barb jungr - vocals and backing vocals
jenny carr - musical director, piano and backing vocals
jessica lauren - organ, harmonicas, mbira, autoharp, mellotron, electronic tanpura and backing vocals
johnny lee - percussion, drums, clock sample
danny thompson - bass
mark lockheart - saxophones and clarinets
recorded at the livingston studios on the 19th-21st november 2007
engineered by calum malcolm, assisted by sonny
mixed by calum malcolm at carlekemp studios, north berwick, uk
photography by steve ullathorne
design by the art surgery
Nina Simone embraced utterly louis armstrong's understanding of music: "what we play is life" and, "my whole life, my whole soul, my whole spirit is to blow that horn." Nina sang and played with everything she had, and she took songs and inspiration from everything in her life and world. this was both her strength and her weakness, for that full commitment, that passion, is too strong a flavour for those of faint heart.
i grew up loving Nina Simone; that uncategorisable voice, her uncompromising approach to material, fearlessness in changing lyric and arrangement to make songs personal, and courageous musicianship. so when i heard her spirit speak demanding that i make a collection dedicated to her, i complied without question. this is my ‘hymn to Nina'. barb jungr january 2008
black is the color of my true love's hair
the water flows to the sea, and when we stand beside that mighty river, it's easy to cry for all that lost love and time, easy to break down and let it all out.
just like a woman
it's just like bob dylan to write a song as beautiful as this.
lilac wine
there's a unique and near perfect relationship between lovelessness and drink that only the abandoned truly understand. and in this song there's also a supernatural aspect, that lilac tree is surely in a graveyard, the lilac flowers hanging over the lichen-covered stones as the clock of time ticks slowly, endlessly on.
the times they are a-changin'
this song is as perfect today as it was when it was written, the sense for Nina of those changing times may have been different, but every word of this rings true, right here, right now.
angel of the morning
this song is the reverse of ‘maggie may', indeed it might be her song. such a simple song, with so much quiet depth.
don't let me be misunderstood
"i have thoughts like every other one", a very dark, dark song, velvet... and bloodstained.
keeper of the flame
"when the fire is burning out and the angels call my name" i may still be singing this beautiful and true torch song.
to love somebody
the gibb brothers have written some stunning songs, and this has always been one of my favourites.
one morning in may / the pusher
these songs had to go together, and the pusher became a hymn all of its own suddenly, and it is about so much more than drugs.
ballad of hollis brown
why would a man kill all of his family and turn a gun on himself? as always dylan reveals the reason by simply telling the story.
feeling good
"it's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new life". this is my 6th recording for linn records, but it feels like the first, somehow. "and i'm feeling good".
all tracks arranged by barb jungr with jenny carr and jessica lauren
all songs previously recorded by Nina Simone