Editorial Review

This is Etta James's first full-length album, recorded for Chess Records' Argo subsidiary in 1960. It taps all aspects of her then-blossoming talent. There's the crooning rock ballad "My Dearest Darling" and the elegantly symphonic "Sunday Kind of Love." Her classic, brokenhearted "All I Could Do Was Cry" follows the sweet title track and the bawdy blues stomper "I Just Want to Make Love to You." And there's a version of Harold Arlen's "Stormy Weather," which Lena Horne made famous. James's fine way with such a wide embrace of material wouldn't again be this well displayed on a single album until she was united with producer Jerry Wexler for 1977's Read more

Features

• Extra tracks
• Original recording remastered

Subjects:  1. Blues    2. Blues Music    3. Pop    4. R&B    5. Soul    6. Soul-Blues    7. United States of America    8. Vocals   

Reviews (11)

Billie's Best - Accept No Substitutes
Billie Holiday is the quintessential jazz singer; despite a limited vocal range she set the standard by which all others are measured.It's all about the quality of her voice, the lush tone, and her marvelously idiosyncratic phrasing.Though her career was short and troubled, she recorded a lot, which means novice collectors must avoid innumerable bear traps.In general, her later work should be ignored, by then she was wearing her emotional problems like an ugly hat, despair manifested itself in performances so lackluster they're depressing at best, frequently downright tragic.
A serious and great artist's best work, you need these sides
If there were some way to award music 200 stars, I am sure all of us would have done so for this set!
Descent Compilation
Apart from the fact that some of my favorite Billie Holiday songs are missing...its still a very good intro to those first timers.I first heart HOliday when I was 18 years old..and 5 years later...I still can't get enough of her ...she's such a great singer...along with Ella Fitzgerald she is the only one who can bring me to tears. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Ballads    2. Classic Female Blues    3. Jazz    4. Jazz Music    5. Jazz Vocals    6. Pop    7. Standards    8. Swing    9. Torch Songs    10. Traditional Pop    11. United States of America    12. Vocal Jazz   

Editorial Review

She's no stranger to the towering highs and lows of the heart, and Etta James's soaring, gospel-tinged pipes match up well with the rigors of unabashed bliss. Happily, the good people at Chess Records recognize this, and they have thoughtfully collected some of the best examples into one tidy record. Kicking off with her classic treatment of "At Last," the collection moves through the lilting strings of "My Dearest Darling" on into the expressive tones of "I Want to Be Loved (But Only by You)" with grace and emotional candor. James can be simultaneously tender and deeply honest and her ability to express the desperate joy that is the soul of love remains one of life's marvelous pleasures. Read more

Features

• Original recording remastered

Subjects:  1. Blues    2. Blues Music    3. Classic Female Blues    4. Pop    5. R&B    6. Soul    7. Soul-Blues   

Editorial Review

This five-CD box set soundtrack to filmmaker Ken Burns's 10-part, 19-hour documentary Read more

Features

• Box set
• Original recording remastered

Subjects:  1. Afro-Cuban Jazz    2. Avant-Garde    3. Avant-Garde Jazz    4. Ballads    5. Big Band    6. Bop    7. Box Sets (Audio Only)    8. Classic Female Blues    9. Classic Jazz    10. Cool    11. Crossover Jazz    12. Dance Bands    13. Dixieland    14. Free Jazz    15. Fusion    16. Hard Bop    17. Jazz    18. Jazz Blues    19. Jazz Collections    20. Jazz Music   

Editorial Review

Californian Etta James decided against accepting filmmaker Martin Scorcese's personal invitation to sing at The Blues gala in New York in early 2003. The well-celebrated soul and blues queen makes amends here with what is one of the most blues-centered recordings in her expansive discography, bringing her big, no-nonsense voice and her feisty, proud woman's point of view to bear on classics, many identified with Chicago. The likes of Howlin' Wolf's "Smokestack Lightnin'," Jimmy Reed's "Hush Hush," and Muddy Waters's "Got My Mojo Working" may be hackneyed choices, but she seizes each of a dozen as her own, and clearly, as she says herself, these are the blues songs that touch her the deepest. No argument here. Read more

Reviews (12)

Top Notch Blues Package
A really movin' blues collection by Ms. Etta.Found myself toe tappin' to all of the tunes.As always, she is top notch with her range, and the musical accompaniment was superb. I highly recommend this CD to all who love the blues.

