22/10/2013 5:31 pm  #1


What Bing LPs have you been listening to today or lately? And on what?

Okay, I'll admit that more of my attention the last couple of months has been going to my goats and a truck...and to some extent my alternate hobby with cameras..., but a new (old) phonograph find has thrown me back into playing records (real black vinyl records) again with a vengance.  I managed to pick up a late 1960s (or so) ELAC Miracord 50H turntable, which after a very few quick and minor repairs is working wonderfully well. It has a pretty if somewhat clunkier appearance compared to my similarly old Dual 1229 (which now can retire for some maintenance), and has one more speed than the Dual: 78, 45, 33, AND ALSO 16 rpm. (Did Bing ever record anything at 16 2/3rds rpm?)

After a few days of testing the machine out on: Tijuana Brass, Chet Atkins, Nancy Wilson, various Dixieland bands, E.Power Biggs...I was finally...ready...by this past Sunday to start playing my Bing LPs!  Starting with "Seasons," "Feels Good, Feels Right," the Palladium concert, "A Couple of Song and Dance Men," "That's What Life is All About," Bing with Basie..., and now just starting "Goldilocks."  What a joy!  "Seasons" amazes me EVERYtime I listen to it.  I keep trying to pick my favorite song from it, but one time it's "June in January," another it's "September Song," another it's "Autumn in New York."

It always bother's me that "Feels Good, Feels Right" isn't a Ken Barnes collaboration, but still it's such a great album, and the collection of recording studio candids of Bing and the others involved on the LP's back cover is so indispensible--like stills of the documentary of Bing working and laughing in the studio that I'll never get to watch. 

I always love to hear Bing's humorous stand-up comedy intro about how he decided to get back into performing after 50 years into his career!  The actor Bing brings us the voices of the other characters in the scenes that led to that decision.  Then, too the especially humorous songs in the album with Astair, including the funny bits spoken after the singing ends on a few of them!

I am starting to like the Basie album I find now, though I've never thought the song choices were as good as those on Basie's collaborrations with Tony Bennett.  Is part of it the new turntable?  I don't know.  Maybe I am listening more openly to it, putting aside my former irritation. 

Anyway, I keep charging backwards through Bing's LP output. Maybe, I'll continue into the 78s.  I happen to have a good 78 stylus, too, for the old Shure M97 cartridge I upgraded the Miracord to.  Continuing to enjoy LPs requires some effort to have, maintain, even collect machinery to play vinyl records on, machinery that used to be common, but really isn't anymore.  But thanks partly to the resurgence in recording/mfging of vinyl records, more new record playing devices are being offered again .  My preference is to have equipment about as old as most of my LPs--and the Miracord and the Dual are far better than the super cheapo record players I had back then, and better than the quality level of new equipment I could afford now -- so long as I can manage to learn and do some of the kinds of repair and maintenace many of these old machines are likely to need.  And when the set-up is right, and the record is clean and not especially worn, a CD could not possily sound better...and then, too, there are the big 12-inch album covers to enjoy.

So fellow Bing fans still devoted to LPs, or mysteriously called back to them lately-- what Bing LPs are you playing lately and what are you playing them on?  What joys and challenges do you find in Bing LPs and in continuing to play vinyl records?
 

 

22/10/2013 7:20 pm  #2


Re: What Bing LPs have you been listening to today or lately? And on what?

16 2/3 rpm discs were a rarity, Steve.

The ones that got into public hands were 7 inch diameter with the large centre holes and could be mistaken for pop 45s. I have seen a very few - bible readings, some Shakespeare and talking books for the blind.  I believe that some might have had music but I haven't seen any. The frequency range was limited by the slow speed. Just occasionally they pop up on places such as Ebay. 

They had slightly wider use for professional audio purposes in jukeboxes, and I believe there might have been some use by radio stations but I am uncerain about this .

What LP have I most recently played? - my old 10 inch "Le Bing"  just to do a quick comparative check with the new CD, but there is something special about the look and feel of the old LPs. 

 

 

23/10/2013 1:38 pm  #3


Re: What Bing LPs have you been listening to today or lately? And on what?

I'm afraid for convenience these days, everything is loaded up onto the PC and then onto the Ipod. It means a chunk of my collection can move from stereo to stereo around the house or into the car with ease. Lps and Cds are stored away in the study, once upload process complete, and rarely played thereafter....might dig out to check notes from time to time.

