Lady In Satin

Maybe it's the liberal Jewish media. Or the patriarchy. Hell, it could be the lizard people. But, this just isn't my jam. Every song sounds the same to me and it all reminds of Disney princess movies. Or that scene in Clueless when he asks Cher if she likes Billie Holiday, and she says, "I love him". I feel like uncultured swine.

I'm a terrible person - I know "Lady Day" is celebrated as one of the greatest singers of the 20th century. Who am I to argue? Very distinctive, no question. I just really don't properly appreciate vocal jazz at all. Or to be fully honest I don't like it. So my rating is purely subjective (aren't they all?) and if you're inclined to like this genre just ignore me. 3/10 2 stars.

smooth nice strings "notes of chocolate, black pepper and blueberries"

I LIVE INSIDE YOUR WALLS I LIVE INSIDE YOUR WALLS I LIVE INSIDE YOUR WALLS I LIVE INSIDE YOUR WALLS I LIVE INSIDE YOUR WALLS I LIVE INSIDE YOUR WALLS I LIVE INSIDE YOUR WALLS I LIVE INSIDE YOUR WALLS I LIVE INSIDE YOUR WALLS I LIVE INSIDE YOUR WALLS I LIVE INSIDE YOUR WALLS I LIVE INSIDE YOUR WALLS I LIVE INSIDE YOUR WALLS I LIVE INSIDE YOUR WALLS I LIVE INSIDE YOUR WALLS I LIVE INSIDE YOUR WALLS I LIVE INSIDE YOUR WALLS I LIVE INSIDE YOUR WALLS I LIVE INSIDE YOUR WALLS I LIVE INSIDE YOUR WALLS I LIVE INSIDE YOUR WALLS I LIVE INSIDE YOUR WALLS I LIVE INSIDE YOUR WALLS I LIVE INSIDE YOUR WALLS I LIVE INSIDE YOUR WALLS I LIVE INSIDE YOUR WALLS I LIVE INSIDE YOUR WALLS I LIVE INSIDE YOUR WALLS I LIVE INSIDE YOUR WALLS I LIVE INSIDE YOUR WALLS I LIVE INSIDE YOUR WALLS I LIVE INSIDE YOUR WALLS I LIVE INSIDE YOUR WALLS I LIVE INSIDE YOUR WALLS I LIVE INSIDE YOUR WALLS I LIVE INSIDE YOUR WALLS I LIVE INSIDE YOUR WALLS I LIVE INSIDE YOUR WALLS I LIVE INSIDE YOUR WALLS I LIVE INSIDE YOUR WALLS I LIVE INSIDE YOUR WALLS I LIVE INSIDE YOUR WALLS I LIVE INSIDE YOUR WALLS I LIVE INSIDE YOUR WALLS I LIVE INSIDE YOUR WALLS I LIVE INSIDE YOUR WALLS I LIVE INSIDE YOUR WALLS I LIVE INSIDE YOUR WALLS I LIVE INSIDE YOUR WALLS I LIVE INSIDE YOUR WALLS

She's very good at what she did. The instrumentation is... honest. There's no subtlety here, and there need not be. There's no need to cloak anything in metaphor. These are across-the-plate songs about love and loss of love.

I always see Billie Holiday on people's lists as one of the best singers of all time but I don't hear it (obviously only based on this album) she sounds nice enough but the songs are boring and not her own.

Pour comprendre cet album, il est nécessaire d'avoir quelques éléments de contexte. Bien que le film Star Wars : Un Nouvel Espoir ne sortira qu'en 1977, la comédie musicale dont le film est inspiré rencontre en 1958 un succès critique à Broadway. Billie Holiday y incarne le rôle de Maître Yoda par le biais d'une peluche de ventriloque aux traits du personnage vert et donne la réplique à Luke Skywalker alors interprété par Charles de Gaule. Les représentations doivent s'interrompre en 1959 car Billie Holiday décède au mois de juillet et le Général de Gaule voit son temps libre limité par ses travaux de rédaction de ce qui deviendra la constitution de la Cinquième République. George Lucas racheta plus tard les droits du spectacle et connaîtra le succès avec son adaptation sur grand écran.

The sound of longing.

