherzinger has always been a sorely underrated artist; her initial failure was due more to having jumped ship too early from a band whose aesthetic was divisively trashy in the first place than because of her own limitations. Technically, she's faultless – but she's also one of the most convincing singers in pop in terms of conveying a song's essence. Throughout her career, her performances have been characterised by an ability to be permanently and ferociously turned up to 11 at all times.

It's these qualities that save Killer Love, an album that – unsurprisingly, given its tortuous gestation – plays it relatively safe sonically, with the overdriven electro pound of RedOne's production dominating proceedings. Imaginative he is not, but it works: along with Lady Gaga, Scherzinger is one of the few pop performers with the requisite power to dominate his beats rather than vice versa. She revels in the challenge: you can virtually hear her rev herself up to match the relentless dancefloor force of the title-track and the magnificently shameless Club Banger Nation.

The Scherzinger persona, too, is finding its feet. She's less girl-next-door and more Jackie Collins anti-heroine: impressive rather than lovable, and with a cold glint in her voice that enables her to play the bad girl with relish on Poison. But she's also sympathetic enough to carry off a succession of dramatic ballads: Everybody and AmenJena find the wind machines turned up to the max and Scherzinger buffeted this way and that amidst the storms of her emotions.

Killer Love is far from the album you sense Scherzinger could still deliver: at times, her personality is all that – barely – carries substandard, unmemorable songs. A duet with Sting is a particularly grim nadir – for its producers, too, the otherwise unimpeachable Tricky Stewart and The-Dream. Her finest moments remain the tense, taut crunk of Whatever U Like and the irresistibly kittenish Supervillain, two tracks recorded for her long-scrapped initial attempt at a solo album. But there's enough quality here to pass muster – and Scherzinger finally taking her belated place in the charts up is a thoroughly welcome development. ---Alex Macpherson, BBC Review

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01.	God God God
02.	If You Knew
03.	Mr Smith
04.	Fodder In Her Wings
05.	Be My Husband
06.	I Love You, Porgy
07.	The Other Woman
08.	Mississippi Goddam
09.	Moon Over Alabama
10.	For A While

Nina Simone - Composer, Piano, Vocals
Paul Robinson - Drums  

A typical Nina Simone live performance from the mid-1980s. But what is typical for the singer/pianist/social commentator would be extraordinary for most other performers. Before an adoring audience, Simone (who is accompanied by drummer Paul Robinson) performs such numbers as "Be My Husband," "I Loves You Porgy," "The Other Woman," "Mississippi Goddam" and (as her encore) "My Baby Just Cares for Me." Even with songs she has performed countless times before, these renditions sound quite fresh and relevant. Nina Simone, because she is a unique performer, is an acquired taste; her fans will definitely want this set. ---Scott Yanow, AllMusic Review

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1 	Trouble In Mind 	
2 	Blues For Porgy 	
3 	Little Liza Jane 	
4 	You'D Be So Nice To Come Home To 	
5 	Flo Me La 	
6 	Nina's Blues 	
7 	In The Evening By The Moonlight
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8	Work Song
9	Will I Find a Resting Place
10	You’ll Never Walk Alone

Piano, Vocals - Nina Simone
Bass – Chris White (3)
Drums – Bobby Hamilton
Guitar – Al Schackman 

Nina Simone had one of those starkly distinct voices that commanded the listener's attention. Few others have possessed that quality. Of course anyone who has ever heard recordings of Simone live, knows that she possesses a different aire and magic when she performs live. Imagine combining Simone's live prowess with the unmistakable magic of Newport. What an irresistible concoction! Presented here are stunning takes of "Porgy and "You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To. A must have. ---allaboutjazz.com

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