PeterC wrote:

Hi everyone.  I have a question about Bing's live album titled "50th Anniversary Concert at The London Palladium",  I have the CD version of this with a black and white cover.  I know there was also a 2LP set put out by K-tel records in the 70s.  I am wondering if these two releases are the same.  They look the same, despite the different cover.  I think most of the tracks are the same but I do not have the K-Tel release.  Are they exactly the same or are there differences?
Thanks!

Peter, Whilst I must admit that I have never undertaken a detailed track by track comparison I believe that they are the same with the major difference that one or two items from side two and all of side three of the two LP set have been omitted from the CD, whilst the CD has a couple of items omitted from the LP set..

A complete listing of the songs on the LP set is shown on the Discogs site here 
The two issues are the same up to "Hallelujah", but differ from that point up to the start of "The Crosby Medley" with "I Surrender, Dear" and thereafter appear to resume their similarity.
  
 

On this love album, Bing sounds a lot better than one might suppose he should sound if they were just going by his age and appearance.  I also recently picked up the United Artists 3CD set which has some real gems.  

They should remaster the 50th anniversary concert and re-release it with a nicer cover.  The CD I have actually looks a bit amateurishly done.  But it is a very solid concert with good diversity of material. 

PeterC wrote:

They didn't video tape it!?!?!
That is insane indeed.

Gosh, if it were someone today there would be digital recorders from all angles not to mention a thousand smart phones held up!

I couldn't agree more, Peter. For example, the BBC in the UK were always very Bing friendly - and he to them. They had for years and during the seventies been recording and broadcasting concerts for television such as "Sinatra at Festival Hall" (1970) and "Tony Bennett at Royal Festival Hall" (1974), and decent amounts at least of concert footage for their Perry Como 1975 UK tour documentary. So why not "Bing Crosby at the London Palladium" (1976/7)? What made this so short sighted at the time was that unlike the previous three gentleman, dear Bing was by then of course - and certainly by the general age expentancies of 46 years ago, far into the autumn of his years. Although no one in 1976 could have at all predicted what was to happen in Madrid the following year, you would have thought a BBC producer such as the late Yvonne Littlewood's standing could have been given the go ahead. I don't know what anyone else's thoughts might be but as I'm currently typing, I'm just wondering could there have actually been a discussion over this and then possibly a potential "rights" clash with the album's record label - and the BBC?

Last edited by Ian Kerstein (08/3/2022 8:47 pm)

I Ordered a used copy of the CD online last year but was disappointed to find that tracks were left off to fit a single CD as it was a budget CD, it could easily have been a double CD with all of the tracks.

I recently bought online the  original K-Tel 2 record set unfortunately one of the omitted CD tracks i bought it for "Play A Simple Melody" had several pops on it but it was still better to hear the original 2 lp set it gave a better idea of what a Bing Crosby concert was like during 1976 the concert was butchered for the CD release.
Hopefully Warner music the now rights holder for the UA recordings made in the UK will see fit to reissue the whole album on a 2 CD set as well as a new complete UA set with the original takes instead of the alternative takes in time for the 50th anniversary but sadly I can't see it cause sadly Ken Barnes is now dead as well as Pete Moore and Alan Warner who set up the UA deal so they might have a job locating the original masters i also bought the original four UA studio albums as well recently for the original takes as the 3 CD set had mostly alternates.