Thursday 31 July 2014

Nina Simone - Pastel Blues

Wonderful Wail

Listening to this 1964 album just now I realise how little I know of her genius, one aspect of that even in the production of these tracks at this time - sounding very 'modern' in their instrumentations and rhythms [over-simplifying, I know]. It is the vocal that truly amazes [ditto] in its strength and those reverberations at times. Most on this album is piano-led blues, and her rendition of Strange Fruit is as blue as it gets, but two tracks that stand out even above this excellence are the ten minute wonderful rant Sinnerman, and the hypnotic chant Be My Husband - the way her voice keeps breaking into those falsetto wails.


2 comments:

  1. Great to see a Nina Simone review, Some Awe! I love her. I don't have this album so will endeavour to find it. Cheers.

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