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1 of 1- Anton G.-F.
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Bing Crosby 3-CD Set from Chansons Cinema
Hi everyone,
I've finally had a little time today to add a new entry to my 'Bing Crosby on CD' blog. This time I'm reviewing an out-of-print 3-CD set from the French label Chansons Cinema released in 1995. It includes a disc of Bing's recordings with Paul Whiteman from 1928-29, as well as two discs of film tracks from 1930-34. If you're interested in reading the review, you can access it by clicking on the following link:
It's a very recommendable, though hard-to-find set. I hope you enjoy the review! 
- Malcolm Macfarlane
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- Registered: 22/11/2010
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Re: Bing Crosby 3-CD Set from Chansons Cinema
Nice review, Anton, and I agree that it's a very good set indeed.
- Richard Baker
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- Registered: 20/11/2010
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Re: Bing Crosby 3-CD Set from Chansons Cinema
Thank you, Anton.
I was surprised when I came across this 3 CD set in London's largest record store shortly after it was released - beautiful presentation, and from France, not exactly the centre of gravity for fans of Bing.
I remember particularly chuckling at the mix of French and English on the outer box "BING CROSBY With Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra avec Bix Beiderbecke au cornet"
It's very hard to believe that this was nearly twenty years ago.
At the time cheap, poorly produced CDs, with little or no information came from many parts of Europe (particularly southern and eastern), but this set was extremely well produced, all in a card box and a good booklet with each CD, in French and English. Unfortunately precisely the same text is used for each of the three CDs, but the tracks are correctly and fully identified with dates and personnel.
A little oddly both US and UK Amazon currently list CDs 2 and 3 singly (but in very small quantities).
The pricing reflects the fact that they are now out of print, as Anton says in his review.
- Anton G.-F.
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Re: Bing Crosby 3-CD Set from Chansons Cinema
Malcolm & Richard,
Thanks a lot for your nice words about the review. This is, indeed, a very nice set, well produced and attractively presented. I really can't believe that I purchased it almost twenty years ago either...
I also thought the mixture of French and English on the cover was curious, as are the occasional misspellings on the back, where, for instance, it says "whith Paul Whiteman"... Apparently the producers of the set thought highly of Bix Beiderbecke, but no so much of the other outstanding musicians in Whiteman's band in the late 20s, since only Bix is mentioned on the cover! It's also beyond me why they decided to include a song with a vocal refrain by Jack Fulton in which Bing isn't featured at all...
Regarding the liner notes, they are informative and rather well written, especially the original ones in French, which I suppose were then translated into English. It is really too bad that the same text is used for all three CDs, but at least the text is good. I guess the reason for this may be that the CDs were perhaps originally sold separately and then collected into a 3-CD set, but I am not really sure about that. This may also account for the fact that, now that they have gone out of print, they can be purchased separately, at least two of them, but again, I don't know for sure.
In any case, although this music is available on several different releases, I've always been partial to the excellent presentation and sound quality of this set fabriqué en France almost twenty years ago. And well, there are some real gems among these Whiteman and early 30s movie sides, and there is no doubt that Bing had a fondness for some of these film hits because he re-recorded several of them with Buddy Cole as part of his Musical Autobiography in the 1950s.
- •
Thread Starter- Richard Baker
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Re: Bing Crosby 3-CD Set from Chansons Cinema
Anton G.-F. wrote:
Malcolm & Richard,
- - - It's also beyond me why they decided to include a song with a vocal refrain by Jack Fulton in which Bing isn't featured at all....
I can offer no explanation, Anton, and no one could possibly mistake the high tenor voice of Jack Fulton (the only one on the recording) for Bing.
But then there is also a question over C-O-N-S-T-A-N-T-I-N-O-P-L-E. Some say Bing participates, others think not. Certainly none of the identifiable voices are Bing's, but he might just possibly be in the chorus. Many people list C-O-N-S-T-A-N-T-I-N-O-P-L-E as including Bing to be on the safe side, but "I'm Bringing A Red, Red Rose" is certainly straying into the wrong territory.