Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. I Wished on the Moon
2. What a Little Moonlight Can Do
3. Miss Brown to You
4. Sunbonnet Blue (And a Little Straw Hat)
5. It's Like Reaching for the Moon
6. These Foolish Things
7. I Cried for You
8. Did I Remember?
9. Billie's Blues
10. Fine Romance
11. Way You Look Tonight
12. I Can't Give You Anything But Love
13. I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm
14. This Year's Kisses
15. Why Was I Born?
16. I Must Have That Man!
17. My Last Affair
18. Carelessly
19. How Could You?
20. Moanin' Low
21. Mean to Me
22. Foolin' Myself
23. Easy Living
24. I'll Never Be the Same
25. Me, Myself and I

Disc 2:

1. Sailboat in the Moonlight
2. He's Funny That Way
3. Nice Work If You Can Get It
4. My Man
5. When You're Smiling
6. I Can't Believe That You're in Love with Me
7. On the Sentimental Side
8. Back in Your Own Backyard
9. When a Woman Loves a Man
10. You Go to My Head
11. I'm Gonna Lock My Heart (And Throw Away the Key)
12. Very Thought of You
13. I Can't Get Started
14. Say It with a Kiss
15. That's All I Ask of You
16. Dream of Life
17. More Than You Know
18. Sugar
19. Strange Fruit
20. Yesterdays
21. Fine and Mellow
22. I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues
23. Some Other Spring
24. Them There Eyes
25. Night and Day

Disc 3:

1. Man I Love
2. You're Just a No Account
3. Ghost of Yesterday
4. Body and Soul
5. What Is This Going to Get Us?
6. Laughing at Life
7. Time on My Hands
8. I Hear Music
9. Practice Makes Perfect
10. Let's Do It (Let's Fall in Love)
11. Romance in the Dark
12. All of Me
13. God Bless the Child
14. Am I Blue?
15. Solitude
16. Love Me or Leave Me
17. Mandy Is Two
18. It's a Sin to Tell a Lie
19. Until the Real Thing Comes Along
20. Trav'lin' Light
21. How Am I to Know?
22. My Old Flame
23. I'll Get By (As Long as I Have You)
24. I Cover the Waterfront
25. I'll Be Seeing You

Disc 4:

1. I'm Yours
2. Embraceable You
3. As Time Goes By
4. He's Funny That Way
5. Lover, Come Back to Me
6. Billie's Blues
7. On the Sunny Side of the Street
8. Lover Man
9. That Old Devil Called Love
10. Don't Explain
11. You Better Go Now
12. What Is This Thing Called Love?
13. Good Morning Heartache
14. Big Stuff
15. There Is No Greater Love
16. I Loves You, Porgy
17. Ain't Nobody's Business If I Do
18. Baby Get Lost
19. Them There Eyes
20. Gimme a Pigfoot (And a Bottle of Beer)
21. Now or Never
22. You're My Thrill
23. Crazy He Calls Me
24. Somebody's on My Mind

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #101380 in Music
• Released on: 2001-09-24
• Number of discs: 4
• Formats: Box set, Import, Original recording reissued

Album Description
UK box-set featuring 99 tracks that highlight the late jazz icon's career between 1935-49. Backed by small All Star bands under Teddy Wilson's & her own leadership & the more formal studio bands during her Decca days, Billie turns every song into poetry. Includes 56 page booklet with rare pictures, discography & story. Four standard jewel cases housed in a box. 2001.

Customer Reviews

One of the Best Kept Secrets in Recorded Jazz
If you haven't purchased one of Proper Record Company's extraordinary jazz boxes, you don't know what you're missing; and this release, THE LADY SINGS, is the best of the bunch. For the past few years, Proper has researched and assembled the most critical recordings by leading jazz performers from the first half of the last century, and packaged them in four-disk sets with extensive booklets that actually have something new to say -- all for a super, super budget price. Their remastering is so skillful, recordings such as Billie Holiday's here --stand up to the best remastering efforts of Decca and Sony. The richness and value of this collection -- as with other Proper Boxes from the UK -- are simply extraordinary. From her affecting Brunswick recordings of the early 1950's with Teddy Wilson and his Orchestra to her sides with Decca, Commodore, Columbia and Vocalion, Holliday's accompanists read like a Who's Who of classic jazz. Lester Young. Ben Webster. Roy Eldridge. Kenny Clarke. Benny Goodman. Milt Hinton. And some of her most celebrated material is here. God Bless the Child. My Old Flame. Gimme a Pigfoot. Lover Man. As Time Goes By. I Hear Music. I Can't Get Started. Almost 100 songs, flawlessly restored and a far better value than expensive sets such as the new Sony compilation, Proper's BILLIE HOLIDAY: THE LADY SINGS is simply a pleasure. It's great music to listen to by a roaring fire. Wonderful to play after a long, hard day.
Good anytime you need a lift. Strongly recommended.

Better appreciated now than in her lifetime
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.

PROPER does it again...
For the price, this is as good a collection of Billie Holiday's early material (for some, the ONLY Billie) as there is out there. Almost all of the essential recordings are included - Brunswick, Vocalition, Decca, Columbia, and Commodore - and the presentation includes a great booklet with photos and information. Proper is in the process of putting together and releasing some of the best American music - both jazz and other-wise - in stunning compilations with great presentations. Look for more of them.