Lady In Satin [Original recording remastered, Enhanced]

This is my first review on Amazon. I have never felt the need to do a review on Amazon before. Simply because someone would have always said all that I would have wanted to say.
56 people have reviewed this album before me. Pretty much every good reviewer has said what I am going to say. And yet I feel compelled to review this album. No one, I repeat no artist has ever sung from the depth of his/her heart like Billie Holiday in this album. The music pacifies you, and Lady Day's voice fills you with the deepest sorrow. And yet, in the end you emerge as if transformed by a divine experience.
Now, I will be fair. I had first heard this record 2 months back. And as it turned out, it was the first record of Billie Holliday that I had heard. Naturally, I was surpried, as people who know their stuff regarded her as one of the greats, and this record of her's as the best of all. But I was disappointed.
Eventually, I went back and heard more of her earlier recordings, read about her life, and again came back to this record. And now I truly believe that no artist has ever sung from his/her heart like the way Billie Holiday did in this CD. This album is truly beautiful. And the beauty is hidden underneath a sratchy and haggard voice of a lady tormented by physical and emotional distress.
If you do not know much about Jazz don't buy it.
If you haven't heard Lady Day before, wait till you have heard some of her other stuff.
If you have heard her before and haven't heard this album, then you are missing out on something no words can describe.
And as a tip to those who do not "get" this album. Like Ray Ellis said it, hear it emotionally and not musically.

Billie laid down these performances at age 42, less than two years before her death. Her voice sounds as if she is 70. Whereas Johnny Cash, Ralph Stanley, Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Rosemary Clooney and some others still sounded good in their 60's, Ms. Holiday's voice was pretty much gone by 40. Drug and alcohol abuse and perhaps tobacco, and a hard life in spite of being famous, or partly because of it, ravaged her. This is the kind of album that one cringes to hear at first, the voice is so old and raw and frail. I have never been a fan of Billie's, but then I have not been exposed to much of her output from younger days. However, with each listen, this disc gets better. One becomes accustomed to the voice, and begins to appreciate the effort, and phrasing, and emotion, and courage she put into it. The Ray Ellis arrangements and orchestral accompaniment contribute hugely to the album's success. This is not a disc you play for other people, or when you are in a good mood. Like Sinatra's "In the Wee Small Hours" it is melancholy, late-night consolation when "lonesome" and "sad" are the dominant moods of your life. But every adult has nights like that, and every music collection should have something that fits. If you are lucky, once you hear this a few times to get over the strangeness I spoke of earlier, you'll never need it again...but if you do, it will comfort you. Billie's life was worse than yours, her pain was deeper than yours, her future more limited than yours, her story more poignant and tragic than yours. Keep that in mind as you listen for 45 minutes or so, and you'll end up being blessed by Billie, in her last great studio session.

Es curioso la controversia que este disco despierta. Razonable porque la voz de Billie Holliday está ya muy deteriorada, como si tuviera 80 años. Pero para mi su interpretación es mejor que nunca, trasciende sus propias posibilidades vocales y la emoción desborda, el dolor empapa los deliciosos arreglos de Ray Ellis y los sentimientos se apoderan de un disco impagable e irrepetible.
Este disco aparece aproximadamente 1 año y medio antes de su muerte, y es su mejor legado, una colección de hermosas viñetas de amor y desamor, desgarrado pero no exento de un pequeño rayo de esperanza a veces (for heaven's sake).
Entre las canciones del disco, mis preferidas son I'm a Fool To Want You (entre las mejores de su repertorio), For Heaven's Sake, You Don't Know What Love Is, You've Changed o The End Of A Love Affair.
Disco especial e irrepetible, joya atemporal, testamento de una de las mejores y expresivas voces del universo jazz, pop. Este disco no merece menos de un 10.