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┌────────┐ ██▀▀
────┤ Info ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
└────────┘
Artist | Nina Simone
Title | Forever Young, Gifted & Black: Songs Of Freedom And Spirit
Genre | Soul Format | Album
Source | CD Time | 64:01
Label | RCA Store | 2006
Catalog | 82876 74413 2 Rip | 2021
Bitrate | 766 kbps Size | 362.70 MB
Freq | 44.1 kHz Encoder | FLAC 1.3.1
┌────────┐
────┤ Tracks ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
└────────┘
01. To Be Young, Gifted & Black 2:50
02. Backlash Blues (Live) 3:34
03. I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free 3:09
04. Why (The King Of Love Is Dead) (Live) 12:56
05. Mississippi Goddam (Live) 6:55
06. Revolution (Parts 1 and 2) 4:35
07. Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is A Season) 2:25
(Previously Unreleased Alternate Version)
08. Ain't Got No I Got Life (Previously Unreleased Alternate 3:16
Version)
09. Westwind (Live) 8:48
10. The Times They Are A-Changin' 5:57
11. To Be Young, Gifted & Black (Live) 9:36
┌────────┐
────┤ Notes ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
└────────┘
Nina Simone was one of the most gifted vocalists of her generation,
and also one of the most eclectic. Simone was a singer, pianist, and
songwriter who bent genres to her will rather than allowing herself
to be confined by their boundaries; her work swung back and forth
between jazz, blues, soul, classical, R&B, pop, gospel, and world
music, with passion, emotional honesty, and a strong grasp of
technique as the constants of her musical career.
"Forever Young, Gifted & Black: Songs Of Freedom And Spirit" is a
textbook case for preparing a compilation by a single artist,
thematically. These 11 tracks were recorded between 1967 and 1969,
at the split seam in cultural and political history, where the
African-American civil rights movement ceded its popularity - among
young people - to the more visceral and visual Black Power movement.
As an artist, Simone was a presence and participant in both. Her
influence continues to be an anchor and an inspiration to
songwriters and singers from Alicia Keys (who wrote a short liner
essay here) to Tracy Chapman, Robinella, Me'Shell NdegΘOcello, and
Lauryn Hill, to name a few.
The compilation contains a smattering of her many songs that deal
with struggle, equality, and perseverance. It opens with "To Be
Young, Gifted and Black," issued as a single in 1969 (the CD is
bookended by this version and a live one at the end). The song
itself is timeless; it rings with assertiveness and conviction
nearly four decades later. But this is merely the beginning. There
are three unedited performances here, all of which were originally
cut and reshaped by producers for various recordings.
The first of these, "Why (The King of Love Is Dead)," was written by
her bassist, Gene Taylor, after hearing that Dr. Martin Luther King,
Jr. was assassinated. The previously issued version was part of the
"Martin Luther King Suite." Here, it contains full spoken and sung
sections and is nearly 13 minutes long. To call it stunning and
revelatory would be an understatement. Ditto the full version of
"Mississippi Goddam," which was also part of the aforementioned
suite. This is the first time either of these recordings have
appeared on CD in full unedited versions.
Likewise, "Revolution (Pts. 1-2)" is restored as one tune instead of
two as it appeared on To Love Somebody in 1969. A couple of
unreleased alternates are fine touches and offer different shadings,
colors, and interpretive gestures to their album-issued
counterparts: Simone's wonderful read of "Turn! Turn! Turn!,"
stripped to her voice, piano, and a pair of backing vocalists; and
"Ain't Got No/I Got Life," cut for 'Nuff Said!, which contains a
horn section. Other tracks here, such as Simone's reading of Bob
Dylan's "The Times They Are A-Changin'" and "I Wish I Knew How It
Would Feel to Be Free," are strident, forceful, soulful, and deeply
moving.
Fans will want this comp for the unreleased material and for its
thematic slant. Those seeking out Simone for the first time may look
to other sources, but this is a side of the artist that was present
in everything she ever recorded, and deserves the focus it receives
here. In these dark times in the early 21st century, these are songs
of hope delivered by a true American original.
┌────────┐
────┤░░░░░░░░├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
└────────┘