Billie Holiday Columbia

[mjzee]

I dunno...might be a typo...but it does say 10 discs...$32.99 preorder...

Amazon

[Cliff Englewood]

I dunno...might be a typo...but it does say 10 discs...$32.99 preorder...

Amazon

No I don't think it is, I was going to post something about this myself as my local Tower had a few copies of it for around €30. It seems to be the same set as the 10 disc one released a few years back but without the fancy box.

Edited September 27, 2009 by Cliff Englewood

[AllenLowe]

is Sony the actual company releasing it?

[J.A.W.]

is Sony the actual company releasing it?

Yes, according to Amazon U.K. - the sets on Amazon U.S. and Amazon U.K. have the same ASIN code.

[Ron S]

Also, the photo of the back cover reveals the Sony, Columbia, and Legacy logos.

Thanks for the heads-up!

[mikelz777]

I already have this set: (Documents/Membran)

It's a bare-bones CD size clam-shell box, no personnel, dates or booklet info of any kind and I think the sound is fine, I have no problems with it. It appears that the first 8 discs of this set are identical to the Columbia box. That last two discs on this set appear to have her Decca and Commodore material as opposed to the Columbia set which appears to have alternate takes. (and some radio spots?) Would anyone happen to know both and compare the sound? The Columbia box looks tempting but I'm not sure it's worth springing for just to get the alternate takes and the booklet/personnel information. If I dumped the pictured set in favor of the Columbia set, I'd also be losing the Commodore material. (I have the Decca stuff in a different set.)

Edited September 27, 2009 by mikelz777

[jostber]

Here is from amazon.com:

Amazon.com

This box set earns the "deluxe" designation not only because of its handsome packaging, insightful essays by Holiday scholars, and testimonials from the likes of Tony Bennett, Sonny Rollins, and Etta James, but also because of the vastly improved remastered sound that makes Lady Day the definitive issue of Billie Holiday's pivotal 1930s and '40s Columbia/Vocalion/Brunswick/OKeh oeuvre. The sides here include epochal collaborations with Count Basie, Benny Goodman, Lester Young, Teddy Wilson, and others. Six-plus discs chronologically present 151 masters, with the rest of the 10 CDs' space given to alternate takes and radio air checks.

It was during the early years of this period, of course, that Holiday quickly developed into one of the 20th century's vocal monuments. Her incisive way with lyric and melody, often deploying playfulness, wit, and pain in a single song, became a model for both many a female singer, as well as Frank Sinatra and Marvin Gaye. These are records to be endlessly replayed for many kinds of appreciation. Played end to end, they introduce ideals of groove and emotional expression that remain fresh and even startling many years on. Lady Day is not only a perfect example of how to reissue key material, but is an album that will stand as a beacon for veteran Holiday fans and for the new ones it will no doubt attract. --Rickey Wright

A review:

http://livingwithmusic.com/2006/01/12/the-...ay-on-columbia/

[mikelz777]

From the looks of the picture on Amazon, it appears that this set comes in a CD size clam-shell box with a booklet and the CDs housed in cardboard sleeves. Was the original release larger or a bit more deluxe?

[Chuck Nessa]

Original version here.

[tranemonk]

I'm going to have to snap this one up... Hope the price holds for a little while....

thanks for the heads up!!!!

[mjzee]

I think if you "pay" for it with a credit card (they won't bill you until it ships), then they will honor the price.

[king ubu]

Here is from amazon.com:

Amazon.com

This box set earns the "deluxe" designation not only because of its handsome packaging, insightful essays by Holiday scholars, and testimonials from the likes of Tony Bennett, Sonny Rollins, and Etta James, but also because of the vastly improved remastered sound that makes Lady Day the definitive issue of Billie Holiday's pivotal 1930s and '40s Columbia/Vocalion/Brunswick/OKeh oeuvre. The sides here include epochal collaborations with Count Basie, Benny Goodman, Lester Young, Teddy Wilson, and others. Six-plus discs chronologically present 151 masters, with the rest of the 10 CDs' space given to alternate takes and radio air checks.