Still Queen of the Blues
I attended a live performance of Etta James in Washington, D.C. in the early 1960's.I've enjoyed her music since. I was delighted when Amazon placed her latest CD, Blues to the Bone, on the market.Etta is right on, ranging from a plaintive "got my mojo working but it don't work on you," to a sultry "Lil' Red Rooster" and "Crawlin King Snake," and closing with a jocular "Honey Don't Tear My clothes."The voice is deeper but the range of expression is still there.

This lady is just simply one of the best!
This is one of Etta James' best recordings.She does more for the blues than just sing them, she makes the listener feel them.Girlfriend still has "it" and it's such a pleasure to hear her wonderful voice! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Blues    2. Electric Blues    3. Modern Electric Blues    4. Pop   

Editorial Review

Curiously, yet not surprisingly given the enormity of his sway, Billie Holiday's greatest vocal influence was "Pops"--Louis Armstrong, whose trumpet was his first signature (though he's often credited with being the first great jazz singer as well). One hears Armstrong in Holiday's sense of phrasing, timing, and the warmth she invests in a lyric. This package, containing such touchstone Holiday renderings as "I Cried for You," "Body and Soul," and "When a Woman Loves a Man" (poetic, given the fact that Billie was notoriously unlucky at love), also boasts her signature song, "God Bless the Child." Her accompanists are a hall-of-fame lot, including trumpeters Roy Eldridge and Buck Clayton; saxmen Lester Young (with whom she had a close relationship), Ben Webster, Johnny Hodges, and Harry Carney; drummers Cozy Cole and Jo Jones; bassists John Kirby and Walter Page; and her frequent pianist, Teddy Wilson. Read more

Features

• Original recording remastered

Reviews (13)

Fave Jazz Album!
Every tune is fab! Thankfully, the remastering has not diminished the old scratchy sound typically found in recordings from this era.
Early greats from Lady Day
I heard this CD while I was walking around Borders and just had to have it.These are early recordings - the music is fresh and joyous - the vocals are superb.I especially love the recordings of "Miss Brown To You," "What a Little Moonlight Can Do" (a treat), "Some Other Spring" and my very favorite, "I Can't Get Started."I have other Holiday recordings.However, this is the one I play again and again.I only wish that it had "Good Morning Heartache" on it.Oh, well.

A great place to start, an album with a special treat!
Almost everything Billie Holiday recorded, and maybe everything Billie recorded before 1941, like these sides, was great. Certainly, this collection doesn't have any of the very important work Billie Did during WWII for Commodore, nor does it have some of th exciting Jazzy recordings Billie did for Verve in the late 1940s and 1950s.Nor are any of the outstanding live performances by Billie for Jazz at the Philharmonic or in her Carneige Hall concerts on this CD.
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Subjects:  1. Ballads    2. Classic Female Blues    3. Jazz    4. Jazz Music    5. Jazz Vocals    6. Pop    7. Swing    8. Traditional Pop    9. Vocal Jazz   

Editorial Review

Whether she sings string-laden pop ballads, lively soul, or gritty electric blues, James's high-powered, enormously expressive voice displays a knack for passionate blues inflections. Emotionally charged ballads including "At Last" and "All I Could Do is Cry" find James blasting through the orchestra with unearthly wails and moans. "If I Can't Have You," a duet with Harvey Fuqua, drops the orchestra in favor of horn-driven R&B and "Something's Got a Hold On Me" is a gospel-flavored romp reminiscent of Ray Charles. A live version of Jimmy Reed's "Baby, What You Want Me to Do" shows her raunchiest Chicago-blues style, and "In the Basement," with Sugar Pie DeSanto, is a funky workout. Also here are three classics from her soul-drenched 1967 Muscle Shoals sessions.Read more

