Bing! His Legendary Years, 1931 to 1957 | 
 enlarge | Artist: Bing Crosby
Label: Mca
Category: Music
Buy New: $69.37
New (1) Used (4) from $39.95
Avg. Customer Rating:  22 reviews
Sales Rank: 54204
Format: Box Set
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 4
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
UPC: 008811088729
EAN: 0008811088729
ASIN: B000002OPK
Release Date: September 28, 1993
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
Disc 1
| • | Where the Blue of the Night (Meets the Gold of the Day) - Bing Crosby, Ahlert, Fred E. | | • | Out of Nowhere - Bing Crosby, Green, Johnny | | • | Just One More Chance - Bing Crosby, Coslow, Sam | | • | I'm Through With Love - Bing Crosby, Kahn, Gus | | • | I Found a Million Dollar Baby (In a Five and Ten Cent Store) - Bing Crosby, Dixon, Mort | | • | At Your Command - Bing Crosby, Barris, Harry | | • | I Apologize - Bing Crosby, Goodhart, Al | | • | Dancing in the Dark - Bing Crosby, Dietz, Howard | | • | Stardust - Bing Crosby, Carmichael, Hoagy | | • | The Moon Was Yellow - Bing Crosby, Ahlert, Fred E. | | • | Two Cigarettes in the Dark - Bing Crosby, Pollack, Lew | | • | With Every Breath I Take - Bing Crosby, Rainger, Ralph | | • | June in January - Bing Crosby, Rainger, Ralph | | • | Love Is Just Around the Corner - Bing Crosby, Gensler, Lewis | | • | Soon - Bing Crosby, Hart, Lorenz | | • | Down by the River - Bing Crosby, Hart, Lorenz | | • | It's Easy to Remember - Bing Crosby, Hart, Lorenz | | • | Red Sails in the Sunset - Bing Crosby, Kennedy, Jimmy | | • | Silent Night - Bing Crosby, Gruber, Franz | | • | I Got Plenty O' Nuttin' - Bing Crosby, Gershwin, George | | • | I'm an Old Cowhand (From the Rio Grande) - Bing Crosby, Mercer, Johnny | | • | Pennies from Heaven - Bing Crosby, Burke, Johnny | | • | A Fine Romance - Bing Crosby, Fields, Dorothy | | • | Sweet Leilani - Bing Crosby, Owens, Harry |
Disc 2
| • | Blue Hawaii - Bing Crosby, Rainger, Ralph | | • | Too Marvelous for Words - Bing Crosby, Mercer, Johnny | | • | It's the Natural Thing to Do - Bing Crosby, Burke, Johnny | | • | The Moon Got in My Eyes - Bing Crosby, Burke, Johnny | | • | Remember Me - Bing Crosby, Dubin, Al | | • | Bob White (Whatcha Gonna Swing Tonight?) - Bing Crosby, Hanighen, Bernie | | • | Don't Be That Way - Bing Crosby, Goodman, Benny | | • | Swing Low, Sweet Chariot - Bing Crosby, Traditional | | • | Small Fry - Bing Crosby, Carmichael, Hoagy | | • | I've Got a Pocketful of Dreams - Bing Crosby, Burke, Johnny | | • | Mexicali Rose - Bing Crosby, Stone, Helen | | • | You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby - Bing Crosby, Mercer, Johnny | | • | Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams (And Dream Your Troubles Away) - Bing Crosby, Barris, Harry | | • | Somebody Loves Me - Bing Crosby, DeSylva, Buddy | | • | What's New? - Bing Crosby, Burke, Johnny | | • | Sierra Sue - Bing Crosby, Carey, Joseph Buell | | • | Trade Winds - Bing Crosby, Friend, Cliff | | • | Only Forever - Bing Crosby, Burke, Johnny | | • | New San Antonio Rose - Bing Crosby, Wills, Bob | | • | Humpty Dumpty Heart - Bing Crosby, Burke, Johnny | | • | Deep in the Heart of Texas - Bing Crosby, Hershey, June | | • | Wait 'Til the Sun Shines, Nellie - Bing Crosby, Sterling, Andrew | | • | When My Dreamboat Comes Home - Bing Crosby, Franklin, David [1] | | • | White Christmas - Bing Crosby, Berlin, Irving | | • | Easter Parade - Bing Crosby, Berlin, Irving |
Disc 3
