Righteous and soulful! The work that Nina Simone did at Philips is among some of her best work ever – and this set features 12 great cuts that aren't always that easy to find on wax. Includes the anthemic feminist classic "Four Women", the slightly-funky "Mississippi Goddam", the moody "Wild Is The Wind", the righteous "Break Down & Let It All Out", and the heavenly version of "I Loves You, Porgy", which just about surpasses all other recorded versions! (Vocalists, Soul) CD

Classic work from Nina Simone – and an album that definitely lives up to its title! Nina Simone certainly emerged as the high priestess of soul during her monumental stretch for Philips Records in the 60s – as she moved way past jazz, way past some of the folk she'd begun tapping into, and into this new righteous territory that paved the way for countless other hip singers to come! Simone does a great job of mixing gutbuckety roots with hipper, 60s soul inflections – and the set's a treasure trove of great tunes – including her awesome reading of "Work Song", plus "Brown Eyed Handsome Man", "Come Ye", "I Hold No Grudge", "I'm Going Back Home", "I'm Gonna Leave You", "Take Me To The Water", and "The Gal From Joe's". (Vocalists, Soul) CD

A live set from Nina Simone – and one of those records that has her taking familiar material, but completely transforming it in the process – using tunes that might not seem that political at the start, then mixing them with other righteous numbers, to create this amazingly rich tapestry of power, politics, and emotion! The tracks are longish, at a level that allows for a bit of improvisation that shows that Nina's spirit was always burning creatively – and the album includes a great version of Nina's classic "Mississippi Goddam", plus "Old Jim Crow", "Pirate Jenny", "Plain Gold Ring", "I Loves You, Porgy", "Don't Smoke In Bed", and "Go Limp". (Vocalists, Soul) CD

Wonderful material from Nina Simone – working here still with one foot in the jazzier style of early days, but with haunting elements of the later progressive style to come! The "pastel" in the title shouldn't imply any sort of softness on Nina's part, because if anything, she's really sharpening up her game a lot here – packing a punch that wasn't allowed so strongly on some of her earlier recordings. The album features an incredible 10 minute version of "Sinnerman", arranged by Nina with complicated jazzy riffing and a nice breakdown in the middle that's completely sublime – and other tracks include "Be My Husband", "End Of The Line", "Chilly Winds Don't Blow", "Strange Fruit", and "Ain't No Use". (Vocalists, Soul) CD

A landmark album from Nina Simone – a set that really pushes her far past just the standard realm of jazz vocals, and which also helped really establish her role as one of the most righteous singers of the 60s! The set's maybe extremely noteworthy for Nina's original tune "Four Women" – a righteous portrait of four different women and their struggles – unique for its time, and a key part of the early Women's Liberation movement! The rest of the album has a similar political undercurrent – sometimes subtle, but there nonetheless – as Nina works magic on tunes that include "Break Down & Let It All Out", "Either Way I Lose", "Black Is The Color Of My True Love's Hair", and "That's All I Ask". (Vocalists, Soul) CD

Wonderful material from Nina Simone – working here still with one foot in the jazzier style of early days, but with haunting elements of the later progressive style to come! The "pastel" in the title shouldn't imply any sort of softness on Nina's part, because if anything, she's really sharpening up her game a lot here – packing a punch that wasn't allowed so strongly on some of her earlier recordings. The album features an incredible 10 minute version of "Sinnerman", arranged by Nina with complicated jazzy riffing and a nice breakdown in the middle that's completely sublime – and other tracks include "Be My Husband", "End Of The Line", "Chilly Winds Don't Blow", "Strange Fruit", and "Ain't No Use". (Vocalists, Soul) CD

A landmark album from Nina Simone – a set that really pushes her far past just the standard realm of jazz vocals, and which also helped really establish her role as one of the most righteous singers of the 60s! The set's maybe extremely noteworthy for Nina's original tune "Four Women" – a righteous portrait of four different women and their struggles – unique for its time, and a key part of the early Women's Liberation movement! The rest of the album has a similar political undercurrent – sometimes subtle, but there nonetheless – as Nina works magic on tunes that include "Break Down & Let It All Out", "Either Way I Lose", "Black Is The Color Of My True Love's Hair", and "That's All I Ask". (Vocalists, Soul) CD

