Billie Holiday - Lady in Satin (1958) RESEED

MP3/256Kbps



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.



Track listing:

1. "I'm a Fool to Want You" (Joel Herron, Frank Sinatra, Jack Wolf) ? 3:23

2. "For Heaven's Sake" (Elise Bretton, Sherman Edwards, Donald Meyer) ? 3:26

3. "You Don't Know What Love Is" (Gene DePaul, Don Raye) ? 3:48

4. "I Get Along Without You Very Well" (Hoagy Carmichael) ? 2:59

5. "For All We Know" (J. Fred Coots, Sam M. Lewis) ? 2:53

6. "Violets for Your Furs" (Tom Adair, Matt Dennis) ? 3:24

7. "You've Changed" (Bill Carey, Carl Fischer) ? 3:17

8. "It's Easy to Remember" (Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers) ? 4:01

9. "But Beautiful" (w. Johnny Burke, m. Jimmy Van Heusen) ? 4:29

10. "Glad to Be Unhappy" (Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers) ? 4:07

11. "I'll Be Around" (Alec Wilder) ? 3:23

12. "The End of a Love Affair" [Mono Version] (Edward Redding) ? 4:46