Malcolm Macfarlane wrote:

Go to www.BingCrosby.com for details. The Dixieland CD looks good. Sadly I can't play vinyl anymore so the other issue will pass me by.

Good indeed. Puzzling about the vinyl. Is there really a market out there? I keep reading that certain HiFi 'afficionados' have returned to vinyl but I've not come across any. Most people I know have long since disposed of their LP players. I've retained mine but can only use it with my current set up by virtue of an additional 'step up' pre-amplifier. I and most of those I know have transferred vinyl records that cannot be officially obtained on CD onto CDRs or digitised form on computer/MP3 players.

Still, Malcolm, all is not lost - the announcement includes the statement 'Both Available on iTunes November 29'. I do hope appropriate notes/background information will be issued in support of that option. BCE did a very good service in releasing the notes in pdf format in support of their earlier two iTunes exclusive downloads. 

The Dixieland recordings seem to be all radio derived and some have appeared before on the Mosaic set. In fact they were one of the best parts of that issue. So for those who could not afford that fairly big investment this is ideal, but for some of us, we face, again, the fact of more duplication.

My confusion lies in what they are calling the vinyl single - "Bing Crosby Limited Ed. Chritmas Vinyl CD Single".  Vinyl CD Single?  What am I missing here:

http://www.bingcrosbystore.com/servlet/the-64/Bing-Crosby-Limited-Ed./Detail

Does it come with both the vinyl plus a CD?  I'm confused.  Help!

A lot of people still enjoy vinyl. I no longer have the vinyl collection I once had since I have most of my collection on CD, but I do have about 200 LPs. I play them a lot, and I find the sound better than a lot of their CD counterparts.

Lobosco wrote:

What are the track details of the Dixieland CD? The Bing Crosby site gives very little details.

David, they do say that 14 of the tracks are from the Mosaic set. That suggests all of the 'Mosaic' tracks with a 'Dixieland' group are present. The 'hottest' part of the seven disc set in fact.

From what we are told, the remainder come from General Electric and Chesterfield radio material and two of them can therefore be pinned down with some element of certainty - the items with the Firehouse Five and Ella Fitzgerald.

I offer the following as a tentative possibility, but because some of the titles were repeated on different occasions I don't think we can get to a more definitive identification. All the Mosaic tracks are on CD 6 of that set and I give the track number. 

1    'At the Jazz Band Ball' ,  Mosaic 6 - 16
2    'Sometimes I’m Happy' , Mosaic 6-09
3    'Muskrat Ramble' ,  Mosaic 6-14
4    'Way Down Yonder in New Orleans' ,  In all probability from 1953 General Electric show
5    'Strike Up the Band' , Mosaic 6-13
6    'That’s A-Plenty' , Mosaic 6-15
7    'My Baby Just Cares For Me' , Mosaic 6-19
8    'I’d Climb the Highest Mountain', Mosaic 6-18
9    'Smiles' , Mosaic 6-17
10    'Just Around the Corner' , Mosaic 6-12
11    'The Banjo’s Back in Town' , ??
12    'When My Baby Smiles at Me' , Mosaic 6-10
13    'The Object of My Affection' , Mosaic 6-08
14    'I Got Rhythm' , Mosaic 6-11
15    'Margie' ,  Mosaic 6-06
16    'Yes Sir! That’s My Baby' , Mosaic 6-07
17    'Oh, How I Laugh When I Think How I Cried About You' , ? General Electric
18    'Everybody Loves My Baby' , ? General Electric
19    'Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea' , ??
20    'Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue' , Firehouse Five - 1950 Chesterfield
21    'The Blues My Naughty Sweetie Gives to Me' , 1951 Chesterfield
22    'Memphis Blues'  with Ella Fitzgerald - 1950 Chesterfield
23    'Now You Has Jazz'  with Louis Armstrong Edsel TV 1957 (as stated)


I would think that this represents very good value for those who have not got (or cannot run to) the Mosaic set, but it is not of course representative of the set, as all the rest of the Mosaic material is with Buddy Cole and his Trio. For those of us with 'Mosaic' and a reasonable representation of radio material there is some duplication, but the possibility of getting a few items we have not got, or getting better quality of what we already have.

We are also told '- - -  two previously unissued selections from that daily radio show featuring Buddy Cole and His Trio.' but the tracks are not identified.

Last edited by Richard Baker (16/11/2011 12:03 am)

It's a bit frustrating now that they are talking about downloading songs.
Not everyone has a computer or don't know how to download or would rather have a CD or whatever.
It's a bit like businesses thinking that everyone has a touch phone and not a dial-up phone. Back in Australia
I have a dial up which works (if I'm connected). I kept it because it was our first phone way back in 1964 but also
because it is 'red'.
My niece stayed at my house and saw the phone and wondered what it was. When told it was a phone, she wanted
to know how it worked!
Ah! The youth of today.

I've just gone through the ordering process to have the Dixieland CD shipped to France, and the shipping costs are more than twice the cost of the CD itself! Keen as I am to support any releases by BCE, I'm afraid I'm not prepared to pay £20 to have a single CD shipped.

I know that i-tunes is the other option, but a great deal of the pleasure of owning the other BCE releases comes from the very attractive production values of the sleeve, liner notes, etc...

I also noticed the high shipping costs to France! I make frequent trips back to the UK and found some of the BCE releases in HMV at just £10 each...

In HMV Manchester town centre a few weeks ago (the day before the Leeds event, in fact) I saw Southern Memoir & Sings the Great American Songbook at £10 each...

Is BCE the only source for these releases or might they be made available via Amazon? I also sent an e-mail to BCE Customer Services asking for clarification of the shipping costs, but have yet to receive a reply. (It was only a couple of days ago, however...)

Unfortunately for me, even living in the US, I feel that a $13 CD that costs $9 almost to ship by the US Post Office is a little steep for me.

Thanks for that Malcolm.

Shipping costs to Europe for a single CD are still more than twice the cost of the CD itself, so - reluctantly - I won't be buying.

I've never done Facebook, but since Customer Services at BCE don't seem to respond to e-mail enquiries, it might be a better way of keeping up to date with what's going on.

I think we'd all agree that there have been some great releases from BCE over the past couple of years, and it would be a great pity if these shipping charges prevent people from continuing to support the enterprise.

Just listened to the tracks. Lovely quality. "Away in a Manger" is a duet with Kathryn Crosby which was used in the 1960 Christmas Sing with Bing. "Adeste Fideles" sounds like the version in the Christmas Sing in 1956 rather than the 1952 version advertised. I could be wrong!