New and Re-issued materials » Bing Crosby’s Christmas Gems - Out 10/27 on Vinyl and CD » 28/10/2023 5:32 pm

Brian W.
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Blonde56 wrote:

The colored vinyl green and red are 2 separate lp's?

Yes, you can buy either the red or the green vinyl. I believe the green vinyl is only available at Barnes & Noble.

New and Re-issued materials » Bing Crosby’s Christmas Gems - Out 10/27 on Vinyl and CD » 27/10/2023 6:44 am

Brian W.
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It does contain the full-length version of "How Lovely is Christmas." That track sounds pretty good, but unfortunately it and "Christmas Star" appear to be sourced from 256kb MP3s -- there's no audio above 16k on either track when I look at them in Cool Edit Pro's "spectral view."  Sigh.

Those are the only two tracks on the disc that are like that, fortunately. The sound is nice overall. It's a nice collection. 

New and Re-issued materials » THE CHRONOLOGICAL CROSBY SERIES FROM JONZO » 10/10/2023 7:06 am

Brian W.
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Are the Jonzo CDs still available to purchase anywhere? I was reminded recently that I never completed my collection. I think I only have Vols. 1 thru 41. 

New and Re-issued materials » Bing Crosby’s Christmas Gems - Out 10/27 on Vinyl and CD » 10/10/2023 7:02 am

Brian W.
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Hopefully this will contain the full-length studio recording of "How Lovely is Christmas" from master tape. I've only ever found it issued from vinyl sources, except for the "How Lovely is Christmas" album, which is not the full length version. (Though I think the shorter version may be the way it was recorded, because the longer single sounds like they just dubbed in his earlier "God rest ye, be merry" chorus after the inserted choir section.)
 

Recording » “Bing Crosby’s Irish Songbook” - Streaming March 10 » 10/3/2023 10:18 pm

Brian W.
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Yes, this is available for purchase on the download sites. Available in lossless format (true CD quality) on Qobuz.com. 

By the way, has the Crosby estate regained the rights to some of Bing's Decca recordings? I notice on the download and streaming sites that some of his Decca albums (for example, "Songs I Wish I Had Sung") now list the copyright as only "HLC Properties LTD. "
 

Recording » Dixie Lee's and Bing's Renditions of "I Apologize" (1931) » 25/1/2022 9:09 pm

Brian W.
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Thanks for posting this, that's really cool to see.

Recording » New Top 40 hit - Mele Kalikimaka » 02/1/2021 1:51 am

Brian W.
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Add one more Top 40 single to Bing's (and the Andrews Sisters') repertoire -- "Mele Kalikimaka" has charted at #36 on the Billboard Hot 100, its first appearance ever on a pop chart in the US, and was also the Hot Shot Debut for the week. 

This was made possible by Billboard's policy change a few years back of no longer discarding Christmas or catalog songs on the Hot 100, by the overwhelming popularity of streaming, and no doubt helped by Universal's debut this year of an animated streaming video for "Mele Kalikimaka."

"White Christmas" also hit #20 on the Hot 100 the same week, the first time it's charted inside the Top 20 since 1962, the final year that Billboard would allow catalog songs on the Hot 100 for many, many years.

Recording » Nomination for a Bing album to be re-released on CD... » 16/7/2020 4:44 am

Brian W.
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Yeah, "Hey Jude Hey Bing" and "Bingo Viejo" are the two I'd like to see, of original albums. What I'd really like even more is an official A-and-B-sides compilation of his 1950s Decca sides, from tape sources, if any still exist.

Recording » White Christmas makes the Top 40 for the first time since 1962 » 05/1/2019 1:55 pm

Brian W.
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Streaming is catching on big, and what people were streaming big time this December was classic Christmas songs.  "Billboard" apparently has no rule currently that prevents catalog titles from gathering streaming points (which make up the bulk of the Hot 100 these days), so tons of classic Christmas tunes charted on the Billboard Hot 100 this year, among them "White Christmas" (all Crosby versions combined) peaking at #34. 

Among these new Christmas pop charters are first-time Top Ten positions for Andy Williams' "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year," Bobby Helms's "Jingle Bell Rock," Brenda Lee's "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree," and Burl Ives' "Have a Holly Jolly Christmas."

