We can thank our lucky stars that Nina Simone was well aware of her musical environment and enjoyed experimenting with it, despite her notorious eccentric personality. This was the only reason that so much basic repertoire, traditional blues numbers, black work songs and favourite white show melodies – all filled with a deep soul feeling – reached her fans. “Emergency Ward!” is no exception. First there is the explosive medley, recorded live, of George Harrison’s “My Sweet Lord” and David Nelson’s “Today Is A Killer”. Accompanied by a small combo and a gospel choir, Nina Simone ignites an 18-minute blazing bonfire which loses none of its spiritual fire for even a second.

In contrast to the gentle “Poppies”, extravagantly produced with strings, woodwinds and chorus, is the questioning “Isn’t It A Pity”, arranged for piano. Here, simple, throbbing harmonies are occasionally allowed to swell into clouds of chords, giving Nina Simone the opportunity to show off her highly diversified vocal timbre which, as so often, fades away into nothing like an unanswered question. This is an exceptional album filled with a wealth of feeling and one which will leave no one untouched.

• 180 gram LP w/ Standard Sleeve
• Recording: November 1971 at Fort Dix and February 1972 at RCA Victor’s Studio A, New York City, by Ed Begley

• Released: 8/28/19
• Format Detail: LP Black
• Format: Vinyl
• Genre: Jazz

As described in our Privacy Policy, we collect personal information from your interactions with us and our website, including through cookies and similar technologies. We may also share this personal information with third parties, including advertising partners. We do this in order to show you ads on other websites that are more relevant to your interests and for other reasons outlined in our privacy policy.

Sharing of personal information for targeted advertising based on your interaction on different websites may be considered "sales", "sharing", or "targeted advertising" under certain U.S. state privacy laws. Depending on where you live, you may have the right to opt out of these activities. If you would like to exercise this opt-out right, please follow the instructions below.

If you visit our website with the Global Privacy Control opt-out preference signal enabled, depending on where you are, we will treat this as a request to opt-out of activity that may be considered a “sale” or “sharing” of personal information or other uses that may be considered targeted advertising for the device and browser you used to visit our website.