High Priestess of Soul

High Priestess of Soul
Studio album by Nina Simone
Released	1967
Recorded	New York, 1965–1966
Genre	Jazz, blues, folk, R&B
Length	35:51
Label	Philips
Producer	Hal Mooney
Nina Simone chronology
Wild Is the Wind (1966) High Priestess of Soul (1967) Nina Simone Sings the Blues (1967)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[2]
Pitchfork	9.2/10 [3]

High Priestess of Soul is a studio album by singer, pianist and songwriter Nina Simone. The songs are accompanied by a large band directed and arranged by Hal Mooney. The album contains pop songs (such as "Don't You Pay Them No Mind") and African American gospel and folk-related songs written by Simone herself (such as "Take Me to the Water" and "Come Ye"). After this album title – an attempt to broaden her appeal by management execs – Nina Simone was sometimes titled “the high priestess of soul”, although she completely rejected the title herself because it placed a label on her as an artist. However, according to her daughter, Lisa, she never hated that moniker. ^[4]

Information about songs on this album

• The songs "I Hold No Grudge" and "He Ain't Comin' Home No More" were co-written by Andy Badale, the pseudonym of Angelo Badalamenti, who later became known as the composer of the soundtracks for the films of David Lynch. Simone recorded also "Another Spring" by Badalamenti and Clifford for her album Nina Simone and Piano released 1969.
• An earlier recording of the soul-jazz hit "Work Song" by Nat Adderley and Oscar Brown, Jr. had been featured on Forbidden Fruit (1961, also featured on the compilation Nina’s Choice from 1963). In 1966, two years after her departure from Colpix, the same recording from the Forbidden Fruit sessions was featured again, but with strings added, on With Strings .
• The last track "I Love My Baby" is a composition by Andy Stroud to whom Simone was married from 1960 until 1970. His company Stroud Productions also produced many of her albums.

Track listing

Side One

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Don't You Pay Them No Mind"	Richard Ahlert, Bobby Scott	3:05
2.	"I'm Gonna Leave You"	Rudy Stevenson	2:15
3.	"Brown Eyed Handsome Man"	Chuck Berry	2:02
4.	"Keeper of the Flame"	Charles Derringer	3:21
5.	"The Gal from Joe's"	Duke Ellington, Irving Mills	2:43
6.	"Take Me to the Water"	Nina Simone	2:49

Side Two

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
7.	"I'm Going Back Home"	Stevenson	2:47
8.	"I Hold No Grudge"	Angelo Badalamenti, John Clifford	2:17
9.	"Come Ye"	Simone	3:34
10.	"He Ain't Comin' Home No More"	Angelo Badalamenti, Clifford	3:06
11.	"Work Song"	Nat Adderley, Oscar Brown	3:03
12.	"I Love My Baby"	Andy Stroud	4:00

Charts

Chart 1967	Peak position
Hot R&B LPs	29 [5]

References

1. Allmusic review
2. Larkin, Colin (2007). Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-0195313734.
3. Wallace, Carvell (July 30, 2016). "Nina Simone : High Priestess of Soul". Pitchfork . Retrieved July 30, 2016.
4. Archived 2014-04-27 at the Wayback Machine Simone: I never heard Mommy say she hated that moniker.
5. "Nina Simone". AllMusic. Retrieved February 21, 2012.