Le Bing: Song Hits of Paris

Le Bing: Song Hits of Paris
Studio album by Bing Crosby
Released 1953
Recorded May 16, 1953 in Paris
Genre Vocal
Label Decca
Bing Crosby chronology
Road to Bali
(1952)		 Le Bing: Song Hits of Paris
(1953)		 Some Fine Old Chestnuts
(1954)
Professional ratings
Review scores
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Le Bing is a 1953 (see 1953 in music) album by Bing Crosby. It was Crosby's first studio vinyl long-playing album, and was released by his longtime label Decca Records as catalogue No. DL 5499. Le Bing is a concept album where all the songs are sung in French.

Crosby recorded the album in Paris on May 16, 1953, during an extended visit to Europe that spring. He had filmed parts of the movie Little Boy Lost in France the previous year.[1] The orchestrations were by Paul Durand, a French arranger who also worked with Édith Piaf, among others.

Two songs - "Embrasse-Moi Bien" and "Mademoiselle de Paris" - were recorded separately in English at the May 16 session but weren't released on Le Bing. All 10 tracks were released by Sepia Records on the 2010 CD Through the Years: Volume Five (1953). In 2013, the entire album (including the two previously mentioned tracks sung in English) was re-issued on CD by Bing Crosby Enterprises and distributed by Universal Music as a 60th Anniversary Deluxe Edition.[2] This contained many additional radio tracks with a French theme.

In 1958, after Crosby had left Decca, the label issued a compilation album titled Bing in Paris, subtitled "Bing Crosby Sings the French Hits." Unlike Le Bing, some songs on Bing in Paris are sung in English.

Track listing

SIDE ONE

  1. "Mademoiselle de Paris" (Paul Durand, Henri Contet) - 3.11
  2. "Embrasse-moi bien" (André Grassi) - 3.35
  3. "Mon Cœur est un Violon" (Maria Laparcerie) - 2.58
  4. "La Vie en rose" (Louiguy, Édith Piaf) - 2.54

SIDE TWO

  1. "La Seine" (Guy Lafarge, Flavien Monod) - 2.38
  2. "Au bord de l'eau" (Paul Durand, Henri Contet) - 2.22
  3. "La Mer" (Charles Trenet) - 3.37
  4. "Tu ne peux pas te figurer" (Paul Misraki) - 3.00

Reception

Billboard magazine called it "very nice," saying: "This set could move very well."[3]

Record producer, Ken Barnes, wrote: "According to the discographical information, this remarkable album was recorded in a single day. The orchestrations and conducting are uncredited (although it sounds like John Scott Trotter’s work). Unfortunately, the string sound is a little thin and the intonation of the violins is somewhat insecure on one or two tracks - notably on ’Embrasse-moi bien’. But the same can never be said of Mr Crosby whose pitching is unerringly accurate throughout all eight titles. Of his French accent, Bing remarked at the time that any complaints should be sent ‘to the back door of the United Nations’."[4]

Personnel

References

  1. ↑ Macfarlane, Malcolm. "Bing Crosby Diary 1950-59". Bing Crosby Internet Museum. Retrieved Feb 24, 2013.
  2. ↑ "Amazon". Amazon. Retrieved July 29, 2015.
  3. ↑ "Fare for Patrons With Continental Appetites". Billboard. Dec 5, 1953.
  4. ↑ Barnes, Ken (1980). The Crosby Years. Elm Tree Books. pp. 91–92.
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