No comments about Complete Irving Berlin Songbooks.

No comments about Walkin' After Midnight.

1 comments about Lady Day: The Complete Columbia Golden Years.

1. The Spanish label "Definitive Records" collected 233 songs, including all the studio material recorded between 1933 and 1942 for Columbia. All the alternates are included (at the end of every cd: good choice) and there are some great live sessions. The 10 cd box is very cheap and has a nice design. There's a 100 pages booklet with all the lyrics, the liner notes and a short essay about the issue. The 24-bit remasterization, in my opinion, cleaned the sound and made the instruments more "present", even if a background noise is recognizable in many songs. I think the result is remarkable, and I suggest this box not only to Billie Holiday's fans but also to all music lovers.

2 comments about the rat pack -10 cd-set.

1. If you own other stuff,by the Boys,this is a History lesson,and will complete your collection nicely.Sammy's set start's slow,but really swings,and you see early the great performer he is.
   Frank and Dino's,well its The Rat Pack Baby..I am enjoying it.



2. Yeah, sure pallie, this 10 CD import box set has about 175 songs on it. And, yeah, it's the Rat Pack, or at least it's The Leader, Drunky and Smokey Baby (that's Mr. Frank Sinatra, Mr. Dean Martin and Mr. Sammy Davis Jr. to you) singing.
   
   Sounds great, right? Well, it's not quite jake---
   
   For one thing, The Boys are each singing solo on nine out of the ten CDs. Only one disc has duets and triplets and is actually labelled "The Rat Pack." Even that one has mixed solos on it.
   
   For another thing, these discs are career compilations containing everything and anything from Frank's Bobby Soxer days to Sammy's throwaway studio tracks of vocal impressions, to Dean's rough cuts and first takes of various and sundry. The glory days of The Summit it is not.
   
   Still, it's not so bad, except that the recordings aren't remastered, leaving the volume variable from track to track and the sound often muddy or muffled. Basically, this is a dusty-attic collection of every Frank Sinatra, Dino and Sammy song you never heard in your life. None of the classic classics are here, and there's none of that priceless Rat Pack schmooze that makes LIVE AT THE SANDS or LIVE AND SWINGIN' so irreplaceable. Give them a listen for the "live" experience.
   
   It's low budget (at $17.99 it works out to a buck twelve bits and some per disc), and if you're a Rat Pack fan it's well worth having just for the odds and ends (at that price you can't go wrong if you're adding to your music library), but if you're just getting into the Rat Pack, don't be a Clyde. There are much better Rat Pack albums out there to spend your dough on---Try EEE-OH-ELEVEN or BOYS' NIGHT OUT for the "in-studio experience".

2 comments about Les 101 Plus Belles Chansons.

1. Impressive overview of Dalida's amazing recorded legacy, from the fun, early Barclay years through the mature and diverse recording made for Orlando.
   
   It's a pleasure to hear how Dalida matured as a recording artist, from the fun covers of "Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weenie" and such, to the emotionally devastating "Je Suis Malade", "Avec Le Temps", and the rest of her later recordings. Like Piaf, Garland, and Holiday, even when singing upbeat material, I always sense the tragic and dark aspects of Dalida's art...and, for me, that's what makes her such a fascinating artist and ultimately one of the finest vocalists of the 20th century.
   
   My only quibbles with this brilliant set is the decision to include such questionable versions of some of her best-known works...I mean, was it really necessary to have the Japanese version of "O Sole Mio"??? In the context of a rarities album or as fun extras on a CD, that would be fine. However, this is a major review of her recordings, which is essential for the novice as well as the seasoned Dalida admirer and it simply does not make sense to include such ephemeral material. Thankfully these moments are very few and the majority of recordings contained in this brilliant set are the classic versions, mostly in French.
   
   Once again, an essential anthology for both the beginner looking to find out what Dalida was all about, and listeners well acquainted with her recorded legacy.
   
   Luigi ~ nyc



2. If you're a fan of Dalida, start here. This may have enough variety that you may not need to buy more of her works for a long, long time. Several "different" versions of some of her more famous songs means that even if you have other of her albums, this will still be a worthwhile addition to your archive.
   
   My gf turned me onto Dalida, and while I ostensibly bought this for her, I love listening to it almost as much as she!
   
   Extremely sensibly packaged, it only takes up about the same space on shelf as two the normal "crystal" cases used for CDs here in the U.S., yet this is a box-set of 5 discs and includes a multipage biographical booklet (in French.) Hours & hours of listening pleasure!

No comments about Definitive Gold.

5 comments about The Lady Sings.

