Artist: Nina Simone
Album: Wild Is the Wind
Year: 1966
When I first put on Nina Simone's Wild Is the Wind and the vocals came in, my immediate thought was: "oh boy, here we go." I was immediately struck by Simone's voice, androgynous and warbling. The first song was one of those torch songs that I'm frankly quite sick of at this point. I thought the next forty minutes were going to be torturous.
But as I listened to this album, the music, the arrangements, and yes, even the voice of Nina Simone, would grow on me. This is a strangely beautiful album.
It consists of a wide variety of songs that showcase the singer's odd voice. There are upbeat songs here, the rock-ish "Break Down and Let It All Out," and there are slower songs like "Lilac Wine" (later to be covered by Jeff Buckley), "Wild Is the Wind" (later to be covered by David Bowie) and "Black Is the Color of My True Love's Hair," an old English folk hymn. A variety of genres, spanning blues, rock, soul, jazz, and standards, are represented here.
I don't know if it's Simone who plays piano on this album, but if it is, kudos to her. The arrangements are gorgeous, particularly on "What More Can I Say?" and "If I Should Lose You." It's not often that I've commented on the backing instrumentation on vocal tour de force albums like this one, but the piano here is noteworthy without question.
I'm glad I kept an open mind on this one, and I would urge anyone listening to this album to do the same. Simone's voice lacks the purity that the likes of Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan have, but she proves that there's many possible ways to skin a cat, or sing a song, as it were.
Rating: Worth a listen
No comments:
Post a Comment