Funky funky Thailand – just about the only 70s funk group we've ever seen from that part of the globe, and a great one at that! The Impossibles work in a tightly-crafted ensemble funk style that's clearly influenced by Kool & The Gang – but which also has the group hitting some well-polished notes on a few of the album's vocal numbers – in a totally cool groove that's got plenty of hard funky riffs at the bottom, sweet horns in the middle, and some great compressed pop vocals on the top! The album's a real lost treasure – one that we've never seen on this side of the Atlantic – and was oddly recorded and issued in Sweden in the mid 70s! But this album is way more than just a musical oddity – as it's super-funky all the way through, with a level of quality that will have it at the top of your crates for a long, long time! Titles include "Hotpepper", "Give It Up", "California", "C'mon Baby", "Easy To Be Hard", "Pretty Thing", "Love Will Keep Us Together", and "Love The Life You Live". CD

An uber-rare album from Orlando Julius & The Afro Sounders – recorded at Ginger Baker's studio in Lagos and originally (apparently quite scarcely) released by Philips in 1973 – wonderful stuff and on par with the excellent material the group recorded in the handful of previous years! The sound is terrific, still fresh and live sounding, but recorded with the best studio technology Julius had access to to date. The drums and percussion are prominent in the mix and so is the bass – with punchy, soulful brass, organs and passionate vocals. Wonderful! Tracks include "Yio Si Da Miliki Beat", "Afro Instrumental", "Osika Ranti", "Buje Buje", "Aseni" and "Kete Kete Koro". (Global Grooves, Soul) CD

Don't let the "broadway" or the "blues" or the "ballads" in the title put you off – because this album's way more than any of those – one of those key 60s records that have Nina Simone taking familiar material and investing it with a new sort of righteous power of her own – almost transforming the songs in the process, and really opening them up past any sort of easy expectations! Arrangements include a bit of work from Nina, plus more by Horace Ott and Hal Mooney – and throughout, the singer shifts modes and moods with effortless ease, turning songs from ordinary tunes into fierce expressions of righteous soul. Titles include "The Laziest Gal In Town", "Nobody", "I Am Blessed", "Of This I'm Sure", "See Line Woman", "Last Rose Of Summer", and "How Can I". (Vocalists, Soul) CD

A set that's a great bridge between the fuller sound of Nina Simone's late 60s material and some of smaller jazz combo work – as the album mostly features Nina working with a smaller group, but already at a level that hints at the righteous rising power in her music! The core combo features Rudy Stevenson on guitar and flute, Bobby Hamilton on drums, and Lisle Atkinson on bass – and one track, "For Myself", features arrangements by Horace Ott – and another, "Images", was recorded live – but overall, the album's got a warmly intimate feel that's really great, and which has Nina singing in that perfect sharp-edged mode of the time. Titles include "Chauffeur", "The Other Woman", "This Year's Kisses", "Nearer Blessed Lord", "Ballad of Hollis Brown" and "Don't Explain". (Vocalists, Soul) CD

A really fantastic live album from Nina Simone – recorded at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1966, and delivered with that hard-burning energy that always makes Nina's concert performances so mindblowing! There's a lean, mean groove to the record – sharply soulful piano from Simone, and backing from a group that includes some exceptional work on drums from Robert Hamilton – a player who really helps kick up the rhythms at times – while Nina delivers these searing lyrics that definitely showcase the more righteous, political side of her spectrum! The set's a great addition to the Philips material from this period – and titles include a killer version of "Mississippi Goddam", plus "You've Got To Learn", "Blues For Mama", "Be My Husband", "Music For Lovers", and "I Loves You Porgy". (Vocalists, Soul) CD

