Posted on: April 11, 2010 Posted by: anfnewsacct Comments: 0

Who was the greatest pop singer of all time? Well, opinions certainly do vary on that topic, but one thing is certain: Bing Crosby has to be part of the discussion. Collectors’ Choice Music feels most blessed and honored to bring you the first in a series of releases direct from the Bing Crosby Archive. Over the next couple of years you will find classic albums, unreleased albums, rare and never-before-heard tracks, new compilations and classic Crosby television and film footage all coming your way EXCLUSIVELY via Collectors’ Choice, all with meticulous remastering and annotation. And with Bing’s TV special now airing on PBS, it seemed like the right time to get started on what promises to be a wondrous ride indeed through the Crosby canon.

CCM 2104 Bing Crosby: Seasons (Deluxe Edition)
Bing’s final album, originally released in 1977, has never been available on CD, let alone with 13 bonus tracks! This new deluxe edition features the original twelve tracks plus Bing’s very last recordings, made at a BBC session three days before his death, and five poems recorded for fan clubs but never distributed. Includes from the original release ‘Seasons; On the Very First Day of the Year; June in January; Spring Will Be a Little Late This Year; April Showers; June Is Bustin’ Out All Over; In the Good Old Summertime; Summer Wind; Autumn in New York; September Song; Sleigh Ride’, and ‘Yesterday When I Was Young’, plus the bonus poems ‘Around the Corner; If; The Singers; Lucy Gray (Solitude)’, and ‘The Slaves Dream’, and the BBC recordings ‘Feels Good, Feels Right; Nevertheless; The Only Way to Go; Summer Wind; The Night Is Young and You’re So Beautiful; There’s Nothing I Haven’t Sung About; As Time Goes By’, and ‘Once in a While’!

CCM 2105 Bing Crosby: Return To Paradise Islands (Deluxe Edition)
Bing’s collection of Hawaiian favorites was recorded in 1963 by Frank Sinatra’s Reprise label and has never been available on CD or even reissued at all! And for this edition a new stereo mix has been created from the original session tapes that is simply, well, paradisiaical. Bing is accompanied by the Nelson Riddle Orchestra on ‘Keep Your Eyes on the Hands; Forevermore; Love and Aloha; Beautiful Kahana; The Hukilau Song; The Old Plantation; Lovely Hula Hands; Frangipani Blossom; Farewell My Kane; Adventures in Paradise; Return to Paradise’, and Home in Hawaii’. Six bonus tracks include a brief session outtake of ‘Return to Paradise’ and five previously unissued Hawaiian tracks recorded in 1961 featuring ‘My Little Grass Shack (in Kealakakua, Hawaii); The Cockeyed Mayor of Kaunakakai; Yaaka Hula Hickey Dula; Ukulele Lady’, and ‘King’s Serenade’.

CCM 2106 Bing Crosby: On The Sentimental Side (Deluxe Edition – previously unreleased album)
Recorded in 1962 and never released, this collection of popular songs, many dating back to Bing’s boyhood, has been long rumored to exist by Crosby fans, and finally appears here with five bonus tracks! The original album is all medleys: ‘My Bonnie/The Band Played On; Always/Wishing; Remember/Put on Your Old Gray Bonnet; All Alone/In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree; How Can I Leave Thee/A Bird In a Gilded Cage/The Sidewalks of New York; If I Didn’t Care/Blueberry Hill; Beautiful Dreamer/The Last Rose of Summer; Roll On Silver Moon/Now the Day Is Over; Tom Dooley/The Old Gray Mare; Together/What’ll I Do; Look For the Silver Lining/Say It With Music’, and ‘Did You Ever See a Dream Walking/A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody’. The bonus tracks hail from Bing’s 1950s CBS radio shows with Buddy Cole; they include ‘Because; Love’s Old Sweet Song; Smilin’ Through; Whither Thou Goest’, and a 1960 take of Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ral’!

