1958 studio album by Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney
Fancy Meeting You Here |
---|
![](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/d7/Fancy_Meeting_You_Here_%28Bing_Crosby_album_-_cover_art%29.jpg/220px-Fancy_Meeting_You_Here_%28Bing_Crosby_album_-_cover_art%29.jpg) |
Studio album by Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney |
---|
Released | 1958 |
---|
Recorded | July 28–August 11, 1958 |
---|
Genre | Vocal pop, vocal jazz |
---|
Length | 38:11 |
---|
Label | RCA Victor |
---|
Producer | Simon Rady |
---|
Bing Crosby chronology |
---|
|
|
Rosemary Clooney chronology |
---|
Swing Around Rosie (1958) | Fancy Meeting You Here (1958) | Hymns from the Heart (1959) | |
|
Professional ratingsReview scores |
---|
Source | Rating |
---|
Allmusic | ![](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/51/Star_full.svg/11px-Star_full.svg.png) ![](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/51/Star_full.svg/11px-Star_full.svg.png) ![](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/81/Star_half.svg/11px-Star_half.svg.png) ![](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/49/Star_empty.svg/11px-Star_empty.svg.png) [1] |
Fancy Meeting You Here is a 1958 RCA Victor studio album of duets by the American singers Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney, arranged by Billy May, who also conducted the orchestra.[2] The album was originally issued in both mono and stereo, catalog numbers LPM/LSP 1854. Fancy Meeting You Here is an early example of a concept album, the 13 songs combining romance and travel with songwriters Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen contributing introductory and concluding versions of "Love Won't Let You Get Away" as well as a new song, "Fancy Meeting You Here". Cahn wrote special lyrics to standards like "How About You?" and "I Can't Get Started" that reflected the late 1950s and the personalities of the two stars.
In 1969, the album was reissued on the budget RCA Camden label under the title Rendezvous with a truncated and re-sequenced track listing and different cover artwork. This reissue destroyed the concept of the original album, and the abridgment, which omitted the first version of "Love Won't Let You Get Away" as well as "Calcutta" and "Isle of Capri," further voided the concept. Following the death of Bing Crosby in October 1977, the 1958 RCA Victor stereo LP was reissued with its original title and artwork with the catalog number AFL1-1854.
Critical reception
In its review on January 12, 1959, Time magazine called this album, "An infectious musical dialogue between two of the sassiest fancy talkers in the business. C. & C. give slick and witty readings to a selection of retreads — 'On a Slow Boat to China', 'You Came a Long Way from St. Louis' — and introduce a punchy, potential hit named 'Calcutta'. One of the most intriguing vocal entertainments since Noël Coward had his famous chat with Mary Martin."
Variety said, "Two savvy singers team up in a charming rundown of a dozen numbers for a pop set with adult appeal."[3]
Billboard also liked it, saying: "A lot of charm here — A flock of tunes carrying different place names, carrying out the idea of the album title... Cover also carries out the theme. Performances are very smart, with occasional interpolations and asides by Crosby and Clooney. Arranged and conducted in grand style by Billy May."[4]
The British publication The Gramophone in its April 1959 edition went further. "Even so for the duet-warbling of the month I would turn to RCA SF5022 (Mono RD27105): 'Fancy Meeting You Here' with Rosemary Clooney and the old groaner himself, Bing Crosby, bumping amicably into each other in a dozen stage sets scattered around the world...The Billy May accompaniments throughout are first class, and so, obviously, is the singing; but principally it is the infectious easygoing good humor of the record which remains in the mind. That, and an occasional twist of lyric; no record can be neglected which ends a nostalgic and twang-ridden version of the 'Isle of Capri' with 'I've often felt that we both might have stayed there, if it weren't for those stale mandolins.'"
