Customer Reviews

The Tomato Collection

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

There are lots of better Nina Simone albums out there. The Tomato Collection contains lesser heard songs, and a few gems like 'Just in Time,' 'Please Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood,' and 'Solitude,' but overall the 37 tracks lack focus and cohesion. The combination of high-quality recording with tracks of low-quality, and the variations of live and studio recordings give off a disjointed mood. Unless you're looking for specific songs, check out Anthology (easily the best Simone double disc collection), Sugar in My Bowl: The Very Best of Nina Simone, The Essential Nina Simone, Village Gate, or Verve Jazz Masters for better quality and continuity.

This is my first Nina Simone CD and I bought it because I believe it was the CD shown at the end of the movie Before Sunset. The song "Just in Time" (song 4, disk 2) is the one played at the end of the movie.

Since I wanted the "Just in Time" song, I think my only two purchase choices were to get this CD set or buy Nina At the Village Gate [Roulette] [LIVE]. The latter CD has 8 songs and is only a few dollars cheaper than this 2 CD set. I went for the bargain deal and am happy with the purchase.

Yes, many of the tracks seem to have been recorded by a bad tape machine in the basement of jazz club, but whether that is the case or not, I don't care. The whole CD is very chill and is a great one to play when wanting to calm down during the stressful evening commute or better yet, play it while you take your time preparing your dinner after the stressful commute.

There may be better Simone CDs out there, but for the song I wanted, this CD set was the right price. It also ended up being a nice addition to my CD collection.

A year ago I looked for the Tomato Collection cd's, and found it was out of print. People were selling it for $100 a pop. Thank goodness it's back in print.

This has some terrific recordings. It's not as good as "In Concert/I Put a Spell on You [LIVE]" but it has some terrific piano licks from Nina.