Nina Simone's 1965 album is a searing transformation of pop and folk songs into raw, incantatory blues-jazz. Her voice and piano are front and center, demanding a system that can handle dynamic extremes. This is for anyone who wants to hear a singer unafraid to shatter a song into pieces.
The opening note is struck before she sings a word. That piano — low, insistent, a single repeated note that sounds like a nail being driven into wood. Then her voice enters, not singing so much as casting a spell.
“I Put a Spell on You” is not a cover. It is an exorcism. Screamin’ Jay Hawkins may have written it as a novelty shocker, but Nina Simone understood the literal truth in the title. She turns it into a promise and a threat.
This album was recorded in 1964 and 1965 across sessions in New York and Los Angeles, produced by Hal Mooney, who had the good sense to get out of her way. Mooney’s string arrangements provide a dark, lush backdrop, but the real architecture is Simone’s piano. Listen to how she crowds the beat on “Tomorrow Is My Turn” — rushing ahead, pulling back, leaving the rhythm section scrambling to keep up. Her left hand is a piston, her right a claw. The piano is not accompaniment. It is her second voice.
And what a voice. This is the kind of recording that separates good systems from great ones. Simone’s voice lives in a space that is almost too much for microphones: the way she drops to a whisper on “Ne me quitte pas,” then rises to a full-throated roar, can make a cheap tweeter sound like a tin can. The 1965 Philips pressing had a certain warmth, but the modern high-resolution transfers reveal the grit in her throat, the air around the piano, the slight overload on the tape during the loudest passages. This album rewards headphones that can handle dynamics without compression.
Listen to “Feeling Good” — a song that has been sung placidly by a thousand cruise ship entertainers. Simone takes it at a loping, almost arrogant tempo. She stretches the word “feeling” over two measures, and when she hits the final “good,” she holds the note like she’s daring it to crack. That tension between control and abandon is the beating heart of this record.
There is no weakness here. Even the quietest moments, like “July Tree,” feel like the calm before a storm. Her piano playing on that track is the most tender thing she ever committed to tape, but you can hear the restraint in her voice, the sense that she is holding something back. When she finally lets it out on “Blues on Purpose,” it’s a release that shakes the speakers.
The band — Rudy Stevenson on guitar, Lisle Atkinson on bass, Bobby Hamilton on drums — knew to stay out of her way while providing a foundation that could hold her weight. Stevenson’s guitar on “One September Day” is a series of small, perfect gestures, exactly what the song needs.
By the time you reach “You’ve Got to Learn,” the closing track, she has already taught you. The message is political, personal, and universal: you’ve got to learn to survive. She delivers it like a woman who has learned that lesson the hard way, and she is not going to let you forget it.
🎵 Key Takeaways
- A single repeated piano note opens the album
- I Put a Spell on You is an exorcism, not a cover
- Her left hand is a piston, her right a claw
- She crowds the beat on Tomorrow Is My Turn
- Modern high-resolution transfers reveal grit in her throat
- She stretches feeling over two measures on Feeling Good
What is the best format to listen to 'I Put a Spell on You' for highest resolution?
The 2017 Verve reissue in 192kHz/24-bit Hi-Res is excellent, as is the 2015 German vinyl reissue on Speakers Corner. Both reveal the air and grit in Simone's voice that cheaper pressings bury.
Why does Nina Simone sound so much more intense than the original Screamin' Jay Hawkins version?
Simone turned the novelty rocker into a slow, hypnotic blues incantation. She emphasized the voodoo subtext and sang it with a preacher's conviction, making it sound like a real spell being cast.
Was this album recorded live in studio?
Yes, most tracks were recorded live with the rhythm section, and Simone's vocals and piano were captured simultaneously. The strings and horns were overdubbed later, but the core performances are first takes with all the rawness intact.
Further Reading