Nina Simone Anthologized

If Verve’s recently released four-CD collection of late singer Nina Simone’s sides for the Philips label is altogether too much for you, consider RCA/BMG Heritage’s Nina Simone: Anthology, a two-disc collection of the singer’s songs that includes cuts from the Verve set.

While the Verve box only contained tunes Simone recorded in the 1960s (a great period for the singer, no doubt), Anthology draws from Simone’s entire career, including songs she recorded for her first label, Bethlehem, and tracks from her 1993 album on Elektra, A Single Woman. The new set has one unreleased cut, “The Glory of Love,” a tune penned by William Hill that Simone recorded in 1967 while Simone was under contract with RCA. Danny Davis, who was overseeing much of Simone’s work at the time, produced the track and the music was arranged and conducted by Jimmy Wisner.