Features

• Original recording remastered

Reviews (43)

the real queen of the blues
probably the best album from Etta.She is a legend

Great Tunes
Etta is in a class of her own and she tells a story with her music
Etta James-50th Anniversary Colcection
I preferred her earlier works and CD's.While she will always be great, the quality just isn't the same.Louise London, UK ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Blues    2. Blues Music    3. Pop    4. R&B    5. Soul-Blues    6. United States of America   

Reviews (2)

More of the songs that got our parents through the war years
Agreed, this second volume of "Songs That Got Us Through WW2" is not as strong as the first effort.However this one does have the virtue of featuring the world's most popular song of the war, namely the German version of "Lili Marlene" by Marlene Dietrich.Again, the mix is of songs that actually referenced the war, such as "You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To," "Ration Blues" and "When My Man Comes Home," as well as those that came to have deeper meanings for the greatest generation.On this album that means catchy songs like "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe" and "Mairzy Doats."Even if most of these songs are new to your ears you will certainly find this collection representative of the times, especially if you pick up both albums.Besides, if you have never heard Jo Stafford sing, this is your chance to be introduced to one of the best singers of her generation who has pretty much been forgotten these days.

Heavens to Betsy
Another great collection to follow up on volume one, although this doesn�t quite measure up to the first. However, owning this second volume is a necessity to complement the first volume! Read more

Subjects:  1. 40's    2. Ballads    3. Big Band    4. Classic Female Blues    5. East Coast Blues    6. Easy Listening    7. Harmony Vocal Group    8. Jazz    9. Jump Blues    10. Pop    11. Popular Music    12. Standards    13. Swing    14. Torch Songs    15. Traditional Pop    16. Vocal Collections    17. Vocal Jazz    18. Vocal Pop   

Editorial Review

Throughout a near-50-year career that has seen few low points, at least professionally, Etta James has established herself as one of music's most talented R&B, blues, and jazz singers. On Read more

Reviews (10)

Etta takes a diverse chance!
Only Etta would take on a diverse song selection like this, now some of the arrangements are alittle simply but they work, Etta's voice is still strong and she brings her unigue approach to each of the songs... 'Calling You'(which has never been a favorite of mine) Etta makes it work, just listen to Etta mimic a trupment and then ends the song on a funny note, "Purple Rain" a tough choice is turned into slow blues number, "Stop On By", "Strung Out", "Holding Back The Years" are the best cuts on here, "Somewhere" is good but ends to soon. I hope Etta sticks with this direction but on the next cd have the arrangements more R&B\Soulish.

Still got the voice - And still needs a good producer
Etta never fails to deliver in the vocals. Gutteral bombast, sweet soul, gospel, blues, the lady is a living legend. But this album, like the last album "produced" by her son, is a nightmare. Chessy arrangments, tinkly bass, poor sound all around. She is a fierce mother and I'm sure she thinks her kids know best, but there is a reason why labels pair vocalists with the right producer. Should Etta get the chance to work with a fresh ear at the deck, she wouldn't need the novelty of some of the song choices.
ETTA MEETS PURPLE RAIN
Since my youth I have had an ear for roots music, whether I was conscious of that fact or not. The original of that interest first centered on the blues, then early rock and roll and later, with the folk revival of the early 1960's, folk music. I have often wondered about the source of this interest. I am, and have always been a city boy, and an Eastern city boy at that. Nevertheless, over time I have come to appreciate many more forms of roots music than in my youth. The subject of the following review is an example.
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Subjects:  1. Blues    2. Contemporary R&B    3. Pop    4. Quiet Storm    5. Smooth Soul    6. United States of America   

Editorial Review

Culled from the Columbia Records reissue packages, variously released under the multivolume Quintessential Billie Holiday umbrella, this package goes straight for the love songs, the heart of Holiday. Ranging from such playful lyrics as "Let's Do It" and "Them There Eyes" to such essential Holiday as "You Go to My Head," "The Very Thought of You," and "Easy Living," this set is guaranteed to keep the home fires burning brightly. Lay this one on your lover next Valentine's Day. As was so frequently the case with Holiday, the ensemble support is impeccable, including many of the swingers from Columbia's Read more

Reviews (23)