1. Billie Holiday changed how we hear women sing. In recorded music, she essentially redefined vocal pop music by introducing a more personal and immediate singing style. She also changed how we think about phrasing, basing hers on instrumental music rather than the rhythms and cadences of pronunciation. But quite apart from all that, Billie Holiday is just an absolute joy to listen to - one of those timeless artists whose music can be enjoyed in any situation, surroundings and at any time of day. Everybody should have some Billie Holiday in their CD collection. Hers is an instantly recognizable and likable sound, so deeply embedded in the fabric of popular music that pop itself is no longer imaginable without Billie Holiday. All subsequent jazz singers, and most subsequent blues and r&b vocalists, owe her a tremendous debt of gratitude. This four-disc box set is dirt cheap and contains all the seminal early records from the 1930s and 40s - the decades when she was at the peak of her vocal power and invention. Everything has been restored impeccably from the best copies available. (Subsequent recordings sound better because recording technology had improved considerably, but Billie's voice began to reflect her drug and alcohol consumption, and her performances were no longer as elastic or accomplished.)



2. This recording has all of the Commodore Recordings, and most of Columbia, and Decca Masters. It doesn't include any of her Verve years. If you get this and the complete Verve masters, It should take care of all but the extreme Lady Day obsessive compulsives.



3. I didn't expect the quality of the music to be so good, but I have no complaints (very clear with no static, etc). You get around 99 songs for a fraction of what they would cost on iTunes. I have always loved her music and was delighted to see so many songs in one collection.



4. The music is great, but I was VERY disappointed to receive the set because the box that holds all of the CDs is smashed on one side. It is VERY unattractive.



5. Nobody sings the blues quite like Billie Holiday. This boxed set represents the best value for money, not only for the quantity of music and the extensive liner notes, but also for the sound quality and the fact that this contains music recorded for several different record labels (Brunswick, Vocalion, Commodore, Okeh, Columbia, Capitol, Decca) between 1935 and 1949. Billie continued to record great music in the fifties (for Verve, Clef and Norgran) but that music is not represented here.

   Billie had plenty of hits on the American pop charts between 1935 and 1938 (when she was with Teddy Wilson), after which she had just four more hits, none of them reaching the top ten. However, the passage of time has added substantially to her credibility as many blues, jazz and R+B singers cite Billie as one of their influences. Her first hit was What a little moonlight can do, a song I first came across via a Crystal Gayle cover. I didn't realize the song's origin at the time but I've heard several versions since. I love them all but Billie's is the definitive version.

   Billie's other classic hits included here are These foolish things, A fine romance, The way you look tonight, I can't give you anything but love, I've got my love to keep you warm, This year's kisses, Carelessly (her only number one hit), How could you, Moaning low. Mean to me, Easy living, Me myself and I, Sailboat in the moonlight, Nice work if you can get it, My man, You go to my head, I'm gonna lock my heart, Strange fruit, God bless the child and Trav'lin' light. Some big hits are omitted including Twenty-four hours a day, Who loves you and Pennies from heaven, but I'm not complaining. Some of the songs that Billie is best remembered for didn't chart at all.

   Although the hits became rare after 1938, this was not due to the quality of the music. Listen to Billie's versions of such classic standards as I gotta right to sing the blues, Night and day, Body and soul, Let's do it, All of me, Love me or leave me, It's a sin to tell a lie, As time goes by and You're my thrill (to name a few). And, of course, there's the classic That old devil called love, revived by Alison Moyet in the eighties, when it became a UK number two hit for Alison.

   If you only buy one collection of Billie's music, make it this one. You might begin by asking yourself if you really want five hours worth of Billie's music - but eventually, you are likely to ask yourself if it's enough.

5 comments about The Capitol Years.

1. If you want a box set of Sinatra's Capitol work you basically have 2 options, this British import or the "Concepts" box.
   
   I recommend this (and own it myself) because:
   
   -The British sound engineers did a much better job mastering this set than whomever was responsible for the Concepts box did, very similar but more detailed and "quieter", with none of that horrible noise reduction added like in so many re-masters.
   
   -The track lists remain in the correct order, with extra tracks placed on separate disks. Most people won't care about this, but purists will.
   
   -This one is still in print and less $ than the Concepts box. I had to buy mine from amazon.co.uk, it's now available again on the us site!!
   
   One star withheld due to lack of the Soundtracks (Pal Joey, High Society Can Cans, as well as the Christmas album "Jolly Christmas" and "Sinatra Conducts Tone Poems of Color"...would it have been so hard to make this a complete box set??? But unless you are an absolute completest you won't notice anything missing.
   
   To make your Capitol years collection totally complete you will need to purchase:
   -The Complete Capitol Singles
   -The Capitol Years 3 CD box set
   -Sinatra In Hollywood
   -The 3 Soundtracks listed above
   
   All in all a good buy, $15 per disk for what are probably the best sounding masterings of every major Sinatra Capitol release, all the work done for you...all you have to do is enjoy the music. I wish they would do this for his Reprise catalogue.



