''Songs I Wish I Had Sung the First Time Around'' was Bing Crosby's fourth album for

Decca Decca may refer to: Music * Decca Records or Decca Music Group, a record label * Decca Gold, a classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group * Decca Broadway, a musical theater record label * Decca Studios, a recording facility in W ...

and his fifth LP, recorded and originally released in 1956 on vinyl as Decca DL 8352. This was a concept album of sorts, as Bing covered some of his musical rivals' big hits, such as

Al Jolson Al Jolson (born Eizer Yoelson; June 9, 1886 – October 23, 1950) was a Lithuanian-American Jewish singer, comedian, actor, and vaudevillian. He was one of the United States' most famous and highest-paid stars of the 1920s, and was self-billed ...

's " April Showers" and

Nat King Cole Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor. Cole's music career began after he dropped out of school at the age of 15, and continued f ...

's "

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". The jazz historian

Will Friedwald Will Friedwald (born September 16, 1961) is an American author and music critic. He has written for newspapers that include the ''Wall Street Journal'', ''New York Times'', ''Village Voice'', '' Newsday'', '' New York Observer'', and ''New Yor ...

wrote that the album "was essentially Crosby's way of acknowledging that he wasn't the only male singer to create hits and standards". Crosby recorded the songs in April 1956 in Los Angeles, with orchestrations by arranger

Jack Pleis Jack K. Pleis (May 11, 1917 – December 5, 1990) was an American jazz pianist, arranger, conductor, composer and producer. He recorded on London and Decca Records in the 1950s, and Columbia Records in the 1960s. During the course of his career, ...

. Longtime record producer

Milt Gabler Milton Gabler (May 20, 1911 – July 20, 2001) was an American record producer, responsible for many innovations in the recording industry of the 20th century. These included being the first person to deal in record reissues, the first to sel ...

came up with the concept. All 12 tracks from ''Songs I Wish I Had Sung'' were released by Sepia Records on the 2011 CD ''Through the Years: Volume Nine (1955)''. Bing Crosby Enterprises and Universal Music issued a deluxe, 22-track version of ''Songs I Wish I Had Sung'' in 2014 which added many radio tracks to the original LP.

Reception

'' Billboard'' reviewed the album, saying: "A fine, relaxed collection of a dozen old standards projected in the standard Crosby idiom. All of them are great songs which have been closely identified with – in fact, almost the personal property of great names in the business – 'April Showers,' 'Blue Heaven,' 'Thanks for the Memory,' 'Ain’t Misbehavin',' etc. Crosby gives them a personalized treatment for sure-fire deejay programming material."

Personnel

All personnel as listed on the Bing Crosby Enterprises and Universal Music deluxe, 22-track CD version: Buddy Cole (piano); Vince Terri (guitar); Don Whitaker (bass); Nick Fatool (drums); Skeets Herfurt, Harry Klee, Ted Nash (alto saxophones); Jules Jacob (tenor saxophone); Robert Lawson (baritone saxophone); Lou Raderman, Henry Hill, Ben Gill, Victor Arno, Toscha Seidel, Sam Cytron, Saul Steinberg,

Nick Pisani Nicholas John Pisani (born 23 December 1962) is a British television producer, and a former Editor of ''Question Time''. Early life He was born in Hampshire. He has a younger brother (born 1966). He attended independent school from 1976 to 1981 ...

, Jack Pepper (violins); Abe Hochstein, Milt Thomas, Raymond Menhennick (violas); Armand Koproff, Ossip Giskin (cellos).

Track listing

References

{{Authority control Bing Crosby albums 1956 albums Decca Records albums Albums arranged by Jack Pleis Albums produced by Jack Pleis