Let It All Out: Selected Singles 1961-1978

Let It All Out: Selected Singles 1961-1978 was promoted by Ace Records as the first Nina Simone anthology to combine material from all the labels for which the high priestess recorded during the period it covers. The chronological selection starts toward the end of the Colpix era, thereby skipping just past "Nobody Knows You When Youre Down and Out" to begin with the Forbidden Fruit singles "Work Song" and "Gin House Blues." (Only one additional song, "Come On Back Jack," overlaps with The Colpix Singles, released by Rhino in 2017.) What follows is the majority of Simones well-known commercial efforts. Included are the definitive versions of Walter Donaldson and Gus Kahns "My Baby Just Cares for Me" (originally recorded for Bethlehem, it was issued as a single during the Colpix years, and in 1987 became a Top Ten U.K. hit after its re-release), Screamin Jay Hawkins "I Put a Spell on You," and Bee Gees "To Love Somebody," followed by the Hair medley "Aint Got No, I Got Life" and the crucial Weldon Irvine collaboration "To Be Young, Gifted and Black." Seven years separate the penultimate and final songs. Its a curious leap from Simones somewhat hurried version of the Five Stairsteps "O-o-h Child" to her reggae-fied interpretation of Randy Newmans "Baltimore," taken from the disowned CTI album of the same title. That said, the inclusion of the latter is apt after the viral effect of actress Jenna Ortegas declaration that it was her song of summer for 2025. (Nothing says fun and sun quite like a top-tier artist reluctantly powering through a song that opens with "Beat-up little seagull on a marble stair" and doesnt get much more picturesque from there.) While it doesnt surpass The Definitive Collection (Hip-O/Verve, 2006) for best single-disc Simone anthology, Let It All Out fills a significant void and is superior in presentation. ~ Andy Kellman