Thank you for buying this record. What follows is its documentation: the pressing identified, the matrix / runout transcribed by hand from the dead wax, and the condition as assessed before it was listed. It is yours to keep with the record.

— Paul, Vinyl Curator

Nina Simone

Baltimore

1978 · CTI Records CTI 7084 · Stereo · US · LP, gatefold · 33 1/3 RPM

Pressing details

Label	CTI Records
Catalogue number	CTI 7084
Year	1978
Mono / Stereo	Stereo
Country	US
Format	LP, gatefold
Speed	33 1/3 RPM
Genre	Vocal/Jazz-Soul (Reggae, Soft Rock, Gospel)
Producer	Creed Taylor
Musicians	Nina Simone (vocals, piano), Al Schackman (piano on "Baltimore"), David Matthews (keyboards, piano on "The Family" and "Forget", string arrangements), Eric Gale (guitar), Jerry Friedman (guitar on "Rich Girl" and "The Family"), Eric Gale/Gary King (bass, Baltimore), Will Lee (bass on "Rich Girl"), Jim Madison (drums), Andy Newmark (drums on "Rich Girl"), Nicky Marrero (percussion), string section including Barry Finclair, Charles Libove, David Nadien, Harry Glickman, Harry Lookofsky, Herbert Sorkin, Marvin Morgenstern, Max Ellen, Richard Sortomme (violin), LaMar Alsop, Alfred Brown, Emanuel Vardi (viola), Alan Shulman, Charles McCracken, Jonathan Abramowitz (cello), Chuck Israels, Homer Mensch, John Beal (double bass), background vocals by Albertine Robinson, Babi Floyd, Debbie McDuffie, Frank Floyd, Joshie Armstead, Maeretha Stewart, Milt Grayson, Ray Simpson

Matrix / Runout

Side A:  CTI 7084 A ONE  D UNION JACK 87749-A-RE 10 MASTERDISK @
Side B:  CTI7084B A UNION JACK 87749-RE-1-B MASTERDISK @

Condition

Cover: NM
Vinyl: NM

Variant chronology

1978 - US original, Keel Mfg plant (Union Jack stamp, Masterdisk RE-cut, matrix 87749-A/B-RE)  <- this copy
1978 - US original, Columbia Terre Haute / other-plant stamper of the same first pressing (e.g. FP44924 matrix) - value as above, same first-pressing market
1978 - US promo (white label/timing-strip)
1978 - US test pressing
1978 - US sealed/still-sealed copy
1978 - UK CTI/CTI Deluxe 7084 pressing
1978 - France CTI 70.84 pressing
2013 - US CTI 7084 remastered reissue

This Pressing

1978 US original (Keel Mfg pressing) - CTI 7084 gatefold, Union Jack deadwax stamp, Masterdisk RE-cut lacquer.

The Album

Baltimore was Nina Simone's fourteenth studio album and her first new recording since 1974's It Is Finished, made after veteran producer Creed Taylor caught her live at London's Drury Lane Theatre in December 1977 and signed her to his CTI label. The sessions, held at Studio Katy in Brussels in January 1978, were reportedly tense: Simone bristled at Taylor's reggae-inflected arrangement of the Randy Newman title track and at the overall production concept, though she ultimately cut her vocals in a single sitting. The record is a covers album in character, drawing on songwriters as varied as Randy Newman, Judy Collins, Hall & Oates and traditional spirituals, filtered through CTI's polished late-70s studio sound with strings, horns and a crossover pop-soul-reggae palette. It marked Simone's only album for CTI and one of her few studio efforts of the decade, arriving after years of self-imposed exile from the American music industry and personal upheaval. Commercially it made little impact and drew mixed reviews at the time, seen by some critics as a mismatch between Simone's fierce artistic identity and Taylor's smooth production instincts. In retrospect it has been reassessed by admirers as an underrated late-period Simone record, valued for the raw ache she brings to the title track and to the closing gospel numbers, and it remains a significant, if divisive, entry in the catalog of one of American music's most singular vocalists and pianists.

Tracklist

Side 1

1. Baltimore - 4:37
2. Everything Must Change - 3:57
3. The Family - 4:57
4. My Father - 4:54

Side 2

1. Music For Lovers - 3:40
2. Rich Girl - 3:11
3. That's All I Want From You - 2:52
4. Forget - 2:54
5. Balm In Gilead - 2:24
6. If You Pray Right - 3:17

The Label

The label is the tan/cream CTI Records design with the maroon cross-hairs and boxed "CTI" logo, address "1 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, N.Y. 10020", stereo marking, catalogue number CTI 7084 A/B and matrix 87749-A/B, with a hand-signed-style "Produced by Creed Taylor" credit printed on the label - this is CTI's standard 1978-era house design used across the label's catalogue during Creed Taylor's ownership of the imprint. There is no design change to track here since CTI used this single label style throughout its brief run; the variant distinctions for this title live entirely in the deadwax (plant stamps and Masterdisk RE-cut generation), not in the label artwork itself. The runouts show a Union Jack stamp (Keel Mfg pressing plant) and Masterdisk mastering credit, placing this among the several US pressing-plant variants (Keel Mfg vs. Columbia Terre Haute vs. others) pressed for the original 1978 US release, all sharing this same label design.

Fidelity

Mastered by Dave Crawford at Masterdisk (his hand-initialed stamp appears in the deadwax) direct from the Brussels session tapes mixed at Electric Lady with the Aphex Aural Exciter; this Keel Mfg-pressed copy is one of several plant variants of the same original 1978 lacquer/mastering, so its sonics are essentially interchangeable with the Columbia Terre Haute pressings of the same release rather than a distinct remaster. Collector commentary on this title is thin, reflecting its status as a minor, contested entry in Simone's catalog rather than an audiophile-chased title; no Mobile Fidelity, Analogue Productions or other audiophile reissue of Baltimore exists to compare against. As an original US pressing it outranks the Japanese GP 3161 pressing and any later reissue for those seeking the source mastering, though condition and plant variance likely matter more to the ear than plant-to-plant differences here.

Notes

1978 CTI 7084 stereo gatefold - US original pressing. The runouts (Union Jack stamp, Masterdisk 87749-A/B with RE-cut numbers) correspond to the Keel Mfg plant pressing of the original release, one of several US plants used to press this title's first run alongside Columbia Terre Haute. Label design, catalogue number and matrix prefix are consistent with the standard original 1978 CTI issue rather than any later reissue or foreign pressing.

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