Let It All Out is one of
Nina Simone's more adult pop-oriented mid-'60s albums, with renditions of tunes by
Duke Ellington ("Mood Indigo"),
Billie Holiday ("Don't Explain"),
Irving Berlin ("This Year's Kisses"), and Rodgers & Hart ("Little Girl Blue"). As ever,
Simone ranges wide in her selection:
Bob Dylan's "The Ballad of Hollis Brown," a swaggering adaptation of "Chauffeur Blues" (credited to her husband of the time, Andy Stroud), the gospel hymn "Nearer Blessed Lord," and
Van McCoy's "For Myself." "Images" is an a cappella adaptation of a poem about the beauty of blackness by Waring Cuney. All of
Simone's Philips albums are solid, and this is no exception, although it isn't the best of them. ~ Richie Unterberger