Hip-O Records
2006
The Definitve Collection
About This Album
"... [N]o one compilation could possibly tell the entire Simone story (since she recorded over 30 albums from 1959 to 1993)," admits David Nathan in his liner notes to Hip-O/Verve's hyperbolically titled Nina Simone best-of, The Definitive Collection. He might have added that another difficulty in assembling a Simone compilation is that she recorded for so many different labels, among them Bethlehem, Colpix, Philips, and RCA Victor (and that's just through the early '70s). This makes licensing a nightmare, of course. But reissue label Hip-O is known for its willingness to license extensively, and it has made a brave effort here. Universal Music, the major-label parent company, controls the Philips catalog as well as a 1987 live album, Let It Be Me, that Simone recorded for Verve. But Hip-O has paid to use five tracks originally released on Colpix from Warner, and another three originally released on RCA from BMG, which is a lot of licensing for a 20-track album. And the result, as Nathan claims, is "a great overview" of Simone's career, spanning the years 1959 to 1987 and including a number of her most popular and signature songs in their best-known versions.
Track List (try tracks 2,4,9,11,15,16,18 and 19)

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