Track listing
Original release and 1977 reissue
1969 RCA Camden reissue (Rendezvous)
Side oneNo. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|
1. | "(I'd Like to Get You on a) Slow Boat to China" | Frank Loesser | 2:35 |
---|
2. | "Hindustan" | Oliver Wallace, Harold Weeks | 2:53 |
---|
3. | "Fancy Meeting You Here" | Sammy Cahn, Jimmy Van Heusen | 2:28 |
---|
4. | "Brazil" | Ary Barroso, Bob Russell | 3:28 |
---|
5. | "You Came a Long Way from St. Louis" | John Benson Brooks, Bob Russell | 3:03 |
---|
Side twoNo. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|
1. | "How About You?" | Burton Lane, Arthur Freed | 3:11 |
---|
2. | "I Can't Get Started" | Vernon Duke, Ira Gershwin | 3:47 |
---|
3. | "Say 'Si Si' (Para Vigo Me Voy)" | Ernesto Lecuona, Francia Luban, Al Stillman | 2:20 |
---|
4. | "It Happened in Monterey" | Billy Rose, Mabel Wayne | 2:40 |
---|
5. | "Love Won't Let You Get Away" | Sammy Cahn, Jimmy Van Heusen | 1:53 |
---|
2001 Bluebird CD reissue
Titles 1–13 are the original album tracksNo. | Title | Writer(s) | Performers | Length |
---|
14. | "Ain't A-Hankerin'" | Arthur Altman | Rosemary Clooney and Bob Hope | 2:10 |
---|
15. | "Protection" | Arthur Altman | Rosemary Clooney and Bob Hope | 2:37 |
---|
16. | "Love Won't Let You Get Away" | Sammy Cahn, James Van Heusen | Bing Crosby and Jo Stafford | 1:18 |
---|
17. | "Fancy Meeting You Here" / "(I'd Like to Get You on a) Slow Boat to China" / "Hindustan" (medley) | Cahn, Van Heusen / Frank Loesser, Oliver Wallace, Harold Weeks | Bing Crosby and Jo Stafford | 4:09 |
---|
18. | "Ol' Man River" | Oscar Hammerstein II, Jerome Kern | Bing Crosby | 1:43 |
---|
19. | "Twilight on the Trail" | Louis Alter, Sidney Mitchell | Bing Crosby | 2:01 |
---|
Personnel
References
- ^ Bush, John. "Fancy Meeting You Here". AllMusic. Retrieved July 10, 2017.
- ^ Fancy Meeting You Here at AllMusic
- ^ "Bing Crosby-Rosemary Clooney: "Fancy Meeting You Here" (RCA Victor)". Variety. November 26, 1958.
- ^ "Spotlight Winners of the Week". Billboard. November 24, 1958.
|
Albums | - Music of Hawaii (1939)
- Victor Herbert Melodies, Vol. One (1939)
- Patriotic Songs for Children (1939)
- Cowboy Songs (Bing Crosby's first solo album) (1939)
- Victor Herbert Melodies, Vol. Two (1939)
- George Gershwin Songs, Vol. One (1939)
- Ballad for Americans (Bing Crosby's first solo studio album)(1940)
- Favorite Hawaiian Songs (1940)
- Christmas Music (1940)
- Star Dust (1940)
- Hawaii Calls (1941)
- Small Fry (1941)
- Crosbyana (1941)
- Under Western Skies (1941)
- Song Hits from Holiday Inn (w/ Fred Astaire) (1942)
- Merry Christmas (1945)
- Selections from Going My Way (1945)
- Selections from The Bells of St. Mary's (1946)
- Don't Fence Me In (w/ The Andrews Sisters) (1946)
- The Happy Prince (1946)
- Selections from Road to Utopia (1946)
- Bing Crosby – Stephen Foster (1946)
- What We So Proudly Hail (1946)
- Favorite Hawaiian Songs, Vol. One (1946)
- Favorite Hawaiian Songs, Vol. Two (1946)
- Blue Skies (w/ Fred Astaire and Irving Berlin) (1946)
- Bing Crosby – Jerome Kern (1946)
- St. Patrick's Day (1947)
- Bing Crosby – Victor Herbert (1947)
- Cowboy Songs, Vol. One (1947)
- Selections from Welcome Stranger (1947)
- Our Common Heritage (1947)
- El Bingo (1947)
- The Small One (1947)
- The Man Without a Country (1947)
- Drifting and Dreaming (1947)
- Blue of the Night (1948)
- Selections from Showboat (1948)
- The Emperor Waltz (1948)
- St. Valentine's Day (1948)
- Bing Crosby Sings with Al Jolson, Bob Hope, Dick Haymes and the Andrews Sisters (1948)
- Selections from Road to Rio (1948)
- Bing Crosby Sings with Judy Garland, Mary Martin, Johnny Mercer (1948)
- Bing Crosby Sings with Lionel Hampton, Eddie Heywood, Louis Jordan (1948)
- Bing Crosby Sings the Song Hits from Broadway Shows (1948)
- Cowboy Songs, Vol. Two (1948)
- Auld Lang Syne (1948)
- Bing Crosby Sings Cole Porter Songs (1949)
- A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1949)
- Bing Crosby Sings Songs by George Gershwin (1949)
- South Pacific (1949)
- Christmas Greetings (1949)
- Ichabod – The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1949)
- Top o' the Morning / Emperor Waltz (1950)
- Songs from Mr. Music (w/ Dorothy Kirsten and The Andrews Sisters) (1950)