It was during the early years of this period, of course, that Holiday quickly developed into one of the 20th century's vocal monuments. Her incisive way with lyric and melody, often deploying playfulness, wit, and pain in a single song, became a model for both many a female singer, as well as Frank Sinatra and Marvin Gaye. These are records to be endlessly replayed for many kinds of appreciation. Played end to end, they introduce ideals of groove and emotional expression that remain fresh and even startling many years on. Lady Day is not only a perfect example of how to reissue key material, but is an album that will stand as a beacon for veteran Holiday fans and for the new ones it will no doubt attract. --Rickey Wright

A review:

http://livingwithmusic.com/2006/01/12/the-...ay-on-columbia/

That description is for the original box, I'm sure:

Original version here.

The music is fantastic, absolutely essential.

The notes in the original version were quite good, I think (at least the track-by-track ones, can't remember much about the essay).

[Quincy]

Thank you so much for the heads up on this. I just have 2 of the Columbia discs that came out after the box. (I wasn't enlightened when the box was easily available.) Now my niece can get my old discs to go with the bit of Verve she already has.

[shaft]

Hello,

I have the big box set and it's really great - both the sound and the music. Very nice remastering on this on!

/Anders

PS And the book that came along is very beautiful with great pictures etc.

[J.A.W.]

Hello,

I have the big box set and it's really great - both the sound and the music. Very nice remastering on this on!

/Anders

PS And the book that came along is very beautiful with great pictures etc.

While I agree that the original box is a great collection of Billie Holiday's wonderful music, I don't like the mastering. I was disappointed by the sound quality; Billie’s voice and some of the instruments at times sound harsh and piercing to my ears. Judging by other issues of some of this Sony-owned material, such as the excellent Teddy Wilson CDs with Holiday on the Scottish Hep label, which were mastered by the late John R.T. Davies, I think the Sony mastering could have been better.

Edited September 28, 2009 by J.A.W.

[neveronfriday]

Hello,

I have the big box set and it's really great - both the sound and the music. Very nice remastering on this on!

/Anders

PS And the book that came along is very beautiful with great pictures etc.

While I agree that the original box is a great collection of Billie Holiday's wonderful music, I don't like the mastering. I was disappointed by the sound quality; Billie's voice and some of the instruments at times sound harsh and piercing to my ears. Judging by other issues of some of this Sony-owned material, such as the excellent Teddy Wilson CDs with Holiday on the Scottish Hep label, which were mastered by the late John R.T. Davies, I think the Sony mastering could have been better.

I have to agree with Hans on this one. I have the box set and love it, and I was initially in favor of the remastering, but when I delved more seriously into the subject of bungled remasters, I had to reevaluate my position on this one.

This is not to say that a) most people will be more than happy with this set, especially at this price and b) it really depends on your stance altogether. I have also learned to live with somewhat inferior remasters simply because I was too stupid to sell my original CDs way back when believing I was getting sth better in exchange (that was also at a time at which my stereo system was rather mediocre, meaning that I didn't notice a difference) and because I simply don't have the cash to pay for all the old CDs again (which are getting hard to find in many cases).

My suggestion: At this price, you can't go wrong at all, especially because an improved remaster is not exactly on the horizon. If at all, we'll probably get some compressed digital files as an alternative in the future.

So, buy it if you don't have it already!

[edit] P.S.: I have the original box set, not this special budget version.

Edited September 28, 2009 by neveronfriday

[neveronfriday]

One more (yeah, I know, think first and then post, but ...)

This is not an example of a really bad remaster. It's an example of one that is compressed and could and should have been so much better. Lately, I've been crying in my beer over all the Fitzgerald Songbooks remastered by Dennis Drake that I sold, only to get inferior reissues in return. Because I love some of that Fitzgerald output within that songbook series, I re-bought some old Drake remasters and played side-by-side with the new reissues, it is astonishing how much better the old ones were. I'm not going to use all those audiophile gobbledygook terms here, but if you do compare old and new side by side, there are literally light years between them sound-wise. And ... anyone can hear that, even my dad who always pricks up his ears when I show him the difference (and his hearing on his way to 80 years of age isn't exactly the best).

[AllenLowe]

interesting because I've never heard the Sony Holiday box but had read how good the sound was - when you say compressed, I'm uncertain, as they would not use compression on recordings of this age - are you referring to the eq? Amount of noise reduction? I may have to order this thing to find out.