Great Collection of Billie Holiday Songs
There are so many fabulous reviews for this CD and I have to agree with them. I've been a Billie Holiday fan for years and own many discs of her music, but I find myself reaching for this one a lot. It's a great collection of songs and her voice is so sweet and true here. She's in top form and the arrangements on the songs are all excellent. Whoever put this CD together knew what they were doing. This is definitely Billie during the earlier part of her career and there's a real lightness to this music. (Her later music is great too, but very different.) Most of the songs on this CD are classics and even if you're unfamiliar with her, you'll probably still recognize many of them. There is some crackling background noise on some of the songs, since they were recorded back in the late thirties/early forties, though it's not that bad and most of the time you barely notice it. Some of the stand outs are "You Go To My Head", "The Very Thought of You", "Let's Do It", "The Way You Look Tonight", just to name a few. I think this would be a great introductory CD for someone who is curious about her and would like to hear some of her music.

Oh, Billie!HOW DIVINE !!!
This CD is an excellent collection of great songs performed by the incomparable and legendary Billie Holiday. Billie could conquer any song--from the most vulgar to the most sublime with an electric performance that rivals the best singers of the 20th century.
Fine CD
This CD is a beautiful selection of classic Holiday. I really enjoy Holiday's voice.It is so natural and simple. Buy it. You won't be disappointed. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Ballads    2. Classic Female Blues    3. Jazz    4. Jazz Music    5. Jazz Vocals    6. Pop    7. Standards    8. Swing    9. Traditional Pop    10. Vocal Jazz   

Editorial Review

A harrowing classic, Billie Holiday's personal favorite among her '50s albums captures the singer 17 months before her death, her once honeyed voice, scarred and weakened from punishing life, its ravages highlighted by the 1958 session's crisp sonics and the contrasting "satin" of Ray Ellis' sleek string arrangements. Yet it is that very contrast that explains the power of these performances: In revisiting its torchy standards, Holiday reduces them to their core of pain and longing, transforming "I'm a Fool to Want You," "You Don't Know What Love Is," and "You've Changed" into naked declarations as mesmerizing and unsettling as a horrific accident.Any postrocker that presumes pop standards and string sections automatically translate to "easy listening" hasn't listened to this. This 1997 version adds unreleased takes and a beautiful 20-bit digital transfer to extract every shivering pang of Holiday's music. Read more

Features

• Enhanced
• Original recording reissued
• Original recording remastered

Reviews (74)

Lady Day without the extras
This classic album lives completely up to expectations to the extent that it contains all the original material.But, the only people I know that appreciate the tacked on alternative versions are the techno-fanatics.

Lady's Swan Song
The first time I heard the distinctive timbre of Billie Holiday's immortal voice which somehow speaks to us from the deepest haunts of the soul, I believe I was somewhere in the vicinity of my mother's apron strings, and remember her remarking to the effect, "Now, that's a tragedy - she was so great . . .a mere shadow of what she was - terribly, terribly self-destructive", echoing the common sentiment.Lady Day was still alive at that time.And I remember the furl between the eyebrows of her original producer with Columbia, John Hammond Sr., when, some twenty years later, he recalled what is referred to on the copious liner notes of this awesome 1997 Sony reissue of the 1958 original as "the more lurid elements of the Billie Holiday saga".And since her death 17 months after this recording, the discussion has raged around that curious question: "Who was greater (or, in our abstracted experience of the media, unfortunately, "which"), the early Lady, or the later?"The early Billie - with her spectacular range, her unmatched phrasing, cadence, her youthful charm - adored by her sidemen and audiences alike - or the later - in her finest hour - on this recording - the heart-broken, broke, haggard, dispossessed junkie - in the words of her primary collaborator (by request) on this effort, Ray Ellis - " When we began recording and I heard the first playback, I was quite shook up.The quality of Billie's voice had really deteriorated.It was very noticeable to me after listening to all her early records".
Satin Doll's Swan Song... It Was Never Her Voice But Her Swing
Heartfelt throughout..Sad,georgeous arrangements and tunes for Billie's last. The feeling of despair and the bad weather before the storm is felt on this her last offering.
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Subjects:  1. Ballads    2. Classic Female Blues    3. Jazz    4. Jazz Music    5. Jazz Vocals    6. Pop    7. Swing    8. Traditional Pop    9. Vocal Jazz    10. Vocals   

