Through The Years, Vol. 2: 1951

Volume 2 in this new series of albums of Bing Crosby recordings in chronological order begins in February 1951 Bing made with The Bando Da Lua, a popular Brazilian vocal / instrumental group. On Maria Bonita Bing gives a first-class display of his talent and merges perfectly with the accompaniment. Granada was perhaps an unusual choice for Bing at this stage of his career, the original recording contained introductory castanets and a Spanish guitar leading on to Bing and The Bando Da Lua singing the verse in Spanish. When the song was issued on LP, this opening was edited out. Here you have the original version. From the Broadway stage Bing recorded a sensitive reading of More I Cannot Wish You from Guys & Dolls and The Loneliness Of Evening, a song cut from South Pacific. Forsaking All Others and Sparrow In The Treetop were recorded with The Andrews Sisters, both country and western songs feature some excellent harmonising. On Here Ends The Rainbow Bing is accompanied by Hawaiian guitars and sings the song with Betty Mullin. With This Ring I Thee Wed and We All Have A Song In Our Hearts are songs new to CD. Moonlight Bay, performed with son Gary, is a delightful fun interpretation of this standard. The record entered the Billboard charts and peaked in 14th position. When You And I Were Young, Maggie, Blues, another duet with Gary enjoyed even greater success reaching #8 in the charts. Bing returned to the Broadway stage and covered four songs from The King And I. I Whistle A Happy Tune is ideally suited to Bing and he executes it perfectly, adding his own whistling to good effect.. In his wonderful sleeve notes to the CD set Bing - His Legendary Years, Will Friedwald says of this song: "Crosby proves that Getting To Know You was wasted on all those stiff-upper-lipped British babes who've sung it in the score's various incarnations. Rather, Crosby essays it so easily and so convincingly that it's not difficult to believe that it is precisely his cup of tea." Gone Fishin' ("A" take) with Louis Armstrong has deservedly become a classic and is frequently heard on radio today. The record entered the Billboard charts and peaked at #19. There are 25 songs in total and the booklet contains comprehensive recording details.