CCM 2107 Bing Crosby: Bing On Broadway (new album)
When it came to interpreting show tunes, Bing had few peers. This brand-new collection of rare material features him singing selections from such legendary Broadway musicals as ‘South Pacific, The Pajama Game, Damn Yankees, Can-Can, Anything Goes, My Fair Lady’ and many others, accompanied by Buddy Cole & His Trio on 17 tracks and John Scott Trotter on two tracks. Includes ‘Swanee; Carolina in the Morning; Mandy; How Long Has This Been Going On?; My Heart Stood Still; Crazy Rhythm; Ain’t Misbehavin’; Fine and Dandy; But Not for Me; New Sun in the Sky; Taking a Chance on Love; It’s Only a Paper Moon; All Through the Night; Come Rain or Come Shine; A Cockeyed Optimist; It’s All Right with Me; Hey There; Heart’, and ‘Get Me to the Church on Time’.

CCM 2108 Bing Crosby: El Senor Bing (Deluxe Edition)
Bing loved Spanish music, and for this 1960 collection, recorded for his own Project label, he was accompanied by none other than the Billy May Orchestra— the CD debut of this LP! Includes from the original album ‘Ramona/Amapola (Pretty Little Poppy);. Marta/The Rose in Her Hair; Again/Allez-Vous-En (Go Away); In the Still of the Night/I Could Have Danced All Night; Pagan Love Song/Cuban Love Song; Down Argentine Way/What a Difference a Day Made; Heavenly Night (Cielito Lindo)/My Shawl; Malaguena (at the Crossroads)/Andalucia (The Breeze and I); How High the Moon/Old Devil Moon’, and ‘C’est Magnifique/Taking a Chance on Love’. There are six Spanish-flavored bonus tracks from Bing’s 1950s CBS radio sessions with Buddy Cole & His Trio including ‘Papa Loves Mambo; Floras Negras; Solamente Una Vez; No Te Importe Saber (Let Me Love You Tonight); La Borrichita’, and In ‘A Little Spanish Town’, plus the markedly different mono mix of the original album. ‘Muy sabroso!’

CCM 2109 Bing Crosby: So Rare: Treasures From The Crosby Archive (2 CD set/new album)
Carefully compiled by Crosby archivist Robert S. Bader, this career-spanning collection of rare and unusual recordings from Bing Crosby’s personal archive includes his first solo radio performance from 1931, some rare private recordings and unknown outtakes as well as the first album appearances of several rare single tracks–many of which are mixed in stereo for the first time! Includes ‘Just One More Chance’ and ‘I’m Through with Love’ from Fifteen Minutes with Bing Crosby; ‘Buckin’ the Wind’ from a Spanish radio promo disc; ‘Where the Turf Meets the Surf’, Del Mar race track’s theme song; Kraft Music Hall performances of ‘Over the Rainbow,’ ‘As Time Goes By’, and ‘Why Don’t You Fall in Love with Me’; ‘I’ll Be Seeing You’ from a 8/31/44 British broadcast; ‘You’re the Gem State Wonder, Idaho; Santa Claus Is Coming to Town’, a 1954 recording for Shriner’s Hospital; ‘My Old Kentucky Home’, recorded for the Kentucky Junior Derby; radio performances of ‘What Do You Mean, You Lost Your Dog?; We’re in the Money (The Golddigger’s Song); I Hear Music; I Can’t Get Started; Pledging My Love; Because’, and ‘The Yellow Rose of Texas; So Rare’ from The Ford Road Show; the Columbia singles ‘Straight down the Middle’ and ‘Tomorrow’s My Lucky Day’; first-time stereo appearances of the MGM singles ‘The Second Time Around’ and ‘Incurably Romantic’; a 1960 private recording of ‘Anthem of the Clams’; a stereo TV outtake of ‘Pennies from Heaven’; the Reprise singles ‘Far From Home; How Green Was My Valley; Step to the Rear’, and ‘What Do We Do with This World’; Reprise outtakes of ‘Live a Little’ and ‘Don’t Let a Good Thing Get Away’; the unreleased singles ‘Take a Longer Look’ and ‘The Human Race’, and ‘That’s What Life Is All About’ live from the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on March 17, 1976. 34 tracks, 26 unreleased!

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