Ok. Here's a quick rundown of the Billie Holiday music in my library.
On CD...Lady Day: The Complete Billie Holiday on Columbia
This 10 CD boxed set contains everything that Holiday recorded for Columbia records, and this includes
alternate takes and a few unissued tracks. If you can own only one Billie Holiday boxed set then this is
the one to get. Holiday's voice was a little more honeyed and she emoted better through her music
when she was recording with Columbia. Unfortunately this set has been out of print for years and if
you can snag a used one expect to pay between $200 and $300. A still sealed set sold on eBay several
months ago for almost $500
The Complete Verve Studio Master Takes
This 6 CD boxed set contains all of the studio master takes that Holiday recorded
for Norman Granz on Verve. I thought about about the complete Verve set but decided
against it for a few reasons. For one, I got the master take set on sale for about $40.
Secondly, Holiday's period on Verve is not as compelling as her Columbia recordings.
Third, there is too much throw away material on the Verve set, including false starts
and some club recordings that sound pretty bad. Finally, the packaging and tiny booklet
is not what one would expect from set that's this expensive. In short, there wasn't enough
value and quality material on the complete Verve set to justify it's $169 price tag.
The Complete Billie Holiday on Decca
Like most artists of her time, Holiday recorded for several labels. This
2 CD set of her Decca recordings has some fine music, but it is really
only for completists. There are a lot of alternate takes, too many IMO,
for a set of this size. Nearly half the tracks are alternates.
The Commodore Master Takes
This CD is worth buying if for no other reason than it has the first recordings of
Strange
Fruit and
Fine and Mellow. I would pass on the 2 CD Complete Commodore
Master Takes since it doesn't add much value and there are no unissued tracks.
On vinyl....
Classic Records 200g vinyl
Speakers Corner 180g vinyl.
--Jerome
