Editorial Review:

Amazon.com:
Bing Crosby was a laidback swinger, and this four-CD box spends a fair amount of its time reminding us of an era when the emphasis was as much on the swing as on the lazy-lidded attitude. Never as angst-ridden as Sinatra could be, and consequently not as multilayered, Crosby is nonetheless not a singer to be missed. The quarter century surveyed here includes cultural touchstones ('White Christmas,' 'Don't Fence Me In') and obscurities. All deserve to be heard by fans of the American song book and stylish performances. --Rickey Wright









Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours

---

Related Items:
     see more

Related Items:

• Top o' the Morning: His Irish Collection
• The Definitive Collection
• It's Easy to Remember
• A Voice in Time: 1939-1952
• The Very Best of Perry Como
• see more

---

Disc 1:

1. Where The Blue Of The Night (Meets The Gold Of The Day)
2. Out Of Nowhere
3. Just One More Chance
4. I'm Through With Love
5. Crazy Quilt: I Found A Million Dollar Baby (In A Five And Ten Cent Store)
6. At Your Command
7. I Apologize
8. The Band Wagon: Dancing In The Dark
9. Stardust
10. The Moon Was Yellow (And The Night Was Young)
11. Two Cigarettes In The Dark
12. Here Is My Heart: With Every Breath I Take
13. Here Is My Heart: June In January
14. Here Is My Heart: Love Is Just Around The Corner
15. Mississippi: Soon
16. Mississippi: Down By The River
17. Mississippi: It's Easy To Remember
18. Red Sails In The Sunset
19. Silent Night, Holy Night
20. I Got Plenty O' Nuttin'
21. Rhythm On The Range: I'm An Old Cowhand (From The Rio Grande)
22. Pennies From Heaven: Pennies From Heaven
23. Swing Time: A Fine Romance
24. Waikiki Wedding: Sweet Leilani

Disc 2:

1. Waikiki Wedding: Blue Hawaii
2. Ready, Willing And Able: Too Marvelous For Words
3. Double Or Nothing: It's The Natural Thing to Do
4. Double Or Nothing: The Moon Got In My Eyes
5. Mr. Dodd Takes The Air: Remember Me?
6. Bob White (Whatcha Gonna Swing Tonight?)
7. Don't Be That Way
8. Swing Low, Sweet Chariot
9. Sing You Sinners: Small Fry
10. Sing You Sinners: I've Got A Pocketful Of Dreams
11. Mexicali Rose
12. You Must Have Been A Beautiful Baby
13. Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams (And Dream Your Troubles Away)
14. George's White Scandals: Somebody Loves Me
15. What's New?
16. Sierra Sue
17. Trade Winds
18. Only Forever
19. New San Antonio Rose
20. Humpty Dumpty Heart
21. Deep In The Heart Of Texas
22. Wait Till The Sun Shines, Nellie
23. When My Dreamboat Comes Home
24. Holiday Inn: White Christmas
25. Holiday Inn: Easter Parade

Disc 3:

1. Holiday Inn: Be Careful, It's My Heart
2. Adeste Fidelis (O Come, All Ye Faithful)
3. Road To Morocco: Moonlight Becomes You
4. Sunday, Monday Or Always
5. Mississippi Mud/I Left My Sugar Standing In The Rain
6. Pistol Packin' Mama
7. I'll Be Home For Christmas
8. San Fernando Valley
9. 'Close The Door Joe, We're Making A Disc'
10. Swinging On A Star
11. I Love You
12. I'll Be Seeing You (Rehearsal Glimpse)
13. I'll Be Seeing You
14. On The Atchison, Topeka And The Santa Fe
15. Song Of The Fifth Marines
16. (There'll Be A) Hot Time In The Town Of Berlin (When The Yanks Go Marching In)
17. Don't Fence Me In
18. (Yip Yip De Hootie) My Baby Said Yes
19. Let 'Em Eat Cake: Mine
20. Here Come The Waves: A-Cent-Tchu-Ate The Positive
21. The Road To Morocco: The Road To Morocco
22. You Belong To My Heart (Now And Forever) (Solamente Una Vez)
23. It's Been A Long, Long Time
24. Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ral (That's An Irish Lullaby)
25. I Can't Begin To Tell You
26. Day By Day
27. MacNamara's Band
28. South America, Take It Away

Disc 4:

