Black Gold indeed – as the album's a real classic from Nina, one of the excellent sets 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. Other titles include the funky "Ain't Got No I Got Life", plus "Westwind", "Who Knows Where The Time Goes", and "The Assignment Sequence" – all very hip numbers! LP, Vinyl record album

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! CD

Amazing! Although Scott Walker had issued one solo album before this one, Scott 2 is the record that really has his true genius beginning to shine through! The record still features Scott singing dark moody takes on 60s pop tunes – like "Best Of Both Worlds" and "Black Sheep Boy" – plus the usual round of Brel tunes – including "Jackie" and "The Girls & The Dogs", but it's also got some of his best songwriting ever, etched out in incredible original compositions like "The Amorous Humphrey Plugg", "The Girls From The Streets", and "Plastic Palace People". Those three songs alone might have been enough if Scott had stopped there in his career – as they're perfectly realized visions that match the world of Brecht, Bergman, and Sartre he'd been steeping himself in. Orchestrations are sublime on all tracks, and the record's one we'll treasure forever! (Rock, Vocalists) LP, Vinyl record album