Reviews (7)

Amazing soul CD by a largely unknown soul star
I guess that if I had to style myself a soul connoisseur I would have to say that I'm a lateral connoisseur, rather than a deep one.I know a lot of music by a lot of different artists, but I don't know most artists' rare songs, nor do I carry along a lot of information about the artists.I simply enjoy the music and I'm always on the lookout to expand my soul library.
Sweet Soul Queen of New Orleans - Irma Thomas
Some nice songs, but the quality of the recordings leaves much to be desired.Scratchy sound - Doesn't seem to be digitally remastered.

Movie with "Ruler of My Heart"
The movie you're referring to with the song "Ruler of My Heart" is probably "That Night" with Juliette Lewis, C. Thomas Howell, and a very young Eliza Dushku as the girl who tells the story. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. New Orleans R&B    2. Pop    3. R&B    4. Soul    5. Soul/R & B    6. Soul/Reggae/Rhythm & Blues    7. United States of America   

Editorial Review

Billie Holiday (1917-59) wore gardenias, was a teenaged prostitute,did drugs, and died with a cop posted outside her hospital bed.But withher gravel-like vocals, and behind-the-beat phrasing, she was one ofthe greatest singers of the twentieth century. This multimedia collectioncommemorates her ninetieth birthday. Two CDs contain forty two of hergreatest hits, from her 1935 stint with Benny Goodman, to her chilling 1958strings album, Read more

Reviews (12)

You want Billie and you get Billie
Loved the compilation.Nice mix of tunes and certainly hits som eof her more contreversial works.Nice packaging too, lots of music in a small and neat package.

excellent box
buy this one at www.yourmusic.com for only 13 dollars, which looks exact the same product as you buy here, but so stupidly cheap!

Great Overview of Her Recording Career
I agree with many of the others here that this is a great overview of Billie Holiday's recording career.There is not much to add to the comments about this marvelous collection, but I would like to add some observations and other information that Lady Day aficionados may find interesting.
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Subjects:  1. Ballads    2. Classic Female Blues    3. Jazz    4. Jazz Vocals    5. Pop    6. Standards    7. Swing    8. Torch Songs    9. Traditional Pop    10. United States of America    11. Vocal Jazz   

Editorial Review

There's no such thing as a genuine Billie Holiday greatest-hits collection--her career was split among too many labels for that--but this single-disc distillation of the Read more

Reviews (8)

Not even close to her Greatest
Although there are a few good cuts on this collection, despite the generally terrible arrangements, almost any other collection of Billie's is better.If you want a single disc Greatest Hits album, try an obscure Brit import called "Fine and Mellow."The only thing the DECCA CD has going for it is better sound quality, because it was recorded much later than most of her good recordings.

Great sound quality
I've heard many Billie Holiday CDs and this is one of the better ones.The sound quality is fantastic.19 of her very best hits.I recommend this to both new and old Holiday fans.

An album for those who've never listened to Billie Holiday..
...Like me!True, these songs don't represent the real Billie because they are so short (about 3 minutes each).And there are a lot of added strings in the background in order to fit into what was commercially typical of the day.BUT trust me, after you listen to "Good Morning Heartache" it will sound like REAL music, compared to so much (noise/garbage) that passes for music in the present.Read more

Subjects:  1. Ballads    2. Classic Female Blues    3. Jazz    4. Jazz Music    5. Jazz Vocals    6. Pop    7. Standards    8. Swing    9. Torch Songs    10. Traditional Pop    11. Vocal Jazz   

Editorial Review

Few vocalists can muster the power and sass of Etta James when she's rocking the mike on classic R&B tunes like "Tell Mama" or "Something's Got a Hold on Me." But James also had a way with a ballad, and her sensitive readings of songs such as "At Last" and "All I Could Do Was Cry" made her a fan favorite in the early '60s. Had she not been sidelined for a while by an addiction to heroin, today we might think of James, not Aretha, as the Queen of Soul. Because this set offers only 11 cuts, it's generally inferior to Read more

