Nina Simone - Fodder on My Wings

[GA Russell]

 

 

ESSENTIAL LATE-ERA NINA SIMONE ALBUM, FODDER ON MY WINGS, TO MAKE LONG OVERDUE REAPPEARANCE ON LP AND CD PLUS WIDE DIGITAL RELEASE FOR THE FIRST TIME IN STANDARD AND HI-RES AUDIO “I SING JUST TO KNOW THAT I’M ALIVE” RELEASED DIGITALLY TODAY AVAILABLE APRIL 3 VIA VERVE/UMe Los Angeles – February 7, 2020 – Recorded in 1982, not long after she moved to Paris, Fodder On My Wings was one of Nina Simone’s favorite albums yet has remained one of her most obscure. Originally recorded for a small French label and only sporadically available since its initial release, Fodder On My Wings will be reissued in a variety of formats including CD and LP, as well as widely available digitally for the first time, in both standard and hi-res audio, on April 3 via Verve/UMe. The original album will be expanded with three bonus tracks from the recording sessions from a rare French reissue released in 1988. The effervescent opening track “I Sing Just To Know That I’m Alive,” a song that Simone often performed live in her later years, is available now to stream and as an instant grat download with digital preorder. A lyric video is also available now: https://verve.lnk.to/ISJTKTIA A lesser-known but important part of Simone’s musical history, Fodder On My Wings contains deeply personal songs, including the aforementioned, “I Sing Just To Know That I'm Alive” and “I Was Just A Stupid Dog To Them,” as well a searing lyrical improvisation about the death of her father on “Alone Again (Naturally).” At the time she recorded the album, Simone was living in France and extremely lonely; her mental illness was worsening and her family life was fractured. It’s out of this despair that one of the many album standouts, the near title track “Fodder In Her Wings,” was birthed. As Pitchfork wrote in their list of 33 of Simone’s most iconic songs, the composition “captured with startling intimacy the pain of this period, and she returned to it frequently through the next decade, cutting another studio version three years later (the synth-heavy take on Nina’s Back!) and including it on several live albums, including an awe-inspiring performance on 1987’s Let It Be Me,” continuing, “Simone’s vocal makes a song of weariness and defeat carry an air of defiance, a wise word from someone who survived to tell the tale.” Over the years, the album has been reevaluated and has received its due as a significant work in Simone’s prolific catalog. In a 2005 review of the album, Jazz Times hailed the record and especially her emotional performance on “Alone Again (Naturally),” writing: “At the core of the album is a rare, powerful example of Simone with all masks stripped away: Her personal pain explodes to the surface as she reworks Gilbert O’Sullivan’s “Alone Again (Naturally)” into a diatribe about her dying father that bravely progresses from venomously embittered to cautiously conciliatory.” Recorded at a time when Simone was feeling rejuvenated by her surroundings and by the African musicians she met in her newly adopted France, Fodder On My Wings is an essential Simone album that is making a long-overdue reappearance and can now be heard however you prefer to listen to music.   FODDER ON MY WINGS TRACK LISTINGS VINYL SIDE A 1. I Sing Just To Know That I'm Alive 2. Fodder In Her Wings 3. Vous êtes seuls, mais je désire être avec vous 4. Il y a un baume à Gilhead 5. Liberian Calypso 6. Alone Again (Naturally) SIDE B 1. I Was Just A Stupid Dog To Them 2. Color Is A Beautiful Thing 3. Le peuple en Suisse 4. Heaven Belongs To You 5. Thandewye 6. Stop 7. They Took My Hand CD/DIGITAL 1. I Sing Just To Know That I'm Alive 2. Fodder In Her Wings 3. Vous êtes seuls, mais je désire être avec vous 4 Il y a un baume à Gilhead 5. Liberian Calypso 6. Alone Again (Naturally) 7. I Was Just A Stupid Dog To Them 8. Color Is A Beautiful Thing 9. Le Peuple en Suisse 10. Heaven Belongs To You 11. Thandewye 12. Stop 13. They Took My Hand ____________________________________________________________________________________     Artist Title Time           Nina Simone I Sing Just To Know That I'm Alive (NEW) 02:24

Edited February 17, 2020 by GA Russell

[GA Russell]

New York – March 6, 2020 –  Following the last lyric video release for “I Sing Just To Know That I’m Alive,” the autobiographical track “Liberian Calypso” is available now to stream and as an instant grat download with digital preorder. A lyric video is also available now: https://Verve/lnk.to/LiberianCalypso

[mikeweil]

One of the two Simone albums stilll missing in my collection. 

Interestingly, some of the first French issues on LP had "Fodder On My Wings" on the cover, but "Fodder In Her Wings" on the labels.

Edited April 1, 2020 by mikeweil

[mikeweil]

New release date over here is May 29, 2020.

[GA Russell]

“COLOR IS A BEAUTIFUL THING” VIDEO OUT NOW

[king ubu]

That's Sylvin Marc (often written Sylvain) of Gilson/Malagasy fame on bass? Interesting, will definitely get this!

[kh1958]

Just got this; it is mostly rather good.

[mikeweil]

After several listens, I have mixed feelings. I know about the difficult period in her life she had lived through before this album was recorded as an attempt for a comeback, and although her piano chops are intact, her voice has suffered, her intonation is a bit shakey and flat, and she forces things a little. The first track title "I sung just to know that I'm alive" could be the motto for the remainder of her life. KInd of ironic as she was forced into singing on her first nightclub gig that she played only to finance her classical piano studies.

She should have undergone psychotherapy instead of psychiatric medication - the latter diminished her musical power. 

Still, a nice album, indispensable for any Simone fan. The horn players are nor credited - there is a nice trumpet obligato. Anyone knows who the sax and trumpet players are?