- Go West Young Man (w/ The Andrews Sisters) (1950)
- Collectors' Classics, Vols. 1–8 (1951)
- Way Back Home (1951)
- Bing Crosby Sings the Song Hits from... (1951)
- Bing and the Dixieland Bands (1951)
- Yours Is My Heart Alone (1951)
- Country Style (1951)
- Beloved Hymns (1951)
- Bing and Connee (w/ Connee Boswell) (1952)
- When Irish Eyes Are Smiling (1952)
- Themes and Songs from The Quiet Man (w/ Victor Young) (1952)
- Selections from the Paramount Picture "Just for You" (w/ Jane Wyman and The Andrews Sisters) (1952)
- Road to Bali (w/ Bob Hope and Peggy Lee) (1952)
- Le Bing: Song Hits of Paris (1953)
- Some Fine Old Chestnuts (1954)
- Bing Sings the Hits (1954)
- Selections from White Christmas (w/ Peggy Lee and Danny Kaye) (1954)
- Bing: A Musical Autobiography (1954)
- The Country Girl / Little Boy Lost (1955)
- Merry Christmas (later version of 1945 78rpm album) (1955)
- Shillelaghs and Shamrocks (1956)
- Home on the Range (1956)
- Blue Hawaii (1956)
- High Tor (w/ Julie Andrews and Everett Sloane) (1956)
- A Christmas Sing with Bing Around the World (1956)
- Anything Goes (w/ Donald O'Connor, Mitzi Gaynor and Zizi Jeanmaire) (1956)
- High Society (w/ Frank Sinatra, Grace Kelly, and Louis Armstrong) (1956)
- Songs I Wish I Had Sung the First Time Around (1956)
- Bing Sings Whilst Bregman Swings (1956)
- Bing with a Beat (1957)
- A Christmas Story (1957)
- Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (1957)
- New Tricks (1957)
- The Bible Story of Christmas (1957)
- Never Be Afraid (1958)
- Jack B. Nimble – A Mother Goose Fantasy (1958)
- Fancy Meeting You Here ( w/ Rosemary Clooney) (1958)
- Around the World with Bing! (1958)
- Bing in Paris (1958)
- That Christmas Feeling (1958)
- In a Little Spanish Town (1958)
- Bing’s Buddies and Beaus (1959)
- Say One for Me (w/ Debbie Reynolds and Robert Wagner) (1959)
- How the West Was Won (w/ Rosemary Clooney) (1960)
- Join Bing and Sing Along (1960)
- Bing & Satchmo (w/ Louis Armstrong) (1960)
- Songs of Christmas (1960)
- 101 Gang Songs (1961)
- El Señor Bing (1961)
- My Golden Favorites (1961)
- The Road to Hong Kong (1962)
- Bing's Hollywood (set of 15 albums) (1962)
- On the Happy Side (1962)
- I Wish You a Merry Christmas (1962)
- Holiday in Europe (1962)
- Reprise Musical Repertory Theatre (1963)
- Return to Paradise Islands (1964)
- America, I Hear You Singing (w/ Frank Sinatra and Fred Waring) (1964)
- Robin and the 7 Hoods (w/ Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Sammy Davis Jr.) (1964)
- 12 Songs of Christmas (w/ Frank Sinatra and Fred Waring) (1964)
- Bing Crosby Sings the Great Country Hits (1965)
- That Travelin' Two-Beat (w/ Rosemary Clooney) (1965)
- The Summit (w/ Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr.) (1966)
- Bing Crosby's Treasury – The Songs I Love (1966)
- Bing Crosby and The Columbus Boychoir Sing Family Christmas Favorites (w/ The Columbus Boychoir) (1967)
- Thoroughly Modern Bing (1968)
- Bing Crosby's Treasury - The Songs I Love (1968 version) (1968)
- Hey Jude/Hey Bing! (1969)
- Goldilocks (1970)
- A Time to Be Jolly (1971)
- Bing 'n' Basie (w/ Count Basie) (1972)
- Rhythm on the Range (1972)
- I’ll Sing You a Song of the Islands (1972)
- A Southern Memoir (1975)
- That's What Life Is All About (1975)
- A Couple of Song and Dance Men (w/ Fred Astaire) (1975)
- Tom Sawyer (1976)
- At My Time of Life (1976)
- Bing Crosby Live at the London Palladium (1976)
- Feels Good, Feels Right (1976)
- Beautiful Memories (1977)
- Bingo Viejo (1977)
- Seasons (Bing Crosby's last studio album released during his lifetime) (1977)
- A Little Bit of Irish (posthumous edition, recorded in 1966) (1993)
- Bing Crosby: The Voice of Christmas (1998)
- On the Sentimental Side (posthumous edition, recorded in 1962; Bing Crosby's latest studio album) (2010)
|
---|
Family | |
---|
Related | |
---|
Category |
|
---|
Studio albums | |
---|
Live albums | |
---|
Soundtrack albums | |
---|
Songs | |
---|
Related | |
---|
Authority control databases ![Edit this at Wikidata](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/8a/OOjs_UI_icon_edit-ltr-progressive.svg/10px-OOjs_UI_icon_edit-ltr-progressive.svg.png) | - MusicBrainz release group
|
---|