Nina: The Essential Nina Simone (2000)

About this title: While there's some good music on this 73-minute CD, it's a patchy quilt of songs from the 1950s to the 1980s, reaching as far back as late-'50s sessions from early in her career, and stretching through several subsequent decades, including two songs from a 1985 album and seven songs from her In Concert album thrown in along the way. That's not, incidentally, her 1964 Philips In Concert album, but an identically titled release that's obviously from much later, since there are references to Michael Jackson and Ronald Reagan inserted into one of the songs. Other than those pair of 1985 tracks, ... read more

Tracks:

1. My Baby Just Cares for Me [Kahn/Donaldson]
2. Mood Indigo [Mills/Ellington/Big]
3. He's Got the Whole World in His Hands [Traditional]
4. Don't Smoke in Bed [Robison]
5. Love Me or Leave Me [Kahn/Donaldson]
6. He Needs Me [Hamilton]
7. Little Girl Blue [Rodgers/Hart]
8. Plain Gold Ring [Stone]
9. House of the Rising Sun [Live] [Traditional]
10. Ain't Got No (I Got Life) [Live] [MacDermot/Rado/Ragn]
11. Gin House Blues [Live] [Henderson/Troy]
12. Ain't No Use [Live] [Kirkland/Wyche]
13. Mississippi Goddam [Live] [Simone]
14. See Line Woman [Live] [Bass/Simone]
15. Four Women [Live] [Simone/Waymon]
16. I Sing Just to Know That I'm Alive [Simone]
17. Fodder on Her Wings [Simone]
18. I Loves You, Porgy [Gershwin/Gershwin]

Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is further described below.