Bing Crosby - The Voice of Christmas: The Complete Decca Christmas Songbook

Bing Crosby – The Voice of Christmas: The Complete Decca Christmas Songbook (1998, MCA Records/Decca Records)

Disc One:
1. “Happy Holiday” … 2:27
2. “Silent Night” (Previously Unreleased Original 1935 Version) … 2:41
3. “Adeste Fideles” … 3:20
4. “Silent Night” (Released 1935 Version)… 3:02
5. “White Christmas” (1942 Version) … 3:02
6. “Adeste Fideles” … 3:12
7. “Silent Night” (1942 Version) … 2:43
8. “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” … 2:19
9. “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” … 2:56
10. “Ave Maria” … 2:59
11. “White Christmas” (1947 Version) … 3:05
12. “Silent Night” (1947 Version) … 2:38
13. “The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)” … 2:55
14. “O Fir Tree Dark” … 3:04
15. “The First Noel” … 2:35
16. “You’re All I Want for Christmas” … 3:13
17. Christmas Carols (Medley): “Deck the Halls/Away in a Manger/I Saw Three Ships” … 3:28
18. Christmas Carols (Medley): “Good King Wenceslas/We Three Kings of Orient Are/Angels We Have Heard on High” … 3:20
19. “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” … 2:16
20. “That Christmas Feeling” … 3:03
21. “Looks Like a Cold, Cold Winter” … 3:06
22. “A Marshmallow World” … 2:41

Disc Two:
1. “Christmas in Killarney” … 2:44
2. “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” … 2:47
3. “Sleigh Ride” … 2:44
4. “Sleigh Bell Serenade” … 2:52
5. “Christmas Is A-Comin’” … 2:42
6. “The First Snowfall” … 3:08
7. “Is Christmas Only a Tree” … 2:14
8. “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day” … 2:47
9. “Jingle Bells” … 2:36
10. “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town” … 2:42
11. “The Twelve Days of Christmas” … 3:24
12. “Here Comes Santa Claus” … 3:03
13. A Crosby Christmas (Medley) – Part One: “That Christmas Feeling/I’d Like to Hitch a Ride with Santa Claus” … 2:58
14. A Crosby Christmas (Medley) – Part Two: “The Snowman/That Christmas Feeling/I’d Like to Hitch a Ride with Santa Claus” … 3:23
15. “Poppa Santa Claus” … 3:16
16. “Mele Kalikimaka” … 2:54
17. “Silver Bells” … 3:05
18. “Little Jack Frost, Get Lost” … 1:51
19. “White Christmas” (1954 Version) … 3:19
20. “Snow” … 2:42
21. “White Christmas” (Previously Unreleased Alternate 1942 Version)… 3:01
22. “Let’s Start the New Year Right” … 2:34

Assembled in this 2-disc set is possibly the GREATEST collection of Christmas songs ever. For my money, Bing Crosby truly is “The Voice of Christmas”. The best holiday singers are from the 30s, 40s and 50s: Perry Como, Dean Martin, Burl Ives, Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Johnny Mathis, et cetera, et cetera but Bing has always held the #1 spot in my opinion.

This album is about as close as you’re ever going to get to having all of Bing’s Christmas songs in one spot. It covers every single holiday song he recorded while with Decca Records. 1935-1956! That’s covering 21 years! He did a number after Christmas albums after leaving Decca but this is really everything you’d ever need — all the essentials (and then some) in their original versions.

Speaking of originals, there’s a number of duplicates on this album but after all it is The Complete Decca Christmas Songbook so it’s being done for completion’s sake. I’ve made notes about those versions in the track listing but for anyone wondering what the “main” “White Christmas” take is, it’s the 1947 version. The story behind that is that while the 1942 version was incredibly popular (coming from the Holiday Inn movie), it was too popular. The master source of it had become so worn down by all the copies of it being made that Decca asked Bing to re-record it in 1947 and that’s the version you’ll hear on radio around Christmastime or on the various holiday compilations. The 1954 version is from the movie White Christmas, which was a remake of Holiday Inn.

For the second half of Disc Two, Bing gets a helping hand on vocals from the likes of the Andrews Sisters, Peggy Lee, Danny Kaye, Carol Richards, Trudy Stevens and even a few of his sons.

What inspired me to buy this album was when I recently heard “Looks Like A Cold, Cold Winter” on a 1950 episode of Bing’s radio show. I had never heard the song before but for days I couldn’t get it out of my head. I checked YouTube for it just so I could hear it and I found no listings for the song. So I finally figured out what albums the song appeared on and came across this wonderful compilation and $7 later, it’s mine — ALL MINE!

I took the liberty of uploading the song to YouTube so the rest of the world that hasn’t heard the song can enjoy it. It’s one of my favorite holiday songs from Bing now. It’s a forgotten classic in my eyes.

If you’re a Bing fan, if you’re a fan of Christmas songs — this album is a MUST-OWN. I know there’s a million Bing holiday compilations out there (one was just released a few weeks ago) but none come close to such a massive and quintessential collection as The Voice of Christmas does. Well worth seeking out.

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