1. Alexander's Ragtime Band
2. The Spaniard That Blighted My Life
3. Whiffenpoof Song
4. Now Is The Hour (Maori Farewell Song)
5. But Beautiful
6. Galway Bay
7. Far Away Places
8. Sing Soft, Sing Sweet, Sing Gentle
9. Dear Hearts And Gentle People
10. Chattanoogie Shoe Shine Boy
11. Play A Simple Melody
12. Sam's Song (The Happy Tune)
13. Harbor Lights
14. Autumn Leaves
15. The Lemon Drop Kid: Silver Bells
16. The King And I: Getting To Know You
17. Gone Fishin' (Live)
18. In The Cool, Cool, Cool Of The Evening
19. Watermelon Weather
20. Thanks For The Memory
21. Around The World In 80 Days: Around The World (In Eighty Days)
22. The New Moon: Softly As In A Morning Sunrise
23. Gigi: Gigi
24. Where The Blue Of The Night (Meets The Gold Of The Day)

Rating: - Bing! His Legendary Years, Review
Bing - The Legendary Years
Review

This is the only disc, or set of discs, I own where I can say I love every selection on every disc. I can't even say that about Elvis. More about Elvis later...

A bit about how I came to this set of CDs. I grew up with White Christmas, the song and the movie. I occasionally heard another song by Bing Crosby, and I always loved his voice. I got on a kick over the last year or so of picking up some of the singers my parents listened to while I was growing up - Andy Williams, Robert Goulet, Dean Martin, et al. I came across this 4 CD set on Amazon, read the reviews and added it to my wish list. It sat there for many months until I decided one day to just bite the bullet and buy it. I can now say it is worth every penny!

I put on CD 1, and it didn't sound like the Bing I knew. So I stopped it and put on CD 2. That sounded more like Bing. As I was listening, I remarked to my husband how Bing's voice was almost completely absent of any vibrato, and how he seemed to have two different voices - a chest voice and a head voice. He reminded me of Elvis that way, and I became convinced that Elvis must have grown up listening to Bing Crosby. I felt that Bing was Elvis's vocal predecessor.

I started reading the excellent booklet that came with the set and read about the earliest tracks of the CD, so I went back to CD 1 and listened to the whole thing. What a revelation! Here was young Bing, and I was very surprised to hear a very rapid vibrato on a lovely tenor voice, with only occasional glimpses of the deeper baritone he later became famous for. There were times I could swear I was listening to Dean Martin! Again, I figured Dean must have grown up listening to Bing Crosby.

In the booklet, Will Friedwald talked about how important the words were to Bing. I wasn't really sure what he meant until my husband, who was discovering Bing with me, commented that he bet that Bing was difficult to accompany as he sung in almost a "singspiel" voice, a kind of talk-like singing. Then I realized that the cadences Bing used in singing were the cadences one would use in speaking those words. Ah, now I understood Friedwald's comments, and also understood that this is why Bing comes across in such an easy, casual, pleasant-to-listen-to and utterly delightful manner.

Once I was over all the analysis (I admit to being something of a student of the human voice, it fascinates me), I sat back and listened to all four discs and by the time I was done, I was just in love with everything about them. Bing, his beautiful voice and easy delivery, the beautiful music, the peek into a bygone era where the term "political correctness" hadn't been conceived of, and where music was just plain fun! I only wish there were more discs in the set! Well I'll just have to find some more!

---

Rating: - A Legend. Pure And Simple
Harry Lillis Crosby began life in Tacoma, Washington on May 3, 1903, and kicked off his career as a singer when he and his partner, Al Rinker, were hired by Paul Whiteman in 1926, subsequently joining with Harry Barris to form The Rhythm Boys. After splitting from the Whiteman band in 1930, he scored his first hit singing on his own in 1931 with I Surrender Dear while with Gus Arnhelm's orchestra. That led to a CBS radio contract and the rest, as they say, was history.

From then until his untimely death in October 1977 while golfing in Spain he would chalk up no less than 310 hit singles, even making what then passed for the R&B and Country charts six and two times respectively from 1942 to 1952, and adding five more to the Adult Contemporary (AC) charts after they were formed in 1961.

His last, in fact, came in 1997 when the venerable 1947 version of White Christmas scored yet again, this time at # 26 on the AC charts. The # 1 selling single of all time, he first recorded it in 1942 and that version was a perennial hit every Christmas season until 1947 when, with the master virtually worn out, it was re-made using the same orchestra and backing singers but better recording techniques (it was so well done the second time that it's a;most impossible to discern the difference). Altogether it has sold close to 31 million, accounting for 10% of the estimated 300 million records sold [not counting his LPs and EPs]. Also not to be missed is his first version of Silent Night, Holy Night, done in 1935.

As you can well understand, not even this magnificent 4-CD box set and its 101 selections can put a dent in the wealth of songs he recorded and left for posterity. In putting this together producers Andy McKaie and Steven Lasker chose to present three previously-unreleased selections, and these are to be found at: Disc 2 - track 13 which contains one of his many legendary and hilarious "blow ups" in the midst of a recording and which became an "under-the-counter" bootleg sale for years thereafter; Disc 3 - track 15 as well as rehearsal glimpses at tracks 9 and 12; Disc 4 - track 2.

