Nina Simone – Pastel Blues – 180 Gram Vinyl Record

Description

Nina Simone – Pastel Blues – 180 Gram Vinyl Record

Pastel Blues is one of Nina Simone’s most concentrated Philips albums, recorded in 1964 and 1965 with a small jazz group and released in 1965. Its title is deceptively gentle: the program moves from stripped-down blues and spiritual material to two of the most searing performances in Simone’s catalog.

“Be My Husband” opens with voice, handclaps, and a spare percussive pulse, creating tension through repetition. “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out,” “End of the Line,” and “Trouble in Mind” show how Simone could inhabit blues tradition while altering tempo, harmony, and emotional emphasis to fit her own experience.

Her treatment of “Tell Me More and More and Then Some” and “Strange Fruit” brings Billie Holiday-associated material into a different dramatic frame. “Strange Fruit” is especially stark, with restraint doing more work than ornament. “Chilly Winds Don’t Blow” offers a brief change in motion without weakening the album’s seriousness.

The final “Sinnerman” lasts more than ten minutes and turns a traditional spiritual into relentless ritual. Piano, hand percussion, drums, and repeated vocal phrases accumulate pressure until the performance seems to outrun the song form itself. It is not merely the album’s climax but one of Simone’s defining recordings.

This 2020 Verve Acoustic Sounds Series edition is pressed on 180-gram vinyl at Quality Record Pressings and housed in a tip-on gatefold jacket. It contains the original nine-track album.

Brand new, never played and still sealed in the factory plastic

Track Listing

1. Be My Husband

2. Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out

3. End of the Line

4. Trouble In Mind

5. Tell Me More And More And Then Some (Live In New York/1965)

6. Chilly Winds Don’t Blow (Live In New York/1964)

7. Ain’t No Use

8. Strange Fruit

9. Sinnerman (Live In New York/1965)