First of all, congratulations, assembling the full 51-CD Chronological Bing Crosby set is a worthwhile accomplishment, and a dream for every collector. These days, CDs have fallen out of popularity even faster than they replaced cassette tapes or vinyl. New cars don’t even come with CD players anymore. It’s sad to see any belovedformat fading, but Internet archiving is the future. Many people from yougner generations are much more at ease with digital accesing music than obtaining hard copies of cds.Having the entire Chronological Bing Crosby set preserved in the Internet Archives, is a great way to preserve Bing's recorded legacy for the benefit of newer generations. Since I don’t have a full set myself, I’m absolutely delighted to be able to hear it this way. Thank you again for doing this!

I figured it would be best to do this instead of uploading clips to YouTube - getting that lossless CD quality out there is lovely.

Thank you! 

Congratulations and thank you for all you have done, here. You really have demonstrated such high passion and dedication with this and your efforts have already proven so useful, informative and entertaining.
I've blown hot and cold over the years whether or not to invest in the "Chronological" CD set. Mostly because of what I already have of Bing's on CD and vinyl. Because I am a member of one of the generations almost entirely sympathetic to these particualr physical formats, it's a lovely way for me to take more of a peak into the world of accessing Bing's music online. Very well done!!!

Just with reference to the Chronological Crosby on CD, with my never having seen any in person - coulld someone who posses any of these be able to inform me if they have extensive liner notes and also detailed information on the recordings themselves (dates, etc)? 

Last edited by Ian Kerstein (15/10/2025 6:28 am)

Even better Ian - you can look at the liner notes at that link! They’re wonderful, I love referring to them along with The Crosby Collection books.

Last edited by ModernBingFan0377 (15/10/2025 11:19 pm)

I believe if you click on the picture showing the front cover of the first volume of the CDs you’ll be able to scroll through all of the images.

Noticed some songs are actually missing like the 1928 version of "Ol' Man River" with Paul Whiteman.

Last edited by STEPO (25/4/2026 10:47 pm)

Sorry should have been more clearer, it's the online files that's missing the 1928 version of Ol' Man River" , the CD set has every single song Bing recorded from 1926 through to September 1950.it looks to me that when ModernBingFan got a bit overwhelmed when ransferring the digital files because it's a massive undertaking also there were two later versions of "OL' Man River" later on in the set as well but they were include in the online files.

Last edited by STEPO (25/4/2026 10:57 pm)

A 1941 version with Victor Young which was released in Australia and the UK in 1944 and a version recorded in 1945 with the Camarata Orchestra, Bing also recorded a version with The Buddy Cole Trio in 1955 which was the b side of "A Little Spanish Town" a UK top 30 in 1956.

Last edited by STEPO (26/4/2026 6:07 pm)

Seemingly had record charts existed in 1928 in America "Ol' Man River" with Paul Whiteman would have been Bing's first number one hit but those charts were compiled like the UKs Missing Charts book as the United States record charts did not exist until 1936 but i would have thought the Paul Robeson version would have been the big hit version as it was ipopular n the United Kingdom as Paul Robeson stayed England throughout the 1930s.

Last edited by STEPO (27/4/2026 10:55 am)

I always loved Bing's versions of Ol'Man River, specially hearing first the 1928 one and then Bing's concert performances of the same number in Pasadena and Norway in 1977. In Pasadena specifically Bing's intensity is palpable.

Sheet music sold well because it was much cheaper to buy than records in the UK especially with rationing during world war two however by the early 1950s records were starting to outsell sheet music especially with singers like like Frankie Laine and Johnnie Ray who had powerful voices and whose records where the singing over of the songs they sang made their versions the definitive versions of those songs also in those days there were would be several versions of the same songs but in the case of Frankie Line and Johnnie Ray.  they were not many versions of "Jezebel" and "Cry" .