NINA SIMONE

‘Mississippi Goddam’ staked out Nina Simone's support of the Civil Rights movement when this album debuted in 1964, helping make it probably the most personal album that Simone issued during her stay on Philips during the decade.

Here, the singer and pianist is backed by a spare quartet, and some of the songs rank among her most socially conscious declarations of African-American pride: ‘Old Jim Crow’, ‘Pirate Jenny’, ‘Go Limp’, and, especially, ‘Mississippi Goddam’ were some of the most forthright musical reflections of the Civil Rights movement to be found at the time. In a more traditional vein, she also reprises her hit ‘I Loves You, Porgy’, and the jazz ballad ‘Don't Smoke in Bed’.