Yesterday I was sick, just totally run down. I couldn't muster up the energy to write a review. But I did manage to find an album to listen to that worked really well for my day, helped me feel better. It's pretty hard to go wrong with Billie Holiday's Greatest Hits. Though the songs range from the giddy "Cheek to Cheek" to the heart-wrenching "Strange Fruit," they're just all so beautiful and expressive. Or rather, she is.
It feels a little silly to write a review of a greatest hits album of an iconic artist. What's to say? I'm nowhere near an expert on Billie Holiday, and wouldn't pretend to be able to tell you if this is the definitive collection. In fact, I'm pretty sure it's not! I purchased this cd from the Co-op Bookstore (R.I.P.) in Oberlin when I was teaching myself about jazz. I asked Tim, one of the guys who worked there, what Billie Holiday album I should buy if I wanted to learn about her. Tim was no dummy, and though we were friendly, I'm sure he could spot a sucker. So I doubt that this 18 track compilation on Bella Musica is what jazz experts would point to as the best collection of her work. But it works from start to finish for me, and just reminds me that I should pick up that endeavor I started fifteen or so years ago, and build my Billie Holiday collection beyond this introduction. If you need to start yours, I'll send this one your way.
2 comments:
i love billie holiday, but i'm responding to your post mostly to say please get lots of sleep and take extra good care of yourself before you get on that plane, okay?
i'm wondering if you're going to miss having all these tangible cds around ... the covers, the liner notes, all that. will you think to listen to them if they're buried amongst a million other albums on your ipod? i've been going digital and i feel like i've forgotten about a lot of what i have on my ipod. i listen to a lot of artists and albums that start with "A" or "B".
is this really going to be a total purge? share with us your endgame.
I have to say, I listen to my Pod almost exclusively on shuffle, and I find that it's almost the opposite - now I hear a much wider sampling than the handful of CDs that I'd reach for regularly. Admittedly, I do have to skip a lot of annoying songs that come up...
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