Bearing witness to a dying of the light can be a strangely illuminating experience. On the one hand, the knowledge of a generational talent having wasted away her body and, most importantly, her voice when it could have been one of the many vehicles on the road to greener pastures must have been a saddening black cloud to be under. On the other hand, seeing that talent give whatever remained to steer songs from a functional level to the kind of level that inspires awe and admiration as though she weren't guaranteed tomorrow is what reminds those involved why they are in the business of music. Lady in Satin may not have been intended as the last album released in Billie Holiday's lifetime but it's got all the hallmarks of a farewell; a glimpse of a life truly lived through hell and beyond and who could still belt out as though she hadn't lost a step, even if the voice sounded otherwise. It's poetically tragic in a way. The audio story of The End of a Love Affair exemplifies this perfectly, nine minutes of do-overs, orchestral dealings and Billie singing in a capella. This is a fascinating document worthy of time and space. Favorites: I'm a Fool to Want You, For Heaven's Sake, I Get Along Without You Very Well, You've Changed, It's Easy to Remember, But Beautiful, Glad to Be Unhappy, The End of a Love Affair (Mono Take 4 and The Audio Story).

I liked this more than the Ella / Gershwin album. I found the orchestration less interruptive. I understand that her voice was no longer hitting the range it did earlier but it is still mighty fine. So my obvious question: Why were these later orchestration versions of Billie (and Ella) included in the 1001. I would much rather listen to Billie with Oscar Peterson tapping the 88 keys.

A l'ouverture du générateur aujourd'hui, mes yeux defilèrent horizontalement sur le nom de l'artiste: Billie Holliday. Un album de country donc, ça faisait quelque temps que nous n'en avions pas eu. Seulement, a l'ecoute, ce fut une catastrophe. Au dela de l'aspect visuel completement absent, les chapeaux de paille ayant été remplacés par des robes élégantes. Ensuite, aucune référence au Texas natal, mais plutot a des amants passés, on est bien loins des standards ayant forgé ce style musical legendaire. Par politesse je ne ferai même pas allusion à la nasalité misérable proposée par Billie. A vite oublier.

It is perfect. The orchestration is heavenly and robust, but the singing is so intricate. The OG lady crooner singing standards and making them classics.

Every time I get one of these 50s albums I feel like the biggest, most heartless douchebag for not enjoying any of them at all. All of them feel like listening to one monotonous 40 minute long song and this one is probably the biggest offender so far. I didn't even notice the songs beginning or ending most of the time. It all blended together way too much.

Phenomenal. Precursor to Ronstadt's "What's New", beautiful reserved arrangements/accompaniment, the focus always on her voice and the song.

10 stars!! Billie Holiday is no doubt my favorite voice. Ever since I was a child and her records put me to sleep. Classic album, Lady in Satin is the best thing I’ve heard so far on this album trip!!

What a strange album to include in this collection, especially since it's the only Billie Holiday we'll get. I'm not at all familiar with her career, and my first thought was that I hadn't realized how similar she sounds to somebody like Nina Simone, only to uncover that she predated Simone by quite a bit and that the sound on this album (vocals as well as string orchestra) is not at all what she was best known for. I'm glad that she felt this was her favorite recording, because otherwise it seems a bit cruel to have this be the lone album to represent her. In many ways this seems a lot like Johnny Cash's "American IV: The Man Comes Around"-- albums by powerful forces in music whose voices are literally croaking in their final years, ravaged by alcohol and drug abuse. I really enjoyed Cash's final studio album, in part because he chose remarkably diverse songs to cover (like Depeche Mode's "Personal Jesus" or NIN's "Hurt") and gave them a very Cash-like cast (and I'm looking forward to hearing this album in this collection). Similarly, Holiday's choice to cover Great American Songbook standards in a distinctive gravelly voice is an interesting choice on her part (especially given her jazz career), but I'll admit I don't particularly enjoy listening to these songs or style of music, sadly. that said, the final track "The end of a love affair" seemed to capture everything good and bad and tragic about this album and Billie Holiday's decline.

