Ron Field wrote:

Received an e-mail from Amazon about a 'new' CD by Bing being released this month called "ICON".
What titles I can read on the cover are the usual ones - Where The Blue ....; White Christmas; Swinging On A Star
etc.

So far as I can make out ICON are a reissue label of Interscope/Geffen Records which are in turn part of Universal Music Group.

http://www.ilovethatsong.com/icons/ has a listing of their records, but no Bing shown there.

The tracks noted on the front cover, are as Ron says, the standard recycling of the most popular titles, only twelve of which are shown on the illustration, but at least they ought to be in audio reasonable quality. Nothing to attract the dyed-in-the-wool fan unless you collect everything.

In Wal-Mart today and saw a Bing Christmas CD at $5.00. Some duets mentioned - Peggy, Ella and a couple of others. Think most are from radio/TV.
My, now favourite non-religious song "The Secret of Christmas" is also on the CD. The words of this song are so meaningful. I usually quote the following on my Christmas message '... it's not the things you do at Christmas time, but the Christmas things you do all year through...'.

Oh, and the CD was on the bottom shelve (3 CD's actually), so naturally, I had to move them up to eye level.
I'll call in again Monday and hope that they are gone.

Ron Field wrote:

In Wal-Mart today (Monday) those 3 CD's are still there.
Notice that the CD is released through HLC. Had a look at that site but this Christmas CD isn't listed.
While visiting the site there were two songs at a time playing. Will contact Judy to let her know.

So, Ron, just to recap here, this is a three CD compilation of Christmas songs including some of Bing (which, let us face it, would not be unusual), but that it is marked as released by HLC - a recognised imprint of the Crosby organisation, and therefore unknown to us (the only known official set from this source being that of last Christmas - Collector's Choice CCM2161 ‘THE CROSBY CHRISTMAS SESSIONS’, which is a single CD anyway.

So may this be a pirate under false colours, or maybe some of the same material issued under licence from HLC? Clearly if it really is an issue of HLC we would expect to hear about it from 'Bing Crosby Facebook' and/or 'The Home Of Bing Crosby'.

Are you able to expand on your information and list the titles? I'm not clear whether you were warning Judy about the simultaneous playing of two songs on the site or the possible appropriation of a trade name.

Sorry, Ron, I misread your earlier post and mistakenly jumped to the conclusion we were talking about a three disc set.

So, a single CD with the HLC imprint with Ella, Peggy, 'The Secret of Christmas', 'Jingle Bells' (without the Andrews Sisters), and 'White Christmas' plus others.

But so far, on these titles this could describe 'The Crosby Christmas Sessions' tracks 2 and/or 14, 7, 9, 4 and 11.


As a reminder the complete track list of that issue was
1. It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas
2. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (with Ella)
3. Just What I Wanted For Christmas
4. Jingle Bells
5. Christmas Carol Medley:
    Deck the Halls with Boughs Of Holly-
    Away In a Manger-
    O Little Town Of Bethlehem-
    The First Noel
6. Adeste Fidelis (O Come All Ye Faithful)
7. Here Comes Santa Claus (with Peggy Lee)
8. White World of Winter
9. The Secret of Christmas
10. Go Tell It on the Mountain (with Frank Sinatra)
11. White Christmas
12. It's Christmas Time Again
13. The Christmas Song
14. Silver Bells (with Ella Fitzgerald)
15. Jingle Bells (fast version)
16. Sleigh Ride
17. We Wish You the Merriest (with Frank Sinatra)
18. Silent Night
19. The Little Drummer Boy
20. Peace on Earth (with David Bowie)

Are you sure it wasn't this? (or an unofficial derivation of it? Or was it even a copy with a different cover that caused confusion? - A trap which I have fallen into many times with reissues).

Just went to www.walmart.com and they only show 3 Bing cd's. None with the cover they have in stock.
Scroll down and there are a few Bing sites mentioned. Clicked on one and Bing played 'Exactly Like You', followed by Burl Ives.
Ron

This appears to be the CD mentioned on the BCE Facebook page as follows.
"This holiday season, select retailers in the US and Canada will feature "Bing Crosby Christmas", a specially created holiday compilation CD from Bing Crosby Enterprises and HLC Properties, Ltd.. It features previously issued material including 14 tracks from the 2010 Collectors' Choice release "The Crosby Christmas Sessions" as well as two selections not found in that collection - "I'll Be Home for Christmas" and "A Marshmallow World" (with Ella Fitzgerald) - which have been newly remastered from superior sources for this release. "I'll Be Home For Christmas" - a radio performance from The Kraft Music Hall has been previously issued in a compilation of Crosby's WW II era V-Discs. "A Marshmallow World" - recorded for Bing's Chesterfield radio program has been previously issued in the 3-CD collection Swingin' With Bing. "Bing Crosby Christmas" is released through Sonoma Entertainment and South Bay Music."

Malcolm Macfarlane wrote:

This appears to be the CD mentioned on the BCE Facebook page as follows.
"This holiday season, select retailers in the US and Canada will feature "Bing Crosby Christmas", a specially created holiday compilation CD from Bing Crosby Enterprises and HLC Properties, Ltd.. It features previously issued material including 14 tracks from the 2010 Collectors' Choice release "The Crosby Christmas Sessions" as well as two selections not found in that collection - "I'll Be Home for Christmas" and "A Marshmallow World" (with Ella Fitzgerald) - which have been newly remastered from superior sources for this release. "I'll Be Home For Christmas" - a radio performance from The Kraft Music Hall has been previously issued in a compilation of Crosby's WW II era V-Discs. "A Marshmallow World" - recorded for Bing's Chesterfield radio program has been previously issued in the 3-CD collection Swingin' With Bing. "Bing Crosby Christmas" is released through Sonoma Entertainment and South Bay Music."

This one

For the US and Canada only, apparently.

Zane, I just picked up the version you mentioned at my local Walmart this past weekend, for $9.00 -- much cheaper than on Amazon, but almost double the what Ron was paying for the similar collection.  It has the Crosby Arcive Series logo on the back.  Perhaps these diverse HLC licensed compilations will be profitable and help support continued issues from the core of the Archive Series project. Incidentally, it is a very nice selection, and since I still didn't have the Bing-Bowie duet in any format, it was nice to find it there.  I also picked up a copy of the 2006 Capitol CD "Bing Crosby: Christmas Classics" which has most of the "I Wish You A Merry Christmas" LP tracks, plus a few substitution and bonus tracks, including the Bing-Bowie duet soundtrack from the TV special. Suddenly I have that one in two versions!