Jazz Club - Lady Sings The Blues - Billie Holiday

Advantages: The price of the Album was good and within my budget
Disadvantages: The music store had to order the Album in, did not have it in stock

...of waiters as they ply the customers with cocktails. A small group of dancing couples shuffle round the floor in time to the soulfull notes. For any jazz fan this album is full of pure nostalgia for a saddly bi-gone age. Billy's voice echos all the pain and suffering of her life experience and as she sings the vocals this is particularly noticeable in her rendition of " Lady sings the Blues" and "God Bless the Child", each word is uttered and infused with a knowledge of the reality of the message within the song. This singer is truly at one with the lyrics, she sings as if she is sharing with the listener her own joy saddness and or dissollusionment with a life which should have held so much promise and yet slipped away to quickly in jazz clubs and gin joints accross America. From track 1 -19 this is a beautiful album and a must for any... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: The wonderful tracks My Man, Don't Explain etc
Disadvantages: The dialogue interupts musical flow

...Lady Sings The Blues premiered to an eager, anticipating audience in October 1972. The public flocked in droves to the cinemas to see this much-hyped film, whilst critics watched intensley and eagerly sharpened their pencils. Soul singer and Motown legend, Diana Ross controversially took the role of the tortured Jazz legend, Billie Holiday and deservedly won wide critical acclaim for her harrowing and riviting performance in the film which subsequently gained her an oscar nomination (though Diana sadly lost out to Liza Minnelli for Cabaret - people claimed this was down to Berry Gordy's over-kill campaign to get her to win where Berry sent various extravagent gifts to members of the comittee which was merely perceived as a ploy to get her to win). Critics were instantly silenced on hearing the movies quintessential and divine... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: The beautiful title track
Disadvantages: None

...by the compositional and lyrical finesse of Ron Miller. Basically Berry Gordy wanted a No.1 hit waiting in the wings for his leading star just in the event of a needed re-bound if the Lady Sings The Blues movie bombed. Of course we all know Lady Sings The Blues was indeed an enduring success and earned her a much deserved oscar nomination for her powerful and riviting portrayal as the tortured Jazz singer Billie Holiday. Hot on its trail came Touch Me in The Morning. After an extremely sluggish start where it literally hovered for weeks on end down the lower reaches of the Hot 100 it slowly but surely climbed up the charts and eventually zoomed into pole position, remaining there for weeks on end. The formula is vastly similar to Ain't No Mountain High Enough where the rhythm steadily builds to its exalting chrous which Diana tackles with utter style... Read review

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