Truly the best

Lady in Satin Interesting reading about this after listening through it for the first time, as I don’t know much about her whole career outside the big songs, and it definitely felt like her voice didn’t have the sweetness and tone I’d expected. I guess drinking pints of neat vodka all day will do that. It’s not necessarily a bad thing that her voice sounds cracked and careworn in places, as it tells its own story and gives the album an edge and counterpoint to what could be a bit of a syrupy album, with its slightly Disney-esque arrangements. Every song pretty much follows that pattern of slightly schmaltzy arrangements all elevated by her vocals, but, to my ear, there is a variance to the quality of the material, meaning that when the songs are good this is excellent, but when the songs are average it’s merely good. I’m A Fool to Want You, You Don’t Know What Love Is, I Get Along Without You Very Well, You’ve Changed, But Beautiful all stand out as the highlights, particularly I’m A Fool to Want You’s vocals, and I Get Along Without You Very Well, which is just an excellent song. Kind of tricky to rate, I enjoyed the whole thing, and her vocals are uniformly excellent, but some songs are definitely of lesser quality and the arrangements do get a bit cloying and repetitive. I’d love to give it a 4 for it’s vocal, but it’s really a high 3. Hmm, I’ll tip over to 4 just as her vocals deserve it and for those highlights. 🏖️🏖️🏖️🏖️ Playlist submission: I Get Along WIthout You Very Well

Billie does a Sinatra In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning here by making the focus how her voice has changed over the years. It’s a beautiful album, but not quite as effective because her voice is in worse condition

Lady sings - or rather, velvet flows from her voice and wraps around you . A beautiful selection some favorites and some not so much, which makes them jams. Arrangement is sublime. Worth the listen

definitely one for the small dark whiskey bar vibes or a lazy sunday afternoon. Didnt hate it but didnt fall in love with it.

Sunday morning music, wasn't really hitting on Thursday . Felt a little repetitive but it's still Billie holiday

Day 1,016: I’m tired, boss.

Did not enjoy it unfortunately. Felt like one samey-sounding song for the entire thing

Beautiful singing in a traditional way. Compared to what I'm used to from modern artists it did drag by somewhat, not helped by the fact the album was over an hour long. The journey was nice in parts but otherwise I was waiting for it to end.

I thought I would like Billie Holiday. Nope! At least not this album.

definitely an album that should only be listened to on vinyl or heard live in a smoky bar after getting your heart broken

Nobody can compete with the way she delivered a lyric.

I've never listened to a full project of hers before and I love it! Especially hearing the behind the scenes of the recording? It was so nice

Épico

Sunday coffee

Timeless, Gorgeous.

What’s not to love about this amazing voice!

Love love love…

That voice! She could sing the phone book and it would be a 5. But it’s a great album in its own right — nothing is forced. Even the dated orchestral arrangements are on point and work well with her delivery. I can’t say how influential Ms Holliday has been, because frankly, there’s never been anything like her before or since. This is coming to the desert island with me. An emphatic 5.

EXCELLENT♥

Billie Holiday has a unique voice. The music is so melancholic and pleasant.

Lady in Satin is Billie Holiday's swan song—a breathtakingly raw, emotionally charged masterpiece where imperfection becomes its greatest strength. With a voice weathered by life’s trials, Holiday transforms heartbreak into art, her every note wrapped in lush, cinematic orchestrations. Simultaneously flawed and sublime, it’s a requiem for a lost voice and a timeless testament to the soul’s enduring power.

