General Article name: Pastel Blues
Genre: Jazz Product type: LP (Vinyl) Label: Verve Number of tracks: 9 Duration: 35:37 Tracklist LP - 1 1. Nina Simone - Be My Husband 3:23 2. Nina Simone - Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out 2:39 3. Nina Simone - End of the Line 2:55 4. Nina Simone - Trouble in Mind 2:41 5. Nina Simone - Tell Me More and More and Then Some 3:08 6. Nina Simone - Chilly Winds Don't Blow 4:01 7. Nina Simone - Ain't No Use 3:01 8. Nina Simone - Strange Fruit 3:30 9. Nina Simone - Sinnerman 10:19   Description Description

If this is blues, it's blues in the Billie Holiday sense, not the Muddy Waters one. This is one of Nina Simone's more subdued mid-'60s LPs, putting the emphasis on her piano rather than band arrangements. It's rather slanted toward torch-blues ballads like "Strange Fruit," "Trouble in Mind," Billie Holiday's own composition "Tell Me More and More and Then Some," and "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out." Simone's then-husband, Andy Stroud, wrote "Be My Husband," an effective adaptation of a traditional blues chant. By far the most impressive track is her frantic ten-minute rendition of the traditional "Sinnerman," an explosive tour de force that dwarfs everything else on the album. [Pastel Blues was re-released on LP in 2016.] ~ Richie Unterberger

Richie Unterberger

Contributors Artist: Nina Simone Record Label: Verve