Current listens....well we have been spoiled a bit over the past few years with releases (12 from Sepia - 13 if you include Armed Forces, CBS Radio box, 14 from BCE to count a few)  and these are all still on frequent play.

Le Bing is being played daily at the moment.....Tu Ne Peux Pas Te Figurer...a special Bing moment for me....bliss.

Radio shows with Jimmy Durante also featuring high at the moment from the Vintage Years CD; and good for a chuckle and good music (as does the Al Jolson shows from Sepia).
Bing On Broadway gets played a lot...a favorite for doing the dishes to.

And I haven't even delved into the Johnny Mercer Songbook CD yet.......




 

 

23/10/2013 4:43 pm  #4


Re: What Bing LPs have you been listening to today or lately? And on what?

Good to hear some love for "Bing and Basie"! I have posted earlier here how much I enjoy that LP in spite of it's flaws. I recently was listening to "Bing in Paris" to get ready for the arrival of "Le Bing" on CD. Of course "Seasons" was played on the anniversary of his passing. "Feels Good, Feels Right" is a staple for listening, too. I even played my MFSL copy of "Bing Sings Whilst..." a few times recently.  I so cherish my mint mono copy of "El Senor Bing" that I pull that out every once in awhile for a spin!

Happily, I am fully-stocked on my "Latter Day Bing" LP's and thrilled to pull one out when in the mood and enjoy propping the jacket up behind the turntable and viewing it as the record spins.

As you all are, I am extremely happy with the CD reissues and their excellent quality. But there is NOTHING like playing a record on the turntable and enjoying it's "warmth".


All the best,
Paul M. Mock
 

23/10/2013 7:02 pm  #5


Re: What Bing LPs have you been listening to today or lately? And on what?

All my albums are stored away. I don't have many Bing albums but I have many Bing cd's because I started collecting on Bing in the mid 90's. I have a new turntable and should pull out some albums to play on it. One day. I've been listening to BING CROSBY MEETS AL JOLSON on cd and BING AND ROSIE RADIO SHOWS on MP3 cd's.


Peace and Love! 
 

24/10/2013 1:50 pm  #6


Re: What Bing LPs have you been listening to today or lately? And on what?

I've worked my way back to "Thoroughly Modern Bing"--not an album I hear discussed very often among Crosby fans. I think everyone would have to say, though, that Bing sing's powerfully and enthusiastically on it, and the band arrangements are energetic and well recorded. I realize that I know nothing about "Bugs" Bower who arranged and conducted it, as the album notes inform.  The chorus appearing on it is sparingly and deftly used, unlike the one on the "Hey Bing, Hey Jude" album.

On "Talk to the Animals," Bing's delightful rendition can't help but remind me of what a singer Rex Harrison really isn't.  It is hard not to imagine how well Bing might have done in a remake of DR.DOLITTLE, if not a full acted feature, perhaps an animated version.  Not hard to imagine Danny Kaye and Rosemary Clooney voicing some of the parts, as they each also had some talent for children's songs.

"Love is Blue" is one of those songs so popular in its day that, to me just really doesn't hold up, doesn't have what it takes to be a standard.  Perhaps it's sentiments are just too wimpy to make it a memorable torch song. That Bing did a good version of such a contemporary song no doubt seemed an asset at the time, but to me (who is supposed to be of that song's generation) it seems so terribly dated.  By contrast, Bing's version of "Puff, the Magic Dragon" seems much more timeless, like the fable in the song.

I think I recall some Crosby fans bristling with irritation at "Ding, Dong, the Witch is Dead," but it always puts a smile on my face, especially when Bing slips a bit of "yowl" into a syllable or two, the first time he sings "belo-ow, below, below..." "Up, Up, and Away" is also very well done, and certainly fits with the collection of bouyant and sunny songs Bing has done over the years.

I wonder if the best songs from "Hey Bing" and the best songs from this album, if arranged and conducted by this "Bugs" fellow (who knows how to use a chorus without abusing the song), and if recorded as well as this album, might have added up to one of Bings very best albums of all?

I found this LP copy at a used record store about an hour's drive away.  Well worth the $2.99 the sticker says I paid for it. It sounds like it was hardly ever played before I got it.  Now on to the next album in my LP marathon!

Last edited by Steve Fay (24/10/2013 1:53 pm)

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