Wild Is the Wind (album)

Infobox Album
Name = Wild Is the Wind
Type = Album
Artist = Nina Simone


Released = 1966
Recorded = New York, 1964 1965
Genre = Vocal Soul Pop Folk R&B
Length =
Label = Philips Records
Producer =
Reviews =
Last album = "Let It All Out"
(1966)
This album = "Wild Is the Wind"
(1966)
Next album = "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.

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 Elkie Brooks who is the only singer to have had chart success with it. Covered also by Jeff Buckley.
*"Wild is the Wind", covered by David Bowie and Cat Power

Track listing

# "I Love Your Lovin' Ways"
# "Four Women"
# "What More Can I Say"
# "Lilac Wine"
# "That's All I Ask"
# "Break Down And Let It All Out"
# "Why Keep On Breaking My Heart"
# "Wild Is the Wind"
# "Black Is the Color of My True Love's Hair"
# "If I Should Lose You"
# "Either Way I Lose"