Best place to start...

[Thing Fish]

AOS having a large body of different listeners all advocating their own particular style/type of music seems like the good place to ask such questions.

There are some artists whose body of work is so large one doesn't know where to begin?

We aren't talking about a particular format or anything like that just the best place to start when trying to explore a new (to us) artists work.

When I trawl through second hand records I see many albums by a particular artist but cannot afford to buy on chance and therefore have to be more selective.

So people - I would particulary like to know where to start with Billie Holiday.

[Tim]

So people - I would particulary like to know where to start with Billie Holiday.
I reckon Barry might be able to help you there - do you have Spotify?

[Thing Fish]

I reckon Barry might be able to help you there - do you have Spotify?

No I don't but can check songs out on Amazon.com.

I particulary want vinyl which limits my choice I know but do see many albums by her. I just don't want to spend £20 and find out i've bought a turkey (so to speak).

[Alex_UK]

Can't help you really on Billie Holiday - I've got a couple of albums, both compilations... But AoS helpsed me "see the light" with The Beatles (I know, I should have got them before...) and conversely, only proved what I'd feared with Bob Dylan - a great songwriter, but I just can't get on with his voice...

So, I'll be interested in watching this one unfurl as well... :popcorn:

[Tim]

I just don't want to spend £20 and find out i've bought a turkey (so to speak).
Well can I whole heartedly recommend Spotify, it's just the thing for weeding out the cr@p. You can hear entire albums (if they have them), clips on Amazon just don't give you enough. Best thing I ever did was subscribe to Premium - but I do buy more music now :scratch:

[The Grand Wazoo]

Billie Holiday - now that is a place to jump off from to all sorts of places! Not just that she recorded a lot of stuff, but that she recorded with a lot of people.
Not being a Spotifier, I'd get a compilation from one of the bigger labels (not someone cashing in on out of copyright material) maybe 'The Complete Decca Reordings' as a primer & then take it from there. Bear in mind that a lot of her output was as 'sides' rather than albums. 78's, mate!

[Thing Fish]

[QUOTE=Alex_UK;209621]and conversely, only proved what I'd feared with Bob Dylan - a great songwriter, but I just can't get on with his voice..QUOTE]

I thought it was just me. As you say a great song writer but Jeeeeeze that voice just grates on me. I did buy a few albums but they now just gather dust. I just can't listen to them. Believe me I have tried..:confused:

[Neil McCauley]

http://www.allmusic.com/artist/billie-holiday-p56716/discography

[The Grand Wazoo]

The way to get into Dylan is to start with cover versions. His songs are so good, you eventually realise that it doesn't matter how they're conveyed.
I know this works, I've converted literally a few people this way!
Get yourself off to the Covers Project to find out who did what to who - here's a link to the Dylan page:
http://www.coversproject.com/artist/bob%20dylan/

[Beechwoods]

I have 'The Essential Recordings' by Billie Holiday, which is a compilation of some of her recordings for Decca from 1944 to 1950. There are some fantastic performances on here, and the recordings are great, IMO, for the time; no horrible denoising.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Essential-Recordings-Billie-Holiday/dp/B00000DB0J

Billie Holiday was an artist way ahead of her time, and a woman who'd had a life of hard knocks, and that comes through in the guts of her performances. Definitely get this one :)

My favourite of Billie's is 'No Good Man', but the YouTube version of that is pretty rough, from 78 I'll bet... here's 'That Ole Devil', a great song nonetheless.

PlKoebyli_0

While we're at it forgive the plug for Gil Scott-Heron's paean to Lady Day and John Coltrane...

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[The Grand Wazoo]

When you've done a bit of exploring with Billie Holliday, I'd recommend a spell with Ella Fitzgerald & then Bessie Smith.

[Beechwoods]

Bessie Smith was fantastic. I remember seeing a film with her in, some years ago, and her singing sent chills up my spine. Very much the depth of performance that Billie had.