"Moonburn it, Joe!": Why the pipe, flannel sweater and golf
Samuel Chell | Kenosha,, WI United States | 08/09/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"If I didn't already have "Bing: His Legendary Years" and the British box set "It's Easy to Remember," this would probably be my first choice. Crosby is at his most popular, pleasing, pleasant best after 1941; but he's at his most creative, imaginative, seminal best after 1931. Not until listening to generous collections of Crosby recordings from the '30s did I fully appreciate how both African-American and European influences cross-bred to produce this indigenous, absolutely unique art form that we tend to be so casual and even ignorant about--i.e., the American popular song. Crosby and Louis Armstrong 1930-1935 are simply a matched and unmatchable pair, both extraordinary artists showing the world what America and American music is all about.
How sad that people who should (and often do) know better are constrained by considerations of "political correctness" when it comes to some of these numbers, especially when sung by a white man (though Louis was far from exempt from criticism as well). If Bing occasionally expresses the language of stereotype embedded in some of these songs, it's because he identifies so completely with the culture--especially, multicultural black/white/tan expressions--that it has become his own. There's no mockery or disrepect because there's no "distance" between him and the subject matter: he IS the characters he's singing about and along with, and he's all the greater, the more influential, the more singular and indispensable because of it. Listen to him mix singing, whistling, scatting with a deftness matching Armstrong's on "Shine" (which may also be the number featuring Stan Getz' most artful recorded tenor solo); it's about joy, brotherhood and celebration.
If there's a qualifier about this recording, it's its one-dimensionality. Bing was a jazz singer and, perhaps as a direct result, far more. Remarkably, on the early pop recordings this calm and collected, serenely reassuring pipe smoker, comes off as the most emotional, urgent, melodramatic singer of them all, especially on so many of the hits before 1935 ("Out of Nowhere," "Just One More Chance," "I'm Through with Love," "At Your Command"). Granted, he always makes it look easy, but his early recordings are throbbing, romantic, dramatic stuff--not unlike the heroic trumpet performances by Armstrong in front of large ensembles at this time. After listening to Bing and Louis enough, the years melt away: this music sounds fresher, more vital and inexhaustible than 80% of my overly large collection.
So complement this 1930s Crosby collection with at least one more from the same period, an anthology containing the aforementioned songs as well as any other '30s blockbusters. With Crosby's voice during this exciting period of American popular music, you simply can't go wrong. Only with age did it mellow to the point of not always demanding--if not commanding--the listener's interest."
Track Listings (24) - Disc #1