2. Another complete label representation of recordings made. One had been issued for Columbia and Reprise , so why not the "swing" Capitol years. Alot more that just swing , but loads of that particular genre. This has been packaged several times in several incarnations , just make sure you are getting the "complete" Capitol years !



3. The mastering on this is so much better than any other version, 24 bit or 20 bit, deluxe remastered or whatever, that it is criminal that those other editions even exist. The voice is more natural, better balanced, more direct, and the orchestras or bands are better defined. Why bother getting any other Capitol? Get this while you can.



4. I bought this set a few weeks ago on amazon.co.uk (i'm from belgium, it's closer) and i must say that i am absolutely thrilled about it. It clearly is Frank Sinatra at his very best. The arrangements by Nelson Riddle, Billy May, Axel Stordahl, Gordon Jenkins (my favorite and best torch songs maker) ... are just fabulous and the mastering is soooo good!!!
   Yes, the timing is off on the "Where Are You?" CD, but it's not really anoying (it's something like half a second). Besides, if you know how to use programs such as Logic Express (or any other music editor), it's very easy to edit the songs...
   I'm absolutely delighted with these CDs and i can do nothing better than advise you to get them before they go out of stock!!!!!



5. Great quality mastering, better than the American releases. What is this about the timing being off on several CDs? Not on mine!

1 comments about The Wayfaring Stranger.

1. "The Golden Years of The Wayfaring Stanger", transfers and production by Geoff Milne (4CD box, 2005 Jasmine Records).
   
   All of these original Decca recordings (made from 1945 to 1953) have been transferred from vinyl yet sound quite clean (despite the odd blip or thud)and have a consistent sonic quality, regardless of whether they were live (on CD4 - the 1953 Coronation Concert in London), on radio (on CD2 - guesting on the Bing Crosby show) or from various studio sessions (on all 4 CDs). Part of the reason for the sonic consistency may be in that there has clearly been a decision made in the noise reduction process to also filter out any frequency above about 7kHz on all the tracks - however the remaining audio is very comfortable to listen to.
   
   I've recently done a couple of my own Burl Ives transfers to CD, including carefully removing each audible pop or click from an excellent condition vinyl LP of "The Wild Side Of Life" - all those tracks also appear on this CD set. I can hear a big difference between my CD and Geoff Milne's. I know that the studio recordings were bona fide HiFi mono, with truly amazing subtleties in musicianship and vocal harmony. The only way to appreciate all that intricate detail is to accept also hearing some surface noise. However I'd still have to say that these productions by Geoff Milne are appealing, even though they have less dynamic range.
   
   I like that all the tracks are arranged in chronological order of performance (rather than of release) and that we are given the actual dates and some other details. Geoff Milne's accompanying booklet includes an informed biography and is a good read.
   
   Anyone who grew up with the albums "The Wild Side Of Life" and "Women - Folk Songs About The Fair Sex" will be happy to know that all those original tracks are here in very good quality.
   
   There are also five versions of "The Blue Tail Fly", but not a dud song in sight. Highly recommended for any Burl Ives fan.

2 comments about The Complete Dinah Washington on Mercury, Vol. 4 (1954-1956).

1. Like the other Mercury volumes, this too will afford you the opportunity to track the career and evolution of The Queen's style...this is just plain good stuff. They come like her anymore, and that is a tragedy.



2. One of the great singers of the 20th century. This series is definitely COMPLETE with excellent sound quality considering many of these tracks are over 40-60 years old.
   
   It's a bit over-whelming with casual fans as each disc in the series has up to 70 tracks ... but she never phones any performance and offers her unique interpretation on each track, you'll find something to like in everything but they are slightly different.
   
   VOLUME 4: Offers Dinah Washington more bluesy and jazz swing vocals.
   
   VOLUME 5: More mainstream swing, some brilliant torch tracks and the beginning her ballads period.
   
   VOLUME 6: Her ballads period including her standards-setting interpretation of MANHATTEN and WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MAKES (of course, I could list another 20 :-)
   
   VOLUME 7: A new phase in her career where they seem to add a lot of strings and backup singers but not necessarily making her recordings better. Of the recordings on these discs, some are remade with more strings and backup singers - softening them and making them a little more pop and a little less jazz. Whether you consider that an improvement or not is your call.
   
   Personally, I believe Dinah Washington;'s strength are doing sparse ballads - her voice range, timber and her performances somewhere between Billie Holliday and Ella Fitzgerald ... she's not quite as haunted as Billie Holliday but without the range of Ella.
   
   My personal favorite is Volume 6 with its mostly ballads and her standard setting vocals.