I saw this on a different Christmas group that I belong to and they posted a Spotify track listing

I tried to copy ans paste the image, but it didn't show up here, so I will type the track listing

(EDITED)  After typing all this information, I found a Press Release where you could pre-order this album on September 29. 2023

Bing Crosby's Christmas Gems

01  Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow

02  Just What I Wanted For Christmas

03  O, Little Town OF Bethlehem

04  How Lovely is Christmas

05 Away In A Manger                Bing Crosby, Kathryn Crosby

06  Good King Wenceslas

07  The Night Before Christmas

08  Christmas Island                 Bing Crosby, Kathryn Crosby

09 Joy To The Workd

10  The Secret Of Christmas

11  White World Of Winter

12  Marshmallow World            Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald

13  Christmas Star

14  Peace On Earth/Little Drummner Boy  Bing Crosby, David Bowie  

October 27, 2023

© 2023 Primary Wave Music IP Fund 3. LP & HLC Properties, Ltd

© 2023 Primary Wave Music IP Fund 3. LP & HLC Properties, Ltd

Thanks Susan, I have this Press Release as well.  However, it doesn't provide any details about the recordings of the tracks themselves (i.e. duration, original recording location and details as well as whether and where individual tracks were previously released).   While the press materials list these as previously unreleased, I am not so certain that all of these have been released prior.

I will continue to add any info I find.

Thanks,

Jim Allen

Memphis, TN

Hi All:

I did some homework and almost all of these tracks have been previously released "in some form".   There are a few that seem to be the first time released on CD however.   As soon as I have 'definitive' info (I just ordered a copy of Christmas Gems) I will share.   That being said, as gleaned from a combination of the entry on Discogs (with running times) as well as the amazing Crosby info site:   www.bingmagazine.co.uk , it is clear that these tracks are from a veritable smorgasboard of source material ranging from Vdiscs and radio broadcasts in 1946 to TV shows in 1971 to obscure one off private album recordings in 1972.   I am looking forward to my copy and will provide some feedback on the tracks of what seems to be a nice collection for the eclectic Crosby Christmas archive.    Enjoy some college football this weekend!   Signing off from Memphis, TN,  Jim Allen

The standout song on this collection is "The White World Of Winter," which I added to the Yule Log broadcast via my new 5th Hour back in 2016 (click here).

Jim,

You are most welcome.  True the press release didn't give any details on the tracks themselves.  I love it when I see this information on an album lable or on the record jacket.  Things like who the writer or composer are.  Who the copyright belongs to.  It is is ASCAP or BMI.  And of course the track time.

Chip,

I was surprised that "The White World of Winter" was not on Bing's "A Time To Be Jolly"  Daybreak Records DR2006.  1971  To me, it sounds more like the songs on this album.  More like Bings style from the 1970's

They're definitely in the same style, Susan; but the rights to the song "The White World Of Winter" belonged to Warner Bros. and Frank Sinatra, who were the co-owners of Reprise Records at the time. The 1971 LP, A Time To Be Jolly, which by the way is the *highest* ranking Bing Crosby Christmas album in my Top 500, coming in at #36, was a completely newly recorded album that featured the great Jack Halloran Singers and was conducted by Les Brown.

Thanks Chip,  as always your recommendations for great Christmas favorites is always right on the money.  I was not familiar with Bing’s song here until you had it in your top favorites, that was over 10 years ago.  Now of course it is in my alltime Christmas playlist that I use every Christmas since.  Thanks for that. 

As for the background of the Christmas Gems tracks,  I have compiled (thanks to Discogs and a fellow Crosby fan over at Steve Hoffmann music forums) the following info:

Track 1 is either from 2-14-1946 V Disc or  a Kraft Music Hall rehearsal presumably from February 28, 1946.

Tracks 2 and 10 are from a Columbia single, recorded

March 25, 1959.

Tracks 3, 6, and 9 were recorded December 19, 1955 for Crosby's first annual "A Christmas Sing With Bing Around The World" radio show airing on December 24, 1955.

Track 4 is the single version of the song recorded April 24, 1957 with the Arthur Norman Orchestra and Choir - Arthur

Norman likely being a stage name for Norman Luboff.

Track 5 was recorded sometime in 1959 for Bing's 5th annual "Christmas Sing With Bing" which was radio broadcast on December 24, 1959.

Track 7 was done sometime in 1968 for a "Voice Of America" broadcast.

Track 8 is from Bing's 1971 "Sounds Of Christmas" TV special, with this track likely being pre-recorded on

September 24, 1971.

Track 11 was recorded on September 28, 1965 for a

Reprise Records single.

Track 12 was from a "The Bing Crosby Show For Chesterfield" broadcast of November 29, 1950, likely being pre-recorded on November 9th of that year.

Track 13 was recorded on December 28, 1972 for a benefit

LP for San Francisco's Old St. Mary's Church.

Track 14 was likely recorded on September 11, 1977 for the

"Bing Crosby's Merrie Olde Christmas" TV special.

Enjoy and thanks for everything you do to make Christmas truly special each year!

Regards,

Jim Allen

Memphis, TN

Thank you Chip,

That explains it alot.  I forgot that Bing's record label for this one was different, even tthough I did put "Daybreak Records" in my post not thinking about Warner Brothers and Reprise record labels.

I tried to post the album jaket image, but every time I tried to resize it so it wouldn't take up the entire screen, it would disappear lol

I agree that this is a higher ranking Christmas album by Bing and is in line with how he was singing his songs in the last years he was alive.  And with The Jack Halloran Singers to boot.

Bing released a few different Christmas albums on different labels  Warner Brothers,  Daybreak, but mostly on DECCA,

Thinking back to all of the "Christmas Compliation" albums I have.  In most cases, if the album was on MGM, it most likely had songs that a particular artist released on the MGM label and though most albums were on Columbia or RCA, I don't think if an artist released a song on another label, that it would not be on them, unless it was specifically re-recorded by an artist for that label.  Being the rights would be on a different record label.

Please correct me if I am incorrect. 

Jim:

My pleasure; glad to hear you liked the song so much.

Susan:

I'm not sure what you were trying to say; but it was rare for a compilation album to have songs culled from a multitude of labels. A rare example of this was the 1969 album Columbia Records did for Goodyear, The Great Songs Of Christmas, Vol. 9. Songs for this LP were taken from seven different record labels, including Columbia.

By the way, I forgot to mention in my previous post for those who didn't know, that I had added the song "A Time To Be Jolly" to the Yule Log broadcast via the new 4th Hour that I created back in 2009 (click here).

Chip,

I guess what I was trying toi say is that on many of the Compliation Christmas Albums, i.e. if it was on Columbia, the artist that would be on that album would be only songs that were on Columbia.  True Value Happy Holidays had several different record labels,  RCA, Columbia, MCA, Capitol and Pickwick.  So if it is on MCA, the songs on that lalbum would be from artists who recorded on MCA. and I would think that it a song by one artist that might be on another label, could be a re--ecorded version

I hope this clarifies, rather than cofuse what I was saying

The Goodyear, Grants and other company promotional compilation albums were on different record labels over the years too, but rarely had a mixture of recordings from different labels on the same LP like Goodyear did in 1969 on their Volume 9. It was just too expensive to secure the copyrights from different record labels for songs on the same LP.