Wild Is the Wind (album)

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Wild Is the Wind
Wild Is the Wind cover
Studio album by Nina Simone
Released 1966
Recorded New York, 1964 1965
Genre Vocal
Soul
Pop
Folk
R&B
Label Philips Records
Nina Simone chronology
Let It All Out
(1966)		 Wild Is the Wind
(1966)		 High Priestess of Soul
(1967)

Wild Is the Wind is singer/pianist/songwriter Nina Simone's (1933-2003) sixth album under record company Philips. The album was made up of several recordings that were left over of recording sessions for previous Philips albums. Therefore it is somewhat of a hodgepodge album (which is typical of a lot of Simone's studio albums), with tracks aimed at the popular market (such as "I Love Your Lovin' Ways") and songs that are more ambitious in nature. It is particularly the songs of this last category that give the album its standard quality.

[edit] Well known songs on this album

  • "Four Women": in this self-written and composed song Simone weaves the monologues together of four African-American women, each reflecting a common stereotype. They are: hard working but never appreciated Aunty Sarah, mixed-raced Saffronia, the prostitute Sweet Thing, and finally the angry and bitter Peaches, who is enraged because of her enslaved ancestry and wants to strike out. Upon its release the song was sometimes misunderstood, some black radio stations even refused to play it because they found it racist. It became one of Simone's standards, and has later been covered by Reflection Eternal.
  • "Lilac Wine", covered by Jeff Buckley, Elkie Brooks, and Katie Melua
  • "Wild is the Wind", covered by David Bowie and Cat Power

[edit] Track listing

  1. "I Love Your Lovin' Ways"
  2. "Four Women"
  3. "What More Can I Say"
  4. "Lilac Wine"
  5. "That's All I Ask"
  6. "Break Down And Let It All Out"
  7. "Why Keep On Breaking My Heart"
  8. "Wild Is the Wind"
  9. "Black Is the Color of My True Love's Hair"
  10. "If I Should Lose You"
  11. "Either Way I Lose"