Nina Simone – Live At Montreux 1976 (DTS)

 

Picture: C+     Sound: B     Extras: B+     Concert: B+

 

 

Nina Simone’s work is being reissued in a new wave that we can only hope continues for a while.  A little bit ago, RCA issued a hits CD and what is one of the best of the now in-decline DualDisc format, both of which were reviewed at the same time as follows:

 

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/3569/Nina+Simone+–+The+Soul+Of+Nina+Simone+(DualDisc)+++Nina+Simone+Sings+The+Blues+(CD

 

 

Surprisingly, Eagle Eye’s Nina Simone – Live At Montreux 1976 DVD has no major overlap with those releases, and only features two songs that were on the previous sets.  The main 1976 set features the following tracks:

 

1)     Little Girl Blues

2)     Backlash Blues

3)     Be My Husband

4)     I Wish I Knew (How It Would Feel To Be Free)

5)     Stars/Feelings

6)     African Mailman

 

 

As she did with amazing performances of House Of The Rising Sun and (You’ll) Go To Hell) on the previous releases, she takes the Morris Albert’s classic (and often covered, though it just miss the Top 5!) Feelings and gives it top treatment even questioning and discussing the song on the way to finishing it.  Though Albert’s version has been written off as sappy, it is still the original hit and the song is underrated.  She has other great improvisational moments in between her performances and continued to be one of the most important female vocalists of her time, though commercial success eluded her despite how strongly deserved it was.

 

The 1.33 X 1 image for the main 1976 program, 1987 clips and 1990 clips in the extras are about equal, as shot on NTSC analog video, though I wondered why none of it was PAL or SECAM, unless there is some down-conversion I am unaware of.  All are in good shape and in color.  The sound is here in PCM 16bit/48kHz 2.0 Stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1, all of which are good, though the DTS is rich and PCM is the one purists might choose.  Unlike the DualDisc, which only had PCM sound, having the 5.1 options are terrific and maybe the first time Simone has been heard this way.

 

Extras include the bonus tracks from two later Montreux concerts.  The 1987 footage is her singing Someone To Watch Over Me and My Baby Just Cares For Me, while the 1990 clips include I Loves You Porgy, Liberian Calypso, Four Women/Mississippi Goddam and Ne Me Quitte Pas (Don’t Leave Me).  Even in her later years, she was still a powerful music force to be reckoned with.  Four Women may be more powerful in the earlier late 1960s performance on the DualDisc, but is no less interesting, especially when combined with a song called Mississippi Goddam.  There is also a paper pullout in the DVD case, including some still and a brief essay about the lady.  Running nearly two hours, this is one of the best installments in Eagle’s long-running Montreux series to date.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo