Customer Reviews

All Time Best

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This is *not* the "Absolute Best" of Bing Crosby. No way! I have been following Bing's career since I was 6 years old and own nearly every song he ever sang and I have never heard of "Dardenella," which is inexplicably included on this collection.

There is simply no way to condense Bing Crosby's prodigious musical catalgue into 10 songs and many of these songs were never issued as singles, much less regarded as a hit. It's totally insulting to include a non-entity as "Bye Bye Blues" on a Crosby collection os supposed hits. Bing's great songs from his golden era of the 30's and early 40's comprise 10 great songs in *one* month.

The songs selections here cater strictly to Bing of the 40's and 50's, when Bing's voice was not as compelling a musical instrument as it had been in the 30's. Avoid this sorry collection, if you're seriously interested in understanding and appreciating Bing Crosby, please consider buying the better 4-disc collection offered on Amazon.

I must admit to the untrained observer at first glance this collection might appear to be a little,shall we say,uneven..??

But to the true discerning Crosby fan this is a little gem of a release,not a great one but still worthy of its' modest price.

The majority of the songs are culled from the Decca vaults and are quite good transfers but are available on a myriad of collections elsewhere.

But the reason I picked this CD up are the other tracks.These are some fantastic crumbs from the Capitol vaults.Capitol is sitting on a veritable treasure chest of Bing masters that I can't wait to see in the future.High on my wish list,for example, is the soundtrack to "High Society" and his giant hit with Grace Kelly "True Love",an absolutely great song.

What they HAVE released on this disc are some of the wonderful duets he did with his good friend and trumpet legend Louis Armstrong.These are the highlights to this disc and to me well worth the price I paid to get them.The songs are"Sugar"(a 5 minute masterpiece in execution and ease),"Lazy River","Bye,Bye Blues" and "Dardanella"(in which even Johnny Mercer joins in briefly!).

In conclusion while not a CD that lives up to it's moniker(there is NO CD that in 10 songs could do Bing justice!)it IS well worth the price when you consider what little rare items ARE included on this disc that you will find nowhere else on any other higher priced CD or boxed set.

For the true Bing fan I recommend you get it while the getting's good!

As reviewer Candace Scott has so aptly described it, this CD is misleading. In fact, if you look at the title of the album, it's an outright lie when you factor in tracks 2, 5, 8 and 10 as not one of these can even remotely be described as being among his "All-Time Best." Not by any standards I'm familiar with. And it wasn't as if, in a 10-track CD, they didn't have enough legitimate material to draw from. As a solo artist starting in 1931, and counting those hits he scored in tandem with other greats of the era (e.g. The Andrews Sisters), up to his last hit single in 1965, he chalked up some 361! Surely they could have come up with 4 more to match the title they chose for the album.

In the insert (which also contains a single page of background notes written by Don Ovens) they indicate that the tracks just mentioned came courtesy of Capitol Records, and since that wasn't a label Bing joined until the mid-1960s, it's clear they were recorded in that period (the liner notes provide no information at all in that regard). That would account for the 5:13 length of Sugar, and the brief appearance of Johnny Mercer on track 5. Indeed, only his 1956 two-sided hit True Love (with Grace Kelly) b/w Well Did You Evah? (with Frank Sinatra) from the film High Society, and 1963's Do You Hear What I Hear? came out on Capitol (his last hit in 1965 was on Sinatra's Reprise Records). All the rest were on Victor (1), Brunswick (62) and Decca (all others).

So why am I giving this 4 stars? Well, the sound quality is excellent, there is that one page of liner notes (something you seldom see in these early 10-track cheapo CDs), and of course the six legitimate cuts that were among his all-time best. And even if those four tracks were not among his "best" they are still well worth hearing as they include the great Louis Armstrong. I deduct 1 star for the lack of recording details.

Swingin' On A Star, from the film Going My Way, was a # 1 for 9 full weeks in summer 1944 b/w Going My Way on Decca 18597, with the backing of the John Scott Trotter orchestra and The Williams Brothers Quartet (which included a young Andy Williams). Dear Hearts And Gentle People, with Judd Conlon's Rhythmaires, hit # 2 in late 1949/early 1950 on Decca 24798 b/w Mule Train.

Don't Fence Me In and Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate The Positive were two of better collaborations with The Andrews Sisters, as the former, from the film Hollywood Canteen, spent 8 weeks at # 1 in late 1944/early 1955 and made it to # 9 on what passed then for the R&B charts on Decca 23364 b/w The Three Caballeros, while the latter, from the film Here Come The Waves, got as high as # 2 in March 1945 on Decca 23379 b/w There's A Fellow Waiting In Phoughkeepsie. Both were backed by Vic Schoen's orchestra.

Where the Blue Of The Night (Meets The Gold Of The Day) not only became his radio theme, it charted for him twice. The first recording in 1932 was heard in his first feature film, The Big Broadcast Of 1932 and made it to # 4 early that year b/w I'm Sorry, Dear on Brunswick 6226. The version heard here is from 1940, accompanied by The Paradise Island Trio, and it reached # 27 that November b/w The Waltz You Saved For Me on Decca 3354.

Easter Parade, from the Broadway musical As Thousands Cheer, and with the Trotter orchestra backing, also charted twice, the first time in March 1947 when it finished at # 22 on Decca 23819 b/w I've Got Plenty To Be Thankful For, and in March 1948 following a re-issue when it reached # 22.

I'm not normally a fan of Curb products, but if you get past the title, this isn't a bad little buy.