And maybe no track speaks to her remarkable abilities better than her cover of Bob Dylan's "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues." The original is a rollicking folk/rock tune from Dylan's seminal Highway 61 Revisited; Simone takes it apart and reassembles it as a wistful, regret-fueled ballad with light percussion and guitar work supplementing her own fluid piano. The song becomes a breeze blowing through the room; you can smell a fresh rain, but you just missed the storm.
Like Dylan, Simone's vocal work is absolutely unique. To say that no one sounds like Nina Simone is not a boast or gush; it's the simple truth. At turns rich and reedy, clear and croaking, every syllable and every word have their own power and meaning.
It's interesting, too, to hear Simone speak occasionally on these tracks — many of them are culled from live performances, as the stage was so often where she reimagined songs in the moment and created such vibrant artistry. Her speaking voice is almost always a bit hesitant, unsure — she talks carefully. Yet when she sings... such confidence, power, and grace, and effortlessly too. It's almost as though she truly speaks through her music, where she can communicate with the greatest effect.
To Be Free includes a number of Simone's most recognizable tunes, from her covers of the Bee Gees' "To Love Somebody" and Screamin' Jay Hawkins' "I Put A Spell On You" to the buoyant and jazzy "Feeling Good," popularized by a remix in 2002 and featured on the soundtrack to the Sex and the City TV series.
Yet, this is not one of those boxed sets where you can be sure you'll know a handful of the "hits" going in, and maybe enjoy some of the other tunes as well — instead you're invited to wade into the depth and breadth of a catalog like no other in pop music, astonishing in its diversity and meaning, with nary a misstep. As great as each song is on To Be Free, Simone's brilliance can't be summed up in a handful of tunes. It's only when this set is taken as a whole that the full range of her abilities can be appreciated, and maybe in fleeting moments, understood.
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