His musical backing reads like a Who's Who of contemporary bands and includes the likes of Georgie Stoll, Victor Young, Xavier Cugat, Jimmy Dorsey, Vic Schoen, Morris Stoloff, Bob Haggart, The Les Paul Trio, Lyn Murray, Woody Herman, brother Bob Crosby and, of course, John Scott Trotter, who backed the vast majority of his hits. Vocal collaborations involve The Andrews Sisters, Louis Armstrong, Jane Wyman, Mel Torme, The Ken Darby Singers, Al Jolson, and Road picture partner and long-time friend Bob Hope.

All this is detailed in the extensive discography of the contents contained in the 67-page booklet, which includes the names of many of the noted musicians playing with the bands listed. Extensive and fabulous liner notes are provided by Will Friedwald, author of Jazz Singing [1992, Collier Books], and there are loads of great pictures, including a centre-fold colour shot of Bing, one of first wife Dixie Lee, several of his sons, numerous record album/poster reproductions, etc. etc.

Just a magnificent collection covering but a portion of the career of a man ranked as the # 1 artist in Joel Whitburn's Pop Memories 1890-1954 book, and who received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1962.

---

Rating: - What a singer, what a compilation!
Box sets and greatest hits compilations are the audio equivalent of a Whitman's Sampler; there's a lot to choose from and you may not like everything in it. Those compiling box sets face the challenge of what to include and exclude which is complicated when the artist has as lengthy and prolific a career as Bing Crosby. Suffice to say it would be hard to get any two Crosby fans to agree on a track listing as they'll differ on interests such as which era, which genre, which styles, and other issues. Most of what's included here are some of his better known tracks from 1931 to 1957; his most productive years and a pretty broad span of time! There certainly are tracks here I'd exclude and others I'd have like to seen included, but "His Legendary Years" is a good survey of Bing as an artist during his years with the Brunswick and Decca labels, albeit an incomplete one. And like the Whitman's Sampler there's enough here to give you an idea of what you like and can pursue elsewhere. The recordings were re-mastered and sound much better than other re-re-releases and the accompanying booklet provides a nice amount of information on Bing and his career. A great starting point!

---

Rating: - The best Bing documentary ever made
All I can say is "Wow!" This is, hands down, the bes documentary made on the inimitable Mr. Crosby. There is an abundance of little-known film footage of Bing which really enhances the presentation. They include fan footage of Crosby at the horse races at Del Mar and Santa Anita and some behind the scenes footage of Hope and Crosby at charity events, on the Paramount lot and playing golf. There isn't a great deal of actual clips from Bing's movies pre-1950, which is a trifle disappointing. There is virtually no clips of him singing life, except a brief clip of him in London, entertaining the troops in 1944 and some stuff from 60's-70's TV shows like Flip Wilson.

The interviews are interesting, though not terribly revealing. Rosemary Clooney has the most depth and explains Bing's notorious reticence and distance from other people. She says he relaxed more in later years with his second family. Kathryn Crosby is also shown, though her remarks on Bing are short and she says little new. None of his children from his marriage to Dixie or Kathryn is interviewed. We are thankfully spared commentary from Gary Crosby and the "Bing beat his kids" angle is not focused. There's too much emphasis on Bing's later life, probably because they can pad the story with clips from various 60's TV shows. I'd have liked to see more material on his early career with the Rhythm Boys, Whiteman and the Philco radio show, but the program is a solid effort. If you're a Crosby fan, you'll find much to praise here.

---

Rating: - Excellent Introduction to Bing
I bought this set some ten years ago, when I was a budding Bing fan, fearful that I might regret having dropped so much coin on an artist I wasn't thoroughly familiar with. After sampling a few tracks on each of the four discs, however, I realized there would be no buyer's remorse with THIS purchase.

If you want to familiarize yourself with Bing Crosby, this is the perfect primer, covering his most prolific and influential years as the world's most popular entertainer. "Prolific" is the key word here. You can't not like Bing Crosby's music, because he masterfully interpreted so many genres that there's literally something for everybody. Popular Standards, Jazz, Country & Western, Hawaiian, Folk, Irish, Christmas Carols, Gospel, even Light Opera - he sang them all as though they were the reason for his existence. And it didn't hurt that he had one of the most appealing voices in the history of recorded sound. This package offers an enticing cross section of that incomparable versatility.

The attractive and entertainingly informative booklet by the eminent popular music historian Will Friedwald (author of Stardust Melodies) complements the set perfectly.

Be careful - purchasing this collection could start you down the road to full-fledged Crosby fanaticism, as it did me. Now THAT runs into money!