[J.A.W.]

interesting because I've never heard the Sony Holiday box but had read how good the sound was - when you say compressed, I'm uncertain, as they would not use compression on recordings of this age - are you referring to the eq? Amount of noise reduction? I may have to order this thing to find out.

You're probably asking neveronfriday, but to my ears it sounds as if there's a frequency boost that makes the voice and some instruments sound shrill, "piercing" as I said earlier. The same material with Billie Holiday on the John R.T. Davies-mastered Teddy Wilson Hep CDs sounds much more natural to me.

Edited September 28, 2009 by J.A.W.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Saw this in Spillers, when I went into Cardiff today. £19.99 ($31.78), as I recall - pretty good price for 10 CDs. Didn't get it because I have all but one of the Teddy Wilson Brunswick set on Hep, remastered by John R T Davies, and I like to hear Billie in the context of those recordings - some instrumentals, some other vocalists. And Billie can't be listened to continuously without total emotional breakdown, so the other material is most welcome.

MG

[jazzbo]

This music is just incredible. The booklet is amazing.

I am quite happy with the sound on these. I've worked hard to have a very flexible sound system and that has paid off for me. If you have a bright sounding system the Davies transfers on MOJ or HEP may be a better choice.

At this price, and if you have a tone control, don't hesitate.

[J.A.W.]

This music is just incredible. The booklet is amazing.

I am quite happy with the sound on these. I've worked hard to have a very flexible sound system and that has paid off for me. If you have a bright sounding system the Davies transfers on MOJ or HEP may be a better choice.

At this price, and if you have a tone control, don't hesitate.

My system is not bright-sounding, on the contrary, and I've heard that harshness/shrillness on more systems than just my own and I'm not the only one who has complained about it

Anyway, I agree that for this kind of money it's a no-brainer, the music is wonderful.

Edited September 28, 2009 by J.A.W.

[neveronfriday]

This music is just incredible. The booklet is amazing.

I am quite happy with the sound on these. I've worked hard to have a very flexible sound system and that has paid off for me. If you have a bright sounding system the Davies transfers on MOJ or HEP may be a better choice.

At this price, and if you have a tone control, don't hesitate.

Hm.

What does this have to do with bright-sounding systems?

No matter which system I've heard these on, they could have been better.

Nothing wrong with getting yourself a system that alleviates some problems with bright-sounding remasters (I've done so myself, as much as I could afford to ... my system adds quite a bit of "warmth" and tones down brightness), but that doesn't change the remaster itself?

In general, I think the remaster should be done properly. It shouldn't be the consumer trying to adapt to a mediocre or listless engineering job?

Again, no problem with getting a system that you can "tweak" to adapt to various (especially more recent) remasters (and, considering the developments of recent years, one actually has to), but if you follow the principle of what "goes in" should "come out", you're breaking the chain, so to speak.

[neveronfriday]

interesting because I've never heard the Sony Holiday box but had read how good the sound was - when you say compressed, I'm uncertain, as they would not use compression on recordings of this age - are you referring to the eq? Amount of noise reduction? I may have to order this thing to find out.

Hm.

I should have responded to this one before the other one.

I'm not saying these are bad at all, but they are on the bright side. I've had the chance to hear some other remasters of parts of this set and they're, for wont of a better word, more natural sounding. In my eyes (to my ears) it's a small quibble, because it's really the music that counts most of all, but I would have liked a project of such scope and such cultural importance to have had better mastering.

YMMV.

Edited September 28, 2009 by neveronfriday

[AllenLowe]

well, yes and no - you're right that the mastering should be right and the music should be ready. But mastering engineers, in my experience, often have not a clue about music of this vintage. But as long as they have not changed the wave form (with digital noise reduction) a lot of compensation can be made with a good eq. Best example I can give of this is the old BMG Jelly Roll Morton box, which was roundly castigated when it was released some years ago for sounding dead - everybody blamed "no noise" but that had nothing to do with it, as that system did relatively little at the time it was appplied. I've been able to take that box and make it sound absolutely brilliant (I surprised none other than Larry Gushee with this), but I was somewhat shocked at how much eq'ing that had to be done - but once again, you're right that the sound should be CD ready - on the other hand, if the original sources and transfers were right (as they were with Jelly Roll) than it's worth a little extra effort, especially since, with Sony (as with BMG) you're likely getting originals.

Edited September 28, 2009 by AllenLowe