What a voice

Marvellous singer. Fabulous album

Amazing

Billie Holiday always wanted to record an orchestral album arranged by Ray Ellis for most of her career, but her previous record labels solely sought to sell more commercially viable jazz material featuring Lady Day. All of Billie Holiday's recordings are powerful and influential, some prefer her earlier recordings for Columbia Records 1933-1944 for the youthful and expressive flexibility of her unique vocal range and impeccable sense of phrasing, and her collaborations with Teddy Wilson and Benny Carter. Others love the emotive darkening of her vocals on Verve records, as all her vices and legal issues took their toll proving that Lady Day truly lived the life of intense despair depicted in her songs. Ray Ellis was disappointed with the deterioration of Billie Holiday's voice on her penultimate record, Lady in Satin, solely because he was looking at it from a technical perspective and not from emotional resonance. Deep, somber, reedy, choked, vibrating with a control, her voice was a peculiar instrument that eschewed the multi-octave "sophistication" and scat-singing improvisation of her peers. Not initially blessed with the best material, her unique mastery of timing and ability to make the most of her limited range helped to invent and expand the American song-book. For many Lady in Satin is the last great album by Lady Day, her Last Recording sessions were manipulated by the producer who adjusted speed and pitch to compensate for her ravaged vocals. It is rumored that Holiday was in such poor health during the Last Recording session that she was propped up on a stool in the studio, barely able to keep her eyes open. On Lady in Satin the weariness is present, beautifully orchestrated, cinematic and somber, elegiac. Nothing swings, Lady in Satin is entirely slow, heart aching ballads with the occasional ghostly background vocals, clarinets, horns, snares, and strings ("But Beautiful"). "I'm A Fool To Want You" begins with such a deep note of despair and sets the tone for a bitter maturity enveloped in strings, the break on "love" and the choking on "time and time again." "Glad to Be Unhappy" makes you believe it, "Unrequited love's a bore, and I've got it pretty bad." The vibrato gargle on "bad" rends my heart. "I'll Be Around" was the original final song of the album (before it got reissued with studio outtakes) and it is perhaps a grim reminder that she would not always be there enduring unrequited passion with patience, is it a resigned promise or an evasion? "The End of a Love Affair" (Mono Take 4 with Vocal Overdub Take 8) is beautiful.

Classic!

Reminds me of spending time with grandma

A Beautiful record

Absolutely lovely and beautiful and perfect record to listen to on a lazy Saturday morning with your coffee.

Wow! Stellar! Mellow Jazz doesn't get much better than this.

Loveliness

Emotional and vulnerable, perfect.

Holiday's voice might not have been in the best shape anymore for recording this album, but I still very much enjoyed her performance of the songs, accompanied by beautiful orchestral arrangements.

Love it

own

I loved this record. Beautiful, dreamy, soothing.

More velvet than satin

I liked this! A nice lil album I was thinking that the songs were all a bit similar but I liked them 4.5 rounded up to 5, I think the last couple of songs helped bump it up

another genre i've heard a lot from and loved for a long time but never fully delved into...Holiday's tender, pained vocals never cease to amaze 10/10

Fantastic, no surprise there.

Really beautiful singing but such a shame that her life was taking its toll.

Eleanora (aka Lady Day) is basically the best female singer ever, and listening to this is a reminder to anyone who might think otherwise. Even the outtakes and alternate versions add value - which is not usually the case with repackaged versions of old albums! I wish there was more film of her, and even more recorded music, but plan to fully explore her back catalogue when i have time (ie after the list!)

Beautiful, haunting record. I did not know Billie Holiday didn’t make it to the 60s!

One of the greatest singers of the 20th century. The bittersweet way she songs matches these songbook classics well. The jazz accompaniment perfectly matches her voice.

Brilliant.

Nice!

I mean ya gotta love Billie

Beautiful and timeless

Well, first of all Billie Holiday gets a 5, so jot that down. Taking a step back - Is this a sensible pick? I have no idea. I've listened to quite a lot of her stuff, but it all tended to be either best ofs, or massive box sets of everything from a specific label or era, so I don't have much of a sense of which albums are her most important one. I don't think I recognized any of these songs, which maybe means something? I think I'm more used to hearing her with a more stripped back accompaniment, too? These arrangements felt a bit more lush than I'm used to - maybe even a little OTT? Still pretty lovely, of course. Fave tracks - "You Don't Know What Love Is" and "The End of a Love Affair"

Wundervolle Stimme, tolle Balladen.

I'm always going to be obsessed with Billie Holiday and this is why

I am not reviewing the extra tracks other than "The end of a love affair" Just knowing that this was her last album before death jesus This is so so sad like she was heartbroken from the hard life she lived and to end on these doldrums of broken promises and relationships is hard and the instrumentation is beautiful here. Listen I know its all covers but Billie Brings a beauty and kinda finality with these. You've changed is such a sad sad song that just takes me back to past loves that have move passed and I have been both the singer and the subject. But beautiful has a great solo in the middle which just crescendos with the flutes ahhh Billie also adds these flutes over some of the songs which make them so much more interesting. I could listen to her voice for hours and I have there is nothing to hate here she came back after 16 years to sing songs outside of her style and it is shown to you from Im a fool to want you