Features

• Original recording remastered

Reviews (23)

A fiery and passionate Ms. Etta James delivers!
Etta James was and continues to be one of the greatest female vocalists of her time. Her voice is rich, vibrant and capable of conveying every emotion there is on the planet. This CD is a great choice if you are looking for a budget priced introduction to Etta's work.
Great For Starters, But Better Choices Are Out There
I've always looked at "greatest hits" albums as "starter" albums.
Love it! Love It! Love It!
Etta is my favorite Lady Of Blues by far.I bought this cd for the song,"At Last," but my favorite is, "Trust In Me."It WILL be played at my wedding.Read more

Subjects:  1. Blues    2. Blues Music    3. Classic Female Blues    4. Pop    5. R&B    6. Soul    7. Soul-Blues   

Reviews (10)

Amazing grace
We'd never heard of Alberta Hunter until reading a profile of her in The New Yorker, I think by Whitney Balliet, though I wouldn't swear to it. That would have been in about 1981 or so. We couldn't afford full-priced theater or clubs in those days, but the performance sounded great, and Hunter was already 86; God only knew how much longer she'd carry on.
Absolutely incredible
I'm absolutely blown away by this recording. Alberta Hunter may have been a blues singer but her phrasing and breath control (at 83!) are fantastic. Quite a few jazz singers could learn a thing or two from listening to her.

Her Voice and Her Rhythm are Complex and Unbeatable
These 'standards' are anything but; Alberta Hunter's versions are unbeatable.She has that kind of voice and rhythm that seem so natural and yet, like Billie Holiday, defy the human range thus placing her in the pantheon of jazz greats.She is earthy yet refined and completely in touch with the band, she moans and cries at places that you'll find yourself wondering how she got there."Darktown Strutters Ball", "Georgia Brown" and the intensely down and dirty "My Handyman" are sensual, comic and dramatically original-your body will react- guaranteed.Unpredictably fresh, this late great senior citizen packs all she's got and all we need, right in to each piece. I have given this CD as a gift to many people and they have all been smitten and grateful.Decidedly worthwhile. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Blues    2. Blues Music    3. Classic Female Blues    4. Jazz Vocals    5. Pop    6. Standards   

Editorial Review

Etta James Read more

Reviews (16)

Etta's best collection
If you have not heard Etta James, you are missing the most soulful, funky, get on down and crank it out blues singer to ever grace the face of this earth.To me, this is her finest collection.Don't let your friends borrow it, if you ever want to see it again.It's that good, trust in me...;)

Ken Holman needs to know his stuff before writing a review
Ken while I agree with almost everything you say, I have to inform you of an error. The outstanding soul tune "Tell Mama" IS NOT the "Memphis Sound." It is in fact part of the immortal legacy of Rick Hall's FAME Studios in the Southern Soul Mecca of MUSCLE SHOALS, ALABAMA. Trust me check out the orginal liner notes. Or just check out the FAME Studios Website.

Oh, my, Miss Peaches...
This is an excellent cross-section of Miss James' vocal ability.It's all here - smoke-filled standards, rockin' R&B, scorching soul, and yes indeed, torch songs to put modern "divas" to shame.Though Etta's voice has spectacular range and emotional drive, these recordings do not contain the shrill vocal calesthenics forced on us by the 90's pop divas. The result was this ultra-quality collection, which I guarantee you will never loan out, even to your best friend. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Blues    2. Blues Music    3. Box Sets (Audio Only)    4. Pop    5. R&B    6. Soul-Blues   

Reviews (6)

The Blues ain't nothin' but
A woman cryin' for her man.
Dinah's Best Blues
A great album! Dinah sings the Blues in her Jazzy, sophisticated-yet-accessible, no-nonsense way.The 15 songs/tracks are all must-haves - even her lyrically dyslexic reading of "No One Man".Recorded July & November 1962.
relaxing
dinah washington is the voice of the decade!!!!. I can go shopping in grocery store & I'll hear that voice!!!