35 tracks in all from Nina Simone's albums on the Tomato label – much more obscure than her tracks for RCA and Philips! (Vocalists, Soul) CD

Some great Northern soul, pulled together from the wide array of labels currently handled by Universal/Spectrum – including Motown, MGM, Philips, and Chess. There's more than a few great cuts on here that we haven't seen reissued elsewhere – and although the price of the set is cheap, it's got a fortune's worth of rare soul sides! Titles include "6x6" by Earl Van Dyke, "The Boogaloo Party" by The Flamingos, "He Who Picks A Rose" by Jimmy Ruffin, "Worth Every Tear I Cry" by Dee Dee Warwick, "Learning To Trust My Man" by Sisters Love, "Landslide" by Tony Clarke, "The Way You've Been Acting" by Al Kent, "Do I Love You" by Frank Wilson, "Baby Hit & Run" by The Contours, and "Love Love Love" by Bobby Hebb. 17 tracks in all! CD

Twenty years of music from this cruical Chicago label – one of the few Windy City imprints to continue to fly the flag of house music in the years since the early days of the 80s! When Cajmere first served up "Percolator" back in the early 90s, we were a bit unsure – almost thinking it was the end of Chicago house, with its frenzied rhythm and gimmicky vocal. Yet over the past two decades, we've come to realize that Cajmere and his Cajual imprint have come to be the saviors of the music that's made our city great – still keeping house music in its core, basic elements – without any of the too-commercial modes that seeped in at so many other corners! The Cajmere groove is always dead-on, straightforward, and plenty darn soulful – proof that great house music continues to flourish if you know where to look. 2CD set features a massive 22 long tracks – with cuts that include "Percolator (orig mix)" by Cajmere, "Brighter Days (Louie's Masters At Work mix)" by Cajmere with Dajae, "Feelin Kinda High (voc)" by Cajmere with Terence FM, "Beyond" by Glenn Underground, "Le Fusion" by Gemini, "Midnight (orig mix)" by Cajmere with Walter Philips, "U Got Me UP (Danny Tenaglia's club version)" by Dajae, "I Can't Take It" by Andre Harris, and "Say U Will (orig mix)" by Cajmere. (Funky Compilations, Soul) CD

One of Nina's first for RCA – a mixture of jazz and soul tunes handled with some classy arrangements by Sammy Lowe, most of which feature nice electric bass work at the bottom by Gene Taylor! Taylor's bass gives the tracks a nice "dip" that's not exactly funky, but does provide a strong kick that keeps things moving along nicely – in a way that points towards the direction Nina would take in the 70s, and which makes this album a fair bit hipper than some of her Philips work! Nina's not as over the top as on other records, but still lays it out quite hiply – and tracks include "Consummation", "Go To Hell", "Love O Love", "It Be's That Way Sometime", "Turn Me On", and "Some Say". CD features bonus tracks "Save Me" and "Why Must Your Love Well Be So Dry". (Vocalists, Soul) CD

Quite possibly the greatest music that Nina Simone ever recorded – brought together beautifully in one compact yet complete set! Nina Simone recorded some great music before she hit the RCA label in the late 60s – but her time at that company really saw a flowering of her unique talents – a way of hitting a vibe that went way beyond familiar jazz vocals – stretching out into something more righteous, more powerful, and more moving than had ever been recorded before – a wealth of great sounds represented beautifully on the albums in this package! The set begins in familiar territory of her Philips Records years – jazz vocals, but with a folksy depth, and political undercurrent. Yet as things move on, the tunes open up, often get longer, and Simone's vocals get bold and powerful – sometimes with key help from a young Weldon Irvine – who wrote some of the best original tunes, and also worked with Nina on keyboards. The package features the full albums Nina Simone Sings The Blues, Silk & Soul, Nuff Said, Nina Simone & Piano, To Love Somebody, Black Gold, Here Comes The Sun, Emergency Ward, and It Is Finished – all in cool LP-styled sleeves, with a bonus booklet too! (Vocalists, Soul) CD

