Bing Crosby - The Very Best of Bing Crosby Christmas (1999)

Reason for Listening:
#49 on the Billboard 200 (Week of 20191207). Holiday album.
Last Week: 93 | Peak: 27 | Weeks on Chart: 38.
Billboard Listing: The Best Of Bing Crosby: 20th Century Masters: The Christmas Collection - Bing Crosby - [below album cover]

As I was scrolling through Bing Crosby albums on Spotify, I saw that Bing Crosby had many Christmas compilations: Bing Crosby - Christmas Classics (2006), Bing Crosby's Christmas (2014), White Christmas (1945), Christmas Greetings (1949), Bing At Christmas (2019), Bing Cosby Sings Christmas Songs (1986), The Voice Of Christmas: The Complete Decca Christmas Songbook (1998), Christmas (2015), That Christmas Feeling (1960), A Merry Christmas With Bing Crosby & The Andrews Sisters (2000), A Crosby Christmas (2007), Christmas Album (1994), Best Of/20th Century - Christmas (1999), and A Christmas Story (1957).

Among the fourteen albums, both this album (titled The Best of Bing Crosby: 20th Century Masters: The Christmas Collection) and Christmas Classics appear on the Billboard 200. But why these two? I didn't really find an answer, but while trying to find more information on this album, I found a review on AllMusic that said this album is a "re-titled reissue of the 1999 collection The Very Best of Bing Crosby Christmas" (which I later confirmed). The review further informs that the album is "a single-disc distillation of [...] The Voice of Christmas/The Complete Decca Christmas Songbook."


Released 19991005.
18 songs. 50:38. The Very Best of Bing Crosby Christmas (1999)
18 songs. 50:38. The Best Of Bing Crosby: 20th Century Masters: The Christmas Collection (20030923)
Wikipedia (No article at the time of this post)
Discogs

Notes:
--20191207--
First listen.
A more welcoming "Adeste Fideles" compared to Nat King Cole's version on The Christmas Song.
The voice of Rudolph in "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer" was a surprise to me... I might have otherwise given the song a "2."
There are probably better versions of "Silver Bells" but this version was good enough to give a "2" - just barely.

4: "White Christmas";
3: "It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas"; "The Christmas Song" (*);
2: "Adeste Fideles (O Come All Ye Faithful)"; "Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town" (*) (with The Andrews Sisters); "Christmas Is A Comin'" (*); "I'll Be Home For Christmas" (*); "Silver Bells" (*) (with Carol Richards); "Sleigh Ride" (*);
1: "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen"; "That Christmas Feeling" (Single Version); "Jingle Bells" (*) (with The Andrews Sisters); "Silent Night" (1942 Single Version); "Here Comes Santa Claus (Right Down Santa Claus Lane)" (*) (with The Andrews Sisters); "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer" (*);
0: "Christmas Carols: Deck The Halls / Away In A Manger / I Saw Three Ships" (*); "The First Nowell" (*); "I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day" (*) (with Ken Darby Singers);

Summary:
As I listen to more holiday albums, I begin to find it difficult to rate them in a way that ensures consistency. Perhaps it's almost time I attempt to run a logistic regression on my ratings (with the distribution of individual song ratings as input variables). In any case, I do feel as if I like the album as a whole better than both The Christmas Song (Nat King Cole, 1962) and Ultimate Christmas (Frank Sinatra, 2017), but less than or equal to Merry Christmas (Mariah Carey, 1994).

Overall Rating: 4.4/5
Favorite Song: "White Christmas"


20201209 Comment:
This album peaked at rank 14 on the Billboard 200 last holiday season, on 20200103.

#54 on the Billboard 200 (Week of 20201212).
Last Week: - | Peak: 14 | Weeks on Chart: 43.

No comments :