After an uncharacteristic (for her) four-year hiatus from recording,
Nina Simone returned to the fringes of the
pop world with
Baltimore, the only album she recorded for the
CTI label. While it bears some of the musical stylings of the period -- light
reggae inflections that hint of
Steely Dan's
"Haitian Divorce" -- the vocals are unmistakably
Simone's. Like many of her albums, the content is wildly uneven;
Simone simply covers too much ground and there's too little attention paid to how songs flow together. As a result, a robust torch piano
ballad like
"Music for Lovers" is followed immediately by one of
Simone's more awkward moments, an attempt to keep up with a jaunty rhythm track on a cover of
Hall & Oates'
"Rich Girl." Still, one must give her credit for always being provocative in her cover song choices, as she clearly scores on the
Randy Newman-penned title track and a dramatic reading of
Judy Collins'
"My Father." Her voice throughout is in fine form, even when she phones it in on the album-closing traditional
gospel tunes, but arranger
David Matthews is a mismatch for her: He blows the arrangements with excessive string overlays and needlessly blaring background vocals.
Simone herself all but disavowed the album shortly after its release, testament to her eternally contrarian, iconic nature. Despite her misgivings, though,
Baltimore is an occasionally spellbinding if erratic album, a challenging and worthwhile listen for people ready to dip into the lesser-known entries in
Nina Simone's vast catalog. ~ Joseph McCombs
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