Customer Reviews

Best of

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
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This is a stunning collection with strong material giving her voice every opportunity to shine. My favourite tracks are In The Morning, Why (The King Of Love Is Dead), the heartbreaking gospel of Compensation and her compelling rendition of Cohen's Suzanne. (This last ought to have been on one of the two Leonard Cohen tribute albums). With one of the most ditinctive voices in popular music, Simone can't really go wrong, but the song selection here is so right and the songs so well interpreted, that I would recommend this album as a perfect starting point for those who want to investigate her work. A very uplifting listening experience.

In my quest to be more diverse in my musical selections, I purchased this CD last year after reading about and studying Ms. Nina Simone. I'm happy "I got to know her" before her passing earlier this month.

I love who see is and what she stood for even more than the music itself. The only disappointment w/this "Best Of" CD is that it does not have some of the songs that Nina is MOST known for including Mississippi Goddam.

That's ok though. This is just the first of other purchases I intend to make. From what I've read on the internet, Nina's history is very diverse yet strong. In addition to her music, I will also be purchasing some books about this Soulful Diva! (Probably the 1st REAL DIVA)

This Best of collection is just a good place to start but you do need some of the others to get the full essence of this amazing woman.

This was the first Simone CD I ever bought so perhaps this review is tainted with sentimentality. Nevertheless, I have to sing my praise for it. I adore her. Her voice is not only magnificent, bursting with soul, passion and raw emotion but she is angry, which I love in a woman. I encourage you to read about her and find transcripts of her interviews.

Anyway, back to the album. Firstly, her vesion of "Suzanne" is fantastic. Lord knows I love Cohen but, after I heard this, his version of his own song is a thing to pity. "Why?" her tribute to Martin Luther King is deeply touching and if "Go To Hell" doesn't get your toes atappin' there has to be something wrong with you. Her version, too, of "I Want A Little Sugar In My Bowl" is very sensual and lucious, a song to seduce by. No song on this a disappoinment. You should love it all.

I'm not a huge Nina Simone afficianado, and I think some of the cuts on this disk are almost throwaways (please don't hate me; I'm a philistine). But, that said, the best cuts are simply wonderful. Decide for yourself which they are for you. I'll just say that Simone's interpretation of Leonard Cohen's "Suzanne" might be the best cover of all time. Seriously.

This album had a few I had not heard but I am a novice Nina Simone fan. I adore "Children Go where I Send You" and "Forbidden Fruit" with their upbeat tempos and gospel swing. But the slow ones calm my pets as well as I; one is which a potbelly pig- which is why "Gimme A Pigfoot" is my favorite of the 3 songs "previously unreleased" . I didn't like "it dont mean a thing" because the background voices were too harsh but I could be an idiot.