Customer Reviews

Best of Bing

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4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is one of the best Bing Crosby collections you are going to find -- and at this price, it's even more unbelievable. Bing recorded 225 songs from 1954-60 with the Buddy Cole Trio for his radio show. After Bing's death in 1977, Brits Ken Barnes and Pete Moore selected a large number and added full stereo orchestral and choral accompaniment. This gives us Bing in prime voice, but with more modern arrangement. This 2-CD set contains 50 of these songs. The fidelity is great. Top quality, from the great work Barnes and Moore did in their painstaking labor of love, to the great-sounding disc remastering, to the fantastic price for the 2-CD set. What I also like is that these selections are fresh, and not the same old songs that are standard to Bing that every other collection includes. If you buy this, you are getting something new and different. You can't beat this great set!

I would quibble that this CD represents "the best" of Bing Crosby, even though the material covered here is pretty darn good. All of these standards were recorded long past Crosby's vocal heyday, which would have been the 1932-45 era, but if you're a fan of the mature Bing, then this is right up your alley. This is a pleasing introduction for those who don't have other Crosby CD's in your collection or who are weak in the post-1950 period of his career. It contains his standard hits like "True Love" which have been recycled time and again on other anthologies, but it also contains some little-known gems.

Another reviewer complained about the sound quality on this set. I am puzzled at this criticism. I have most of these songs on casette, vinyl and some even on their original 78 and 45 issues. The sound quality here is quite acceptable and good on most tracks. Hopefully this collection will convince you that Bing's vocal mastery was unparalled, even when he was in his 50's, as he was when these songs were recorded. Then you can sample his earlier, jazz-influenced work during his Columbia years in the early 30's and branch off into his 20's work with the Rhythm Boys. But for the beginning Crosby listener, this set will give you many hours of enjoyable listening and help you branch off into other Crosby CD's which includes his early, stellar work. I highly recommend this set. Enjoy!

I looked at the glowing reviews for this CD set and failed to read them carefully -- one reviewer said "Brits Ken Barnes and Pete Moore selected a large number [of Bing's songs] and added full stereo orchestral and choral accompaniment. This gives us Bing in prime voice, but with more modern arrangement." Therefore, if you want REAL Bing, as HE recorded the songs, this CD is not for you. The songs have now been Nat King Cole-ified or smooth jazz-ified with 80s/90s straight tone a capella style singers. There's nothing wrong with these styles of jazz, but they're just not Bing! Absolutely no vibrato from the backup singers, horrors!

I ordered this album based on the glowing reviews of it from this site. I concur. Buy this CD if you want to hear great arrangements and performances by Bing at his mature stage when his voice was much deeper and resonant. Rarely do quality and quantity (50 songs)come together this well. You will find this a very satisfying listening experience.

The "Best of Crosby" title does not match the content, as too many songs seem to be just filling space. Nobody would ever rank the opening song about golf, for example, as one of Crosby's best. On the other hand, his command of so many pieces, both jazz and pop, help one recall just good he was/is.