| • | Be Careful, It's My Heart - Bing Crosby, Berlin, Irving | | • | Adeste Fideles - Bing Crosby, Oakeley, Frederick | | • | Moonlight Becomes You - Bing Crosby, Burke, Johnny | | • | Sunday, Monday or Always - Bing Crosby, Burke, Johnny | | • | Mississippi Mud/I Left My Sugar Standing in the Rain - Bing Crosby, Barris, Harry | | • | Pistol Packin' Mama - Bing Crosby, Dexter, Al | | • | I'll Be Home for Christmas - Bing Crosby, Gannon, Kim | | • | San Fernando Valley - Bing Crosby, Jenkins, Gordon | | • | Swinging on a Star - Bing Crosby, Burke, Johnny | | • | I Love You - Bing Crosby, Porter, Cole | | • | I'll Be Seeing You - Bing Crosby, Fain, Sammy | | • | On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe - Bing Crosby, Mercer, Johnny | | • | Song of the Fifth Marines - Bing Crosby, Burke, Johnny | | • | (There'll Be A) Hot Time in the Town of Berlin (When the Yanks Go ...) - Bing Crosby, Bushkin, Joe | | • | Don't Fence Me In - Bing Crosby, Fletcher, Robert H. | | • | My Baby Said Yes (Yip, Yip de Hootie) - Bing Crosby, Robin, Leo | | • | Mine - Bing Crosby, Gershwin, George | | • | Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive - Bing Crosby, Arlen, Harold | | • | The Road to Morocco - Bing Crosby, Burke, Johnny | | • | You Belong to My Heart - Bing Crosby, Gilbert, Ray | | • | It's Been a Long, Long Time - Bing Crosby, Cahn, Sammy | | • | Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ral (That's an Irish Lullaby) - Bing Crosby, Shannon, James Royc | | • | I Can't Begin to Tell You - Bing Crosby, Gordon, Mack | | • | Day by Day - Bing Crosby, Cahn, Sammy | | • | MacNamara's Band - Bing Crosby, Bonham, Guy | | • | South America, Take It Away! - Bing Crosby, Rome, Harold |
Disc 4
| • | Alexander's Ragtime Band - Bing Crosby, Berlin, Irving | | • | The Spaniard That Blighted My Life - Bing Crosby, Merson, Billy | | • | The Whiffenpoof Song - Bing Crosby, Galloway, Tod | | • | Now Is the Hour (Maori Farewell Song) - Bing Crosby, Kaihau, Maewa | | • | But Beautiful - Bing Crosby, Burke, Johnny | | • | Galway Bay - Bing Crosby, Colahan, Arthur | | • | Far Away Places - Bing Crosby, Kramer, Alex | | • | Sing Soft, Sing Sweet, Sing Gentle - Bing Crosby, Barnett, Jack | | • | Dear Hearts and Gentle People - Bing Crosby, Fain, Sammy | | • | Chattanoogie Shoe Shine Boy - Bing Crosby, Stapp, Jack | | • | Play a Simple Melody - Bing Crosby, Berlin, Irving | | • | Sam's Song (The Happy Tune) - Bing Crosby, Elliott, Jack | | • | Harbor Lights - Bing Crosby, Kennedy, Gordon | | • | Autumn Leaves - Bing Crosby, Kosma, Joseph | | • | Silver Bells - Bing Crosby, Evans, Ray | | • | Getting to Know You - Bing Crosby, Hammerstein, Oscar | | • | Gone Fishin' - Bing Crosby, Kenny, Nick [1] | | • | In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening - Bing Crosby, Carmichael, Hoagy | | • | Watermelon Weather - Bing Crosby, Carmichael, Hoagy | | • | Thanks for the Memory - Bing Crosby, Rainger, Ralph | | • | Around the World (In Eighty Days) - Bing Crosby, Adamson, Harold | | • | Softly, As in a Morning Sunrise - Bing Crosby, Hammerstein, Oscar | | • | Gigi - Bing Crosby, Lerner, Alan Jay | | • | Where the Blue of the Night (Meets the Gold of the Day) - Bing Crosby, Ahlert, Fred E. |
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| Editorial Reviews:
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
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| Customer Reviews: Read 17 more reviews...
Bing! His Legendary Years, Review January 15, 2008
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!
A Legend. Pure And Simple August 23, 2007
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.
What a singer, what a compilation! June 7, 2006
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
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!
The best Bing documentary ever made April 20, 2004
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
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.
Excellent Introduction to Bing February 28, 2004
14 out of 14 found this review helpful
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!
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