3 great Nina records collected together in one package! Emergency Ward is a great little album cut by Nina Simone during the time she was working with Weldon Irvine. The record features 4 long tracks, all cut live in concert, and with large arrangements done by Weldon, and lots of improvising on lyrics by Nina Simone. Includes a haunting version of "My Sweet Lord", the classic "Poppies", and a great poem/song called "Today Is A Killer". It Is Finished was the kind of record that once made purists turn up their noses, but which is now being rediscovered as a unique jazz/soul crossover album, filled with loads of nice moments! The instrumentation's pretty darn interesting – and includes sitar, harp, Spanish guitar, and other odd percussion instruments. Includes Nina's nice version of "Funkier Than a Mosquito's Tweeter", plus "I Want A Little Sugar In My Bowl", "Dambala", "Obeah Woman", and "The Pusher". Black Gold was one of the excellent LPs she cut with the Stroud Productions imprint during the early 70s. The style here is even hipper than her late 60s work on Philips – with a mixture of open-ended jazz and soul that's best summed up in the album's extended reading of "Black is the Color of My True Love's Hair", and a great version of "To Be Young Gifted & Black", which was written by Weldon Irvine, who's probably playing piano here with Nina. 18 tracks on 2 CDs! (Vocalists, Soul) CD

The title's no lie – as this sweet little set features 101 Northern Soul classics – a treasure trove of upbeat soul from the 60s – with lots of rare cuts, obscure groovers, and the kinds of tracks that always got more play on UK dancefloors than back home here in the US! For the price, the set is a hell of a collection – and features killer classics from labels that include Motown, Chess, Philips, MGM, and other vintage imprints – with a nice degree of overlooked cuts that have only been discovered by the northern scene in more recent years. Titles include "Til You Were Gone" by Frank Wilson, "Love Love Love" by Bobby Hebb, "Stop Her On Sight" by Edwin Starr, "What More Could A Boy Ask For" by The Spinners, "Can't Satisfy" by The Impressions, "I'm The One Who Loves You" by Darrell Banks, "Why Am I Lovin You" by Debbie Dean, "The Night" by Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons, "I Got A Feelin" by Barbara Randolph, "Heaven Must Have Sent You" by The Elgins, "Dr Love" by Bobby Sheen, "Trampoline" by Spencer Davis Group, "Nothing Left To Give" by Thelma Houston, "Baby I Miss You" by Tommy Good, "I've Been Blessed" by Bobby Taylor, "Look What You Done Boy" by The Lollipops, "Friday Night" by Johnny Taylor, "Baby I Love You" by Howard Tate, "Helpless" by Kim Weston, "Moody woman" by Jerry Butler, "There's A Ghost In My House" by R Dean Taylor, "Ordinary Joe" by Terry Callier, "Wade In The Water" by Marlena Shaw, "Drop In The Bucket" by Mary Wells, "Baby A Go Go" by Barbara McNair, "Love's Gone Bad" by Chris Clark, "Run For Cover" by The Dells, "Battened Ships" by Odyssey, "Nothing But A Heartache" by The Flirtations, "Sure Is A Lotta Woman" by The Isley Brothers, and "Keep On Lovin Me" by Francis Nero. CD

Nina's folsky, but she's also jazzy too – and the album's from a key time in which she was finding a very special way to bring the two modes together! Simone could have been a straight jazz singer if she wanted – but as records like this always remind us, she was always striving for something different – a bolder, more righteous way of expressing herself – opening up with a new sort of power that was perfect for the coming change in the 60s! The album's a live one – a setting that always seems to have Nina hitting her stride – and even the familiar tunes take on new energy in the context – a sense of pride and spirituality that's already as great as her work to come for Philips Records. Titles include "Erets Zavat Chalav", "Silver City Sound", "The Young Knight", "The Twelfth Of Never", "Vanetihu", "Lass Of The Low Country", and "When I Was A Young Girl". (Vocalists, Soul) CD