Nina Simone burst into the world with 1959’s Little Girl Blue, and music would never be the same. For over five decades, Nina entertained, enthralled, and educated listeners across her extraordinary recording and performance career.

After a triumphant concert at New York’s Carnegie Hall in 1992, Nina was approached by Elektra A&R executive Michael Alago (whose previous work at the label included Tracy Chapman and Metallica). When asked if Nina was ready to record again, she replied, “Get me the money… then we can talk!”

Modeled around two of Simone’s favorites, Frank Sinatra’s A Man Alone (The Words And Music Of Rod McKuen) and Billie Holidays’ Lady In Satin—with the common element that both were recorded with full orchestral accompaniment, the sessions began.

Backed by a 50-piece orchestra, Simone recorded the material that would comprise A Single Woman with producer Andre Fischer (Natalie Cole’s then-husband and former drummer for the band Rufus).

The ten tracks chosen from the sessions were revelatory, weaving songs about love in the style only Nina Simone could conceive and deliver. Simone recorded more material during the sessions, including covers of Bob Dylan, Prince, The Beatles, and Bob Marley, pointing to a potential follow up, but sadly, A Single Woman would be her final studio album before her passing in 2003.

1. A Single Woman
2. Lonesome Cities
3. If I Should Lose You
4. The Folks Who Live On The Hill
5. Love’s Been Good To Me
6. Papa, Can You Hear Me?
7. Il N’y a Pas D’Amour Heureux
8. Just Say I Love Him
9. The More I See You
10. Marry Me

Bonus Tracks:
11. The Long And Winding Road 12. The Times They Are A-Changin’ 13. Sign ‘O’ The Times 14. Baseball Boogie 15. I’m Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter 16. Do I Move You? (Take 2) 17. The Times They Are A-Changin’ (Alternate Take) 18. No Woman, No Cry 19. Do I Move You? (Take 1) 20. I’m Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter (Alternate Take) 21. Baseball Boogie (Instrumental)

Tracks 17, 19–21 previously unissued

Nina Simone in her prime recorded some fantastic stuff, even when she was a little off-key, so to speak. This original 1993 record is not the great lady in her prime though, I think we can all agree. Her voice had understandably lost its upper range and with the material chosen being so-so, her usual vocal verve for melodies and notes just did not have their usual channels to envelope.

Also, to my mind, the production is just a bit too heavy on strings and her wonderful piano playing seems absent - or at the very best sometimes buried in the mix, which is a great shame.

That said, as this is still Nina Simone after all, her deeply penetrating voice, combined with an absolutely careful pacing and all brought forth through the dramatic delivery she could always summon, does keep most of the songs from becoming overly sappy and/or lost album filler overall.

For here the High Priestess of Jazz-Soul herself harnesses the fear of loneliness and the sagely wisdom of one who has experienced love and will have it again, into an overall beautiful, again albeit somewhat over produced recording.

Oh, and for the record, and to my mind/ear, the title track, Single Woman rivals Billie Holiday’s The End of A Love Affair as one of those prophetic songs that will go on haunting you forever.

Now also included are a bonus of some 11 tracks that enhance the original album perfectly, with four of them never having been issued ever before.

They begin with the soulfully emboldened The Long And Winding Road and a beautifully reverberating cover of The Times They Are A-Changin’ and then we get a quite extraordinary reworked rendition of Prince’s Sign ‘O’ The Times, the fervently-charged Baseball Boogie, and the joyfully free flowing I’m Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter.

Along next is the bluesy brilliance of Do I Move You? (Take 2), an alternate take of The Times They Are A-Changin’ and they are in turn followed by a dutiful reggae bounce found with her version No Woman, No Cry, a first take of Do I Move You?, the set rounding out on an alternate take of I’m Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter, closing on a vivacious instrumental version of Baseball Boogie (Instrumental).

A Single Woman was reissued in 2006, adding seven of those performances left behind. Now, four more previously unissued recordings from those sessions have been added to create A Single Woman: The Complete Elektra Recordings — 21 tracks on CD and double-LP.

Newly remastered, this collection also contains new liner notes from the British Ambassador of Soul, David Nathan, outlining both the recording of the album, but also recounting his nearly three-decade relationship with Dr. Simone — beginning when he formed the UK Nina Simone Appreciation Society in 1965.

Experience this icon’s final studio recordings in the most comprehensive way with A Single Woman: The Complete Elektra Recordings.

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