Nina's voice is so incredibly deep and soulful, and soul-filled. I was immediately drawn to several of the tracks, realizing that just one listen wasn't enough. Nina manages to incorporate the power of her life and times into each song, as a reflection of where she's been and yet a hope of things to come. She's simply unlike any artist I've heard.

Nina's voice is so incredibly deep and soulful, and soul-filled. I was immediately drawn to several of the tracks, realizing that just one listen wasn't enough. Nina manages to incorporate the power of her life and times into each song, as a reflection of where she's been and yet a hope of things to come. She's simply unlike any artist I've heard.

- The title, The Nina Simone Collection, and the sheer number of tracks assembled here. This box set offers a carefully compiled overview of this great singer's catalog. Confirm this: many of Simone's most important benchmarks are accounted for: "I Loves You Porgy," "To Be Young, Gifted and Black," "My Baby Just Cares for Me," "Mississippi Goddam," "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood," et. al.

“ The title, The Nina Simone Collection, and the sheer number of tracks assembled here. This box set offers a carefully compiled overview of this great singer's catalog. Confirm this: many of Simone's most important benchmarks are accounted for: "I Loves You Porgy," "To Be Young, Gifted and Black," "My Baby Just Cares for Me," "Mississippi Goddam," "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood," et. al.

Of all the major singers of the late 20th century, Nina Simone was one of the hardest to classify. She recorded extensively in the soul, jazz, and pop idioms, often over the course of the same album; she was also comfortable with blues, gospel, and Broadway. It's perhaps most accurate to label her as a "soul" singer in terms of emotion, rather than form. Like, say, Aretha Franklin, or Dusty Springfield, Simone was an eclectic who brought soulful qualities to whatever material she interpreted. These qualities were among her strongest virtues; paradoxically, they also may have kept her from attaining a truly mass audience. The same could be said of her stage persona; admired for her forthright honesty and individualism, she was also known for feisty feuding with audiences and promoters alike.