RCA
2003
Anthology
About This Album
In appearance, this two-disc anthology would seem to be an exercise in hearse chasing, issued just months after the great singer's death. In reality, no matter what the intention of the record label, this anthology accomplishes what virtually every other attempt failed miserably to do: definitively represent all the stages of Simone's career. While RCA has done a number of fine Simone collections, including The Very Best of Nina Simone: Sugar in My Bowl 1967-1972, which featured a number of unreleased tracks, even they haven't accomplished this: a double-disc set that encompasses her entire career with recordings from every label she recorded for, including Bethlehem, Colpix, Philips, RCA, CTI, and Elektra. The lion's share of the material may come from RCA, but she spent the longest part of her career there. The obvious beginning is with "I Loves You Porgy," from her Bethlehem album Little Girl Blue (or, as it was originally titled, Jazz as Played in an Exclusive Side Street Club). Also from this session is the definitive version of the Gus Kahn/Walter Donaldson classic "My Baby Just Cares for Me." While there are a couple of cuts from Colpix's Nina Simone at Town Hall, such as "The Other Woman" and "Black Is the Color of My True Love's Hair," there is also the Colpix single "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out.
Track List

Disc 1 (try tracks 3,6,7,12 and 14)

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Disc 2 (try tracks 2,3,8,11,12,13 and 15)

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