To Love Somebody (Nina Simone album)

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To Love Somebody
To Love Somebody cover
Studio album by Nina Simone
Released 1969
Recorded RCA Studios, New York City, 1967–69
Genre Vocal
Soul
Pop
Folk
Label RCA victor
Producer Stroud Productions, Danny Davis
Professional reviews
Nina Simone chronology
Nina Simone and Piano
(1969)		 To Love Somebody
(1969)		 Black Gold
(1970)

To Love Somebody is an album by singer-songwriter/pianist Nina Simone. It was released as quickly as possible to prolong the unexpected success of Nuff Said. The title is taken from the Bee Gees song "To Love Somebody", her cover of the song became her second British hit single after "Ain't Got No-I Got Life".

[edit] Information about songs on this album

  • "Suzanne", originally by Leonard Cohen.
  • "Turn! Turn! Turn!", originally by Pete Seeger. Simone recorded an alternative version of the song that was (previously) unreleased.
  • "Revolution" (parts 1 & 2) was Simone's third subsequent single released in the UK after "Ain't Got No-I Got Life" and "To Love Somebody" both became hits. The song was released around the time of the same titled song by The Beatles, but bears little resemblance with that song. It is actually one song, but because of an unknown reason chopped in two by a two-second silence. "Revolution" didn't do well in the UK charts, and only had a mild success in the United States R&B charts. Simone didn't expect this lack of success and said to Sylvia Hampton, author of the biography Break Down and Let It All Out about this:

(…) I don't get it. It's about a revolution, man: not just colour, but everything! It's about barriers being broken down, and they sure as hell need getting rid of. (…) We need a revolution to sort it all out and get back to God. You know how lost we are, man – it's sad.[1]

[edit] Track listing

  1. "Suzanne" (Cohen) - 4:21
  2. "Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season)" (Seeger, Traditional) - 3:41
  3. "Revolution (Part 1)" (Irvine, Simone) - 2:53
  4. "Revolution (Part 2)" (Irvine, Simone) - 1:54
  5. "To Love Somebody" (Gibb, Gibb) - 2:42
  6. "I Shall Be Released" (Dylan) - 3:55
  7. "I Can't See Nobody" (Gibb, Gibb) - 3:10
  8. "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" (Dylan) - 4:52
  9. "The Times They Are a-Changin'" (Dylan) - 6:00

[edit] References

  1. ^ Hampton. Break Down And Let It All Out, pp. 62.