Round 7 Weather

[rayge]

A Ann Peebles – I Can’t Stand the Rain



B Nina Simone - Wild is the Wind

[Deleted]

A very very easy A. I'll probably come back to explain why.

[Mr. FOLLARD]

A, by some distance.

[toomanyhatz]

Both great, but both also well-worn choices. A is probably better, ultimately, but B is slightly lower on the obviousness scale.

[Deleted]

Vote A

[Deleted]

Ann Peebles was the best female soul singer of the late sixties and early seventies. This is her best known track, but not the only fantastic track she did. It's all about the way the track teases you wth its tempo and volume changes, it's sudden lapses into an atmospheric solitude. Tension and release..few tracks do it better.
B is great too and unlucky with the draw.

A

[DarknessFish]

Good beepy intro, we've not had enough beeps by any stretch of the imagination. It feels a good solid example of this kind of thing, good vocals, good brass, and I like the way it pulls away from the climax ... and I wrote that without meaning it like that. Doesn't move me though.

Ann may have been a great singer, but Nina's voice sounds properly lived in. It's not breaking new ground, it performs exactly as you'd expect. She's a class apart, that piano work is wonderful; the song feels much more of an authentic embodiment of emotion.

B

[osgood]

I know I'm pretty alone in this, but I have a problem with Nina's voice. I've tried and tried, and even if I can see what most people like about her, and I love her piano playing, her voice always puts me off.

A is a classic, and deservedly so, and while it falls on the obvious side of the theme (so does B anyway) it wins easily here.

A

[Deleted]

Apr 4, 2020 9:05:38 GMT osgood said:

I know I'm pretty alone in this, but I have a problem with Nina's voice. I've tried and tried, and even if I can see what most people like about her, and I love her piano playing, her voice always puts me off.

Her persona puts me off. I saw her at a minor festival (I think I saw her, she was on the bill. It could just be I didn't bother to stay for her and it's from the many accounts I've read) ... Arrogant. People pay good money to see her perform, it's not up to the audience to jump at her command. Also - and I wish I could remember the details - she made claims about something she was trying to be righteous about but backed right down when someone unexpectedly knew she was bullshitting. Oh I love some of the songs. But not all, not this, and I have trouble voting for her - I certainly wouldn't vote for her against the very fine A.

[fonz]

A is pretty tedious
Simone I gave to get in the mood for, but that’s a good tune.

B

[fange]

The video for A won't play for me, so found a studio version on YT to relisten. Yep, an evergreen classic. I like B, but just not as much.



A

[~ / % ? *]

B

[rayge]

It took until almost the last time of the last round, but at last two tracks I love come up against one another. I bouyght 'Rain' when it came out on London American, and I think it was probably the last gasp for me of what I – alone on this board and probably BCB – think of as real soul. It's a beauty.
B is earlier, from Nina's Philips period, although it's sound, with Nina and her trio, harks back to her earlier style. It's a lovely vocal, of course, but what sells it for me is Nina's piano, beautifully recorded and almost orchestral in its scope.
A shame either has to ose, but for being there in my teens, I'll say
B

[neige]

I like Nina Simone, but B is a dirge...

A all the way - an immortal Allen Toussaint song (I'd even have voted for it if it had been the Tina Turner version)