What Billie Holiday’s voice lost due to age and health issues, it more than made up for with experience and gravitas. There is no-one better at portraying the emotional turmoil of life and love. And if I may rant for a little, I think it’s a shame that we’ve lost the shared cultural heritage of standards. Lady In Satin presents possibly some definitive versions of some, but there are dozens of other interpretations of a lot of these songs, and they’re all fantastic. American’s especially, this is your culture, this is your contributions to art and to the great folk tradition that you’re ignoring. Just, go and listen to some Standards, please

Fantastic album

Listen at: 10/02/2024

That was absolutely delightful. I listened to it while reading the last few episodes of the Crossed comic books, so it was a wonderful juxtaposition of lush musicality and over sexualized Gore.

Despite her voice not being what it once was, her interpretations are full of feeling and nuance. I don’t think any voice can compare to her originality and heart 4.5

She's the GOAT for a reason. Beautiful album.

Wow Billie Holiday, what an all-time absolute stunner!! In every way! The distinctive unique jazz voice, it's so relaxing and beautiful. I just don't know how she even made those sounds with her voice. I especially enjoyed listening to The End of a Love Affair - Audio Story such a cool insight! The only negative is that she sung covers really. I reckon if she were an artist now someone would have written her her own songs which would have been even more epic. A lot of these tracks I only associate with Billie Holiday so I guess that's a big success and says it all really. I can get a bit samey but I don't mind that at all, it's beautiful.

Wunderbar!!! Wenn man einfach mal entspannen möchte, diese Musik und diese Stimme ist einfach nur Balsam.

What a phenomenal way to start 2024! Holiday’s smoky, world-weary voice is the perfect instrument to bring these standards to life.

It's different than summer of the other albums I've heard of hers. It seems more delicate and kinda has a different vibe from her earlier recordings. Billie has such a great voice. She could sing nursery rhymes and if be good with it.

I was like “Ya I like Billie Holiday, I know what to expect, this will be good.” Two songs I was like “what is happening??” and by the end I was floored. Have since read a bit about the production of the album. Amazing. One of a kind.

beautiful

At the risk of sounding pretentious amongst the rest of the reviews here, I loved every song on this, great album. Very relaxing

Forever album. Could listen to on any Sunday lazy morning. Her voice gets me every time

It's good to not even try to like this. It's not really Jazz in my view as the orchestration and her voice take the whole thing. I have heard ths before and t be honest her voice was wrecked by this time but I could listen to this all day and all night it's so smooth and subtle.

Every note by every musician in this session is not just played, it's lived.

Wow, ok. So we're doing the Billie 'comeback'/swansong album instead of her peak I suppose. Though you can't really talk of albums as such going back to the 30s. Yeah that first track is a real punch in the guts. The contrast between her now frayed, heroin-ravaged voice and the somewhat twee orchestral backing. Almost feels like a precursor to that 80s Marianne Faithful record the other day in that sense. She's a legend and the ultimate.

One of the best albums of all time

Bioshock Vibes, mag ich.

Billie freaking Holliday.

10/10 idk why people hate on Billie Holiday’s voice it’s so beautiful!

Love it

Really dig Billie’s voice. Such a rich timbre with a lot of emotion. The arrangements don’t get in the way.

One of the best voices ever.

Own on Vnyl

The Original Queen

Billie Hoilday's voice <insert heart emoji>

Such a great singer. I liked the orchestral arrangements. Favorites are “End of a Love Affair” and “But Beautiful”

Anything she‘s done is a 5, one of my favorite voices of all time. To be honest I don’t really love these records with the full orchestral arrangements and strings. I always prefer small group stuff in general but I think it sounds especially cheesy in a jazz setting. That said I totally understand the desire for her to make a record like this in her career, there are so many great raw jam session and small group recordings of her, it’s cool that she wanted to do something different.

God, she's great. Her vocal tone is so interesting. I love this album so much. Such a mood.

Weary and wishing. And WOW. Billie Holiday is a legend, but one I hadn't dedicated much focused listen toward. This album is a journey and her now-raspy voice reflects a well-worn life, full of wisdom and regret, but with hope remaining. And emotional listen that left me speechless. Many of the 1,001 can be debated. LADY IN SATIN cannot be debated. It is essential.