People check for this record for one reason, and that's Nina's cover of "Funkier Than A Mosquito's Tweeter." Makes Ike and Tina sound like the fucking Partridge Family. After the first couple of lines, when the instruments fall out and her voice descends into the most venomous raspy whisper you've ever heard, you know you're in for some shit. Lots of real subtle hand drum rhythms and the bass anchoring the whole song, real heavy out in the mix. You even get a little instro workout at the end with a break on it. Thank God. Total college radio nerd music right here, and you can feel like you really did something for race relations because you played a fucking Nina Simone record. Personally, I'll take her keep-a-movin-with-that-plow shit any day, but if you need something to reconcile the fact that you should like Nina but you really only like stupid funk shit, you could do worse than to cop this. Other tracks of note include "The Pusher," Dambala," and "Obeah Woman."

• pink & black marble colored vinyl
• 45th anniversary pressing
• limited edition of 1,500
• individually numbered
• music label: Music On Vinyl 2019

reviewd by Bob Bannister 05/2005