I agree although Brando was not suited to comedy compared to David Niven in "Bedtime Story" which i happed to see on telly about three years before the remake "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" which i saw in the cinema when it came out i found Steve Martin's self indulgent  over the top mugging about as funny as having a headache in the role that Brando played over the the top and that Caine was better in the David Niven part.

Was never much of Billy Joel fan apart from a few songs, sadly a lot of his songs tended to irritate me afuer hearing  them several times on the radio.

I am going to be controversial but i think Dick Powell was the best Philip Marlowe better than Bogey in "The Big Sleep" , Edward Dmytrak was better at directing that kind of movie than Howard Hawks "The Big Sleep" director who was better suited to comedies and westerns , also i think Hawks made the mistake of building up the Bogart and Bacall romance at the expense of the plot in the film as he did with "To Have And Have Not", Marlowe was way too cynical to have a lasting romance with any girl anyway, it would have been interesting to see what Bing would have done with Columbo had he accepted the part, but i can only picture Telly Savalas as Kojak.

It was Columbo.

An organ is all right in the church but an organ on a recording can be a bit overbearing, but sorry to disagree Aaron i thought the organ playing by Nat "King' Cole was quite good on the "Let's Face The Music And Dance "album.

I finally found the 1928 version of "Ol' Man River" just finished listening to it., i already knew the alternative version wasn't on this set because it was only discovered in recent years well after it was originally compiled.

Actually while i disliked a lot of the novelty songs Mitch Miller foisted on a lot of his artistes in his defense regarding Frank Sinatra his record sales were declining at the time Miller came to Columbia records from Mercury records and it was the novelty tunes that were selling well for other singers at the the time that were selling, also Sinatra should and could have refused to record tripe like "Mama Will Bark" and "One Finger Melody" as it was in his contract that he could have first refusal on any song he was offered according to Mitch Miller after all Sinatra did turn down "My Heart Cries For You" and "The Roving Kind" which of course went on to become million sellers for Guy Mitchell a double sided record in the United States (those songs were on separate releases here in the UK) anyway the songs that Sinatra did agree to record should never have been offered to him in the first place as they only worsened his record sales until he appeared in the film "From Here To Eternity" and signed with Capitol records and changed arrangers conductors from Axel Stordahl to Nelson Riddle that he was back on top again. 

I listened to the CD of "The Complete Bing Crosby And The Andrews Sisters Complete Decca Recordings" again the other day excellent CD.

I agree Brunswick78 i wouldn't hold my breath either, however a thought occured to me that 17 three cd sets could be issued by Sepia perhaps every three months or so like the did with the two Al Jolson sets that were released a few months apart "The Decca Years" and "The Kraft Music Hall Radio Recordings. but sadly can't see that happening now. but it would also be good if Sepia also did Al Jolson's earlier recordings made between 1911 and 1932 but that won't happen either.

I should have mentioned Red Buttons and Slim Pickens.

Strangely enough i read years ago "Bing's "Anything Goes" (1956 version) co -star Phil Harris being quoted that even though he and Bing were great friends he was never once invited to his house it seems that after Bing died some writers were hell bent on trashing Bing's legacy over even the smallest things.

When the Bob Crosby box set was issued on Mosiac last year it said in the press release that it was mastered from original 78 pressings now as Bob Crosby recorded for Decca as well as his brother Bing it means that a number of original metal parts have obviously been lost or badly damaged, i also have read that the "Sons Of The Pioneers" recordings for Decca which contained several recordings with Roy Rogers suffered that tragic fate the Bear Family box set of those recordings had sixteen alternative versions in place of the released versions sadly although for a short they were both on the same label Bing never made a record with them although in 1940 Bing recorded "Tumbling Tumbleweeds" and in 1952 "Cool Water" with the Andrews Sisters.

Obviously Bing would have been better singing "Wandering Star" than Lee Marvin even though it was a surprise UK number one here in the UK in 1970 i have to admit i remember when it was number one Lee Marvin was huge at the time although "Paint Your Wagon" film flopped in the United States it was a big success in Europe due to the popularity of both stars Lee Marvin and Clint Eastwood who were both very popular in Europe.