Customer Reviews

Holiday Inn

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

 

 

It grieves me to give a Bing Crosby selection a paltry two stars, but the quality of this CD is abysmal. I am convinced that someone merely stuck a cheap tape recorder in front of a TV playing this classic movie and then marketed this pale imitation of the original soundtrack.

The scratches, skipped notes and hideous tonal quality are reminiscent of a beat up old 78 record. What a disappointment considering this disc contains some hard-to-locate Bing songs like "I'll Capture her Heart" and "I've Got Plenty to be Thankful For." You might as well buy the VHS version of Holiday Inn and make your own recording from the film. This CD's quality is the nadir of listening experiences!

After listening to this CD, I must confess to being puzzled by an earlier reviewer's negative reaction to the sound quality of the recording. All of the music here was recorded in 1942, and by the standards of that time, the sound isn't bad at all. According to a producer's blurb on the CD insert, Holiday Inn was released in 1962 as one of 15 albums (I'm guessing they all appeared on Decca) in a series known as Bing's Hollywood, each featuring songs from one of his movies. The blurb further states that the songs were collected from commercial recordings made by Crosby around the time the movies appeared in the theaters, so technically speaking, they can't be considered original soundtrack recordings. Again, the quality of the recording sounds fine to my ears. While it's true a few of the tracks exhibit some surface noise (as though they had been transferred from records), there's nothing here which ought to detract from enjoyment of the music.

As for the music, there are 12 songs written by the great Irving Berlin, expertly sung by either Bing or Fred Astaire and Margaret Lenhart on a few tracks. Backing is provided by longtime Crosby collaborator John Scott Trotter on about half of the selections, and Bing's brother Bob Crosby and His Orchestra on the others. Some of the Crosby tracks in particular provide excellent swinging arrangements which inspire Bing's jazzier approach to singing. Aside from "White Christmas," "Easter Parade," and "Be Careful It's My Heart," most of the songs are lesser known examples of Berlin's music; it's nice to discover a song like "Lazy" with its clever lyrics (". . . with a great big valise full of books to read where it's peaceful."). Most of the selections on hand here have been released on one of a series of 2 CD sets on the Jasmine label devoted to Bing's movie songs, but at the price this version of Holiday Inn is being offered for, it's easily worth the money.

If you don't have it, GET IT! This is the soundtrack to the delightful
1942 musical "Holiday Inn", a Bing and Fred team-up
triumph. This is the film that introduced "White Christmas",
Bing's signature song.

Obstensively a Christmas movie, this one can
be enjoyed at any time of year, as Christmas serves as the
"book-ends" for a year's worth of Berlin tunes (except
Halloween... they left that one out of the movie for some
reason).

The songs are intoxicating and contageous! You'll find
yourself humming some of these cuts long after you've put the CD on
the shelf.

"Holiday Inn" is not to be missed, but it is
sure to be cherished once you have a look, and a listen.

Yes, The sound is not up to todays standards. Get Real!
It would have to mean there were no improvements in 60 years!
Now, they could have doctored it a little, but would
that have improved it? Not necessarily. I remember some pretty
creepy sounding "Electronic Stereo" albums in the '60s.
If you want better sound you could rip the CD and run your own
favorite sound hacking program.
But emough of that.
The performances on this CD are exactly what was on my mother's 78 RPM Album
(A real album not a record) which she played over and over. The joy is in the nostalgia.
4 stars plus 1 just for being available

I downloaded this and really have no complaints. Yes, it's not the original soundtrack (it doesn't sound exactly like the music in the movie), but I couldn't find an original soundtrack. So this is as close as it gets and it's wonderful.

As a Bing Crosby album, it's OK, but the reviewers who claim this is a.) the movie soundtrack or b.) a recreation of the soundtrack are totally wrong ... Recorded nine years after the movie was produced, the songs are the same, but the arrangements and orchestrations are totally different and vastly inferior, the lyrics are slightly different and off putting if you love the movie version and the great movie duets between Bing and Majorie Reynolds (or whoever "voiced" her) are lamentably missing.

And Bing and whoever the studio backup singers are lack most -- and on some songs all -- of the warmth and sparkle present in the movie renditions.

Whoever one's the rights to the Paramount catalog really ought to put out a real soundtrack of the this "ten best in any genre, any era" 1941 film, it's almost 70 years overdue.

...Does not have the spirit of the film...Marjorie Reynolds is no great singer but without her on WHITE CHRISTMAS, no delight.