Nina Simone: Forbidden Fruit (clear vinyl) [DESTINATION MOON]

Why you'll love it

This numbered clear vinyl edition is limited to 500 copies. Forbidden Fruit was Simone's second studio album for Colpix, with three songs by Oscar Brown Jr. and her own take on "Work Song."

This edition

• Clear vinyl
• Numbered
• Limited to 500 copies

About the album

Nina Simone had a habit of walking into a song and rearranging the furniture. On her third studio album she does it with blues, show tunes and a cheeky Garden of Eden story, backed by the same trio that played with her on her live records of the period: Al Schackman on guitar, Chris White on bass and Bobby Hamilton on drums.

Cal Lampley produced. "Work Song," by Oscar Brown Jr. and Nat Adderley, tells the story of a chain gang, and Simone liked it enough to record it again years later. "Gin House Blues" swaggers, "Memphis in June" and "I'll Look Around" slow things down beautifully, and the title song, another Brown Jr. tune, is a playful call and response on Adam and Eve. Simone sings and plays piano throughout, and the trio leaves plenty of air around her voice. She later cut "Gin House Blues" again in a brisker style on 'Nuff Said! in 1968.

She was always a hard artist to file, jazz, blues, soul and folk all at once, and this album is a fine example of why. Apples have rarely been this well served.

Also at Kops: more Nina Simone on vinyl · browse Vocal Jazz

Tracklist

Listen

On Destination Moon (cat# DMOO061), a reissue of the 1961 album.