Read about it in "Billboard" at the link below: 

https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/8491989/elvis-presley-highest-charting-hot-100-hit-since-1978-blue-christmas-debut

Recording » Info needed on Decca 29341 » 06/6/2014 9:39 pm

Brian W.
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I'm seeing in the Goldmine Price Guide that a 45 was issued on Decca 29341 for "Old Man/Gee, I Wish I Was Back in the Army" b/w "Mandy."  Does anyone on the board here own this disc?

Because I'm wondering how "Mandy" was edited here.  Is it really just "Mandy" on that side of the disc?  I ran across a notation on JazzDiscography.com that says, "On the 78 rpm issue 'Blue Skies' was edited out, necessitating a new master - W86945, made on 19 October. Oddly the title 'Minstrel Show' did not appear on any record labels."

So on this 45 issue, is it actually "I'd Rather See a Minstrel Show/Mandy" but it only lists "Mandy"?  Or is it really just "Mandy" on there?  There is an audible edit between the end of "Blue Skies" and "Minstrel Show" on the CD soundtrack and I'm wondering if the 45 just starts at that point, omitting "Blue Skies." 

Thanks for any info you can give me on this.

Recording » Buddy Cole Recordings- Summary of CD Appearances » 06/6/2014 9:17 pm

Brian W.
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I don't really, I just have a $20 pair of headphones hooked up to my computer.  Perhaps noise reduction isn't the source of the problem, but whole song sounds "muffled" to me.  And when I add a little high end in an audio editor, it sounds "weird."

The other thing I'm hearing is a pulsating between high and low frequencies.  Good example: At the 1:17 minute mark, on "When I'm on my way to church with you" -- note how the sound suddenly becomes clearer on the word "way" and remains that way for the rest of the line.  It does that at 00:19 as well, "The feeling that I get is heavenly," starting with the "ing" on "feeling."  You lose quite a bit of high frequency at that point and it seems to get overly bassy, not just in Bing's voice but on the track as a whole.  Then it seems to clear up on the world "heavenly."  (This is all more obvious if you boost the high end a bit with Audacity or the like.)  Maybe it's just the source material, I don't know.

Radio » 70 Years ago. D-Day. » 05/6/2014 10:49 am

Brian W.
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About three weeks ago I did the closed captinoing for a documentary about D-Day; I've forgotten now what it was called... I think it was simply called "D-Day."  It was very moving to see these men in their 80s break down, sobbing, recounting things that happened so many years ago.  The thing that choked me up (well, that started me choking up) was almost at the end of the show, a man was talking about coming back and seeing his wife for the first time, and said she was the prettiest thing he'd ever seen.  Then he grins and says, "Wanna see her picture?" and whips out her picture from his wallet.  That was it, I was gone.  Thank goodness the show was almost over or I would have had a long, tearful evening at work.

Recording » Buddy Cole Recordings- Summary of CD Appearances » 05/6/2014 10:15 am

Brian W.
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Jim Determan wrote:

"Church Bells" and "Rain" are bonus tracks on the UK MCA "Some Fine Old Chestnuts & New Tricks" CD...  ...there were Japanese releases of "Some Fine Old Chestnuts" and "New Tricks" as separate CDs, and the sound quality, particularly of "Chestnuts" is significantly better on the Japanese version, but although "Rain" is a bonus track on "New Tricks", "Church Bells" is not on the Japanese CDs.

Yes, and that's a pity, because I finally received yesterday a copy of "Some Fine Old Chestnuts/New Tricks."  I've been searching for it on and off for years and finally got it for a reasonable price.  I have the Japanese CD issues of both albums, but I really wanted "Church Bells." 

But the sound quality on "Church Bells" on that UK two-fer is horrifying, in my opinion. It is, as they say, "No-Noised to death."  I can literally hear the noise reduction artifacts in the sound.  Just awful. 

I'd definitely recommend the old Japanese releases of those two albums, as they use no noise reduction whatsoever.

Member Introductions » Long time, no see... » 15/2/2013 8:26 pm

Brian W.
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Hi, everyone.  I had no idea until today that this chat board existed, or that Steven had put his museum back online.  It's good to be back here and see some old familiar names posting.

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