Billie Holiday Lady Day box set

[mikeweil]

The rather high price for this put me off - is it worth it?

I accidentally bought the Definite 10 CD box, because its description was almost identical to that of the Legacy box, and ask myself if the sound is identical, or better with one of the two .....

To cut it short: Which set has the better sound, and the better commentary? I heard there were problems with defective discs on the Legacy set.

Any opinion would be highly appreciated - couldn't find any discussion of this set here.

Edited October 7, 2006 by mikeweil

[jazzbo]

I haven't heard the Definitive. I got a really good preorder price on the Columbia and replaced my King Jazz cds etc. with it. I'm a Billie nut and I had to have it. . . and I'm glad I do have it. I think the sound is very very very good. I'm not equipted to do 78s, so this works for me. A really fine job in my opinion.

If the Definitive sounds really good, hold fast. Brooks' notes etc. are nice, but liner notes and blah blah blah from the annoited cognoscenti mean less and less to me these days. If they mean more and more to you, they're there on the Columbia.

[neveronfriday]

This one is a corner stone of my collection. The sound is more than fine and besides the Farah Griffin essay which, as far as I recall, had some factual errors, plus the slight overproduction that Clementine already mentioned, I would sell other important items from my collection to rebuy Lady Day, should I ever have to.

It really comes down to the music, and it is represented here in a glorious fashion.

BTW: On Amazon France, the box is currently 78,07 Euro. A more than reasonable price.

Lady Day (78 Euro)

Get it!

[ejp626]

I have the Definitive and don't plan on upgrading to the Columbia set. The Definitive has a few bonus tracks not on the Columbia set, mostly radio broadcasts on Disc 10.

[mikeweil]

That Amazon France price was the lowest I could find ....

Now is there anything on the Legacy set that's not in the Definitive box?

[king ubu]

I got it for less on French Amazon, can't remember how much it was, but I think in the 35-50 euro range... must have been some kind of sale, but I can't remember.

I agree with the statements above, sound is good, the book has an awkward format... but the music is glorious!

I have no idea about what's in the Definitive box, but I think one cut (an alternate) was erroneously duplicated on the Columbia box, so it misses one alternate and has another take of that tune twice... I wouldn't know if that mistake has been corrected, it was reported to me by mmilovan.

[neveronfriday]

The lowest price I ever saw was Euro 61,76 and I can vaguely remember it being 10 Euro cheaper for a very short time before that. The above price was from around Christmas 2004, the time I bought it. I think it has been steadily above 70 Euro since around that time.

Edited October 7, 2006 by neveronfriday

[king ubu]

You're correct, sorry. I must have mixed it up with some other box sets... I paid 69€ from French Amazon in July 2004. Too many box sets, I assume, in too short time

[mikeweil]

I paid € 41,95 incl. shipping for the Definitive box - not bad for 10 CDs. The discographical information is all there, sound is very good. It arranges the tracks differently from the Legacy set - it has the master takes first and all the alternates at the end of each disc, which makes for smoother listening, IMO, than the stricct session order of the Lady Day box. Not much to read, but having the autobiography as well as the Chilton and Harrison books, that part is covered. There are a few live tracks on disc 10 that are not in the Columbia box ..... I think I'm settled with this until I see a bargain on the SONY box.

Thanks for all the input, my friends!

[king ubu]

Mike, the Sony - that's the most annoying thing about it, in my opinion - does not have the tracks chronologically! The alternates are all together on half of disc 7 or 8 and then up to the end. I think it also has a couple of live tunes tagged on it, but I don't have it here to check.

[John L]

When the Sony set came out, the sound quality was an absolute revelation. In my opinion, it is one of the greatest box sets of music ever released.

Before the Sony set, the underground alternative was a box set on Affinity. The sound quality was so bad and distant that it discouraged listening. The old Columbia LPs also had distant sound. The Sony set changed all that.

Take a guess where Definitive got their source material.

[brownie]

The Lady Day box set is superb, except it misses several alternate takes which could have been added without problems!

AND it is one of the most unfriendly boxes to deal with. Pulling out the discs is a dangerous task (so is the Charlie Christian box from the Sony-CBS people)!

[king ubu]

There's another rip-off on the Comet (Italian?) label - I saw that one in stores here, for roughly the same crazy swiss prize of the Columbia box. It's astonishing again and again how clueless these vendors are!

[mikeweil]

Name a CD shop employee with a thorough knowledge of jazz reissues .....

[king ubu]

I say they should employ guys like us and pay us management salaries because of our vast knowledge

[Filthy McNasty]

Take a guess where Definitive got their source material.

I give up. Where?

(Genuinely interested, not just being an ass.)

[mikeweil]

Is it really that difficult to guess?

From the Legacy set, of course - they just re-arranged the track order (in a better way, BTW, IMO!).

[king ubu]

They did the same with the Bird 8CD set, it seems... first, there were two 4CD boxes (rip-offs of, I assume some Savoy edition and the Spotlite Dial box), then all of a sudden, lookie here, an 8CD set... But there, the real thing's da shit, I wouldn't spend a penny on the Definitive box!

[alppila]

Picked up a sealed copy of Lady Day: The Complete Billie Holiday on Columbia (1933-1944) for 40€ yesterday. Currently still in shock.

[mikeweil]

Currently still in shock.

... 'bout the price or the music?

[alppila]

First one, then the other!

[poetrylover3]

First one, then the other!

So where did you buy it from?

[alppila]

Oh, it was a local record fair. Sorry I can't share the pleasure around, but they had one copy only.

First one, then the other!

So where did you buy it from?

[Shrdlu]

I was very glad to get the Columbia box several years back. I already had about 1/3 of the tracks on single no-name budget CDs, and it was time for a definitive collection (no pun intended, lol). It does lack about half-a-dozen alternate takes that they really should have included, but hey, it is 10 CDs, and, realistically, how often are you going to play them all?

The book is awkwardly set up, and they very annoyingly placed all the outtakes in the Siberia of CD 10. It takes a lot of energy to listen through chronologically. (Why does that always happen with these "Complete" box sets? I always sigh when I read "We decided to ...." Mosaic does that almost every time, and it means hopping back and forth between CDs.)