The Montreux years

"[Simone's] turbulent genius shone brightest in her unpredictable force-of-nature live performances - and these 28 tracks from her legendary series of Montreux concerts contain within them an entire musical autobiography. Almost half come from her 1968 festival debut, a stellar performance which we hear in its entirety, but we also get to follow the triumphs and tribulations of her life with with further editions from 1976, 1981, 1987 and 1990. Over the years the intensity doesn't let up".

"Here, excerpts from Nina Simone's several visits [to Montreux] are harvested along with another 13 songs from her terrific performance on June 16, 1968, the festival's second year. Simone's voice is still young but already rich in experience and understanding as she moves from a feisty "Go To Hell" through the tuneful standard "Just In Time" into "When I Was A Young Girl", the traditional ballad familiar as "One Morning In May" that follows a young woman's journey "out of the alehouse and into the jailhouse". Two Bee Gees covers (...), done as a sort of chamber piece, and unexpectedly uptempo versions of "House Of the Rising Sun" and "Gin House Blues", are some of the surprises and delights".