Dienstag, 21. November 2017

Nina Simone - Broadway Blues Ballads (1964)

There's a lot more Broadway and a lot more ballads than blues on this, which ranks as one of her weaker mid-'60s albums. Almost half the record features Broadway tunes on the order of Cole Porter and Rodgers & Hammerstein; most of the rest was composed by Bennie Benjamin, author of her first-rate "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood," which the Animals covered for a hit shortly afterwards (and which leads off this record).

The other Benjamin tunes are modified uptown soul with string arrangements and backup vocals in the vein of "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood," but aren't in the same league, although "How Can I?" is an engaging cha cha. Besides "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood," the album is most notable for the great "See-Line Woman," a percolating call-and-response number that ranks as one of her best tracks. The CD reissue includes the strange bonus cut "The Monster," an odd attempt at a soul novelty tune.


  1. "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" (Bennie Benjamin, Gloria Caldwell, Sol Marcus) - 2:48
  2. "Night Song" (Lee Adams, Charles Strouse) - 3:06
  3. "The Laziest Gal in Town" (Cole Porter) - 2:19
  4. "Something Wonderful" (Oscar Hammerstein II, Richard Rodgers) - 2:46
  5. "Don't Take All Night" (Bennie Benjamin, Sol Marcus) - 2:54
  6. "Nobody" (Alex Rogers, Bert Williams) - 4:18
  7. "I Am Blessed" (Bennie Benjamin, Sol Marcus) - 2:57
  8. "Of This I'm Sure" (Bennie Benjamin, Sol Marcus) - 2:37
  9. "See-Line Woman" ([traditional] American folk, George Bass, Nina Simone) - 2:38
  10. "Our Love (Will See Us Through)" (Bennie Benjamin, Sol Marcus) - 3:01
  11. "How Can I?" (Bennie Benjamin, Sol Marcus) - 2:05
  12. "The Last Rose of Summer" (Thomas Moore, Richard Alfred Milliken, Nina Simone) - 3:08
  13.  "A Monster" is added as a bonus track. (Bennie Benjamin, Sol Marcus) - 2:47
Nina Simone - Broadway Blues Ballads (1964)
(320 kbps, cover art included)

4 Kommentare:

lemonflag hat gesagt…

Thanks

zero hat gesagt…

You are welcome!

muddyw123 hat gesagt…

Strange stew indeed.

Feilimid O'Broin hat gesagt…

Many thanks for posting so much of Ms. Simone's work on this blog. Frankly, I enjoy even her lesser offerings. Like Paul Robeson, whose career was destroyed during the mad era of the McCarty and HUAC hearings, Simone's success was compromised in her own country by public reaction to her political activism and, to a lesser extent, her mental illness. We in the United States were and are fortunate that her voice was not silenced as effectively as Robeson's was.

You post so much great music by world artists whose lives were dedicated to enduring great struggle and sacrifice to work for change and fairness, equity, and economic justice in modern society. I don't know about other followers but I find such posts incredibly uplifting and inspirational during what is otherwise a bleak and unpredictable time in which western representative democracy is threatened by the excesses of unrestrained capitalism, obscene disparities in wealth and control of resources, irrational nationalism and intolerance, and reactionary clamoring for authoritarian rule. I hope it doesn't ring as overly dramatic when I write that, notwithstanding the present issues confronting us, I always feel that I am listening to and being inspired by the counsel and artistry of wise elders and gaining from both their missteps and successes. Many of them may be gone now but we still have their words, art, and voices thanks to what you do. Ich bin Ihnen sehr dankbar für die wunderbaren Geschenke!!!

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