2 posts tagged “nina simone”

Tomorrow the 29th June will be my first wedding anniversary the picture below was from the stag day

 

however in recognition of this big day here are two appropriate songs.

 

First up is "Marry Me" which is a Nina Simone composition from her last ever studio album "A Single Woman" which was originally released i 1993 and has just become available again recently having been out of print for many a year.

 

Next up and also from 1993 are the Cowboy Junkies and "Anniversary Song"

 

Barb Jungr is one of the top modern "jazz" singers, though she covers a wider field than pure jazz and has in the main strayed well away from the traditional american songbook prefering instead to record her often unique versions of songs by her favourite songwriters with Bob Dylan and Ray Davies being particularily amongst her favourites.

She obviously has vocalist influences and songs covered by Elvis Presley are also a target for he re-iterpretation, her latest project has been a tribute to Nina Simone and the resultant album "Just Like A Woman - Hymn To Nina" hits the shelves in May but can be downloaded from the superb Linn Records site where your download can be as basic as a mp3 file up to studio quality audio.

 

As you can see from the above even on a project dedicated to Nina Simone three of the tracks are Dylan songs, out of the 29 Barb songs on my iPod ELEVEN are Dylan compositions.

Of all her albums so far I am of the opinion that this is the least successful, perhaps because Nina herself was a unique interpretor of songs it makes it hard to cover a cover and the album doesn't sound like Nina and doesn't really pay homage in any real manner other than promoting Nina as an entity.

This "reggae vibe" Just Like A Woman is a fair example of what is on offer.

 

Now Nina's version of "Feeling Good" is one of my all time favourite songs and really shouldn't be challenged, though hats off to Eels live piano rendition, Barb goes for a second rate "Blues Brothers" arrangement which you will either love or hate.

 

Barb you could do and have done BETTER.........maybe it will grow on me.