Bing Crosby & Fred Astaire: Together (1975)

There's no doubt about it, to borrow Crosby's famous Minute Maid tag line, that when 72 year-old Bing Crosby and 76-year-old Fred Astaire were reunited in a British recording studio in July, 1975, after having not performed together in twenty five years, something magic was bound to happen.

And it did.

Crosby, who arguably had sung more duets in his career than any other performer, blended beautifully with Astaire's elegant and highly under-rated voice. Each of these living legends were clearly inspired to be working together. Their comedic timing, honed decades ago on the vaudeville stage, were put to good use in clever ad lib fashion laced throughout each of the duets.

This album is not limited to just duets, however. There are tempting solos from each artist with Bing recording an Irving Berlin song introduced by Fred in the 1938 film "Carefree" ("Change Partners") and Fred tackles a Rodgers & Hart song introduced by Bing in the 1935 film "Mississippi" ("It's Easy To Remember").

The original producer of the 1975 Lp, Ken Barnes, augmented this release with several other solos from the albums he had recorded previously that year with Crosby & Astaire. From Bing's sprightly ode to dancing from the Broadway show "Queen of the Stardust Ballroom" ("I Love To Dance Like They Used To Dance"), to Fred's take on the Charles Aznavour hit "Dance In The Old Fashioned Way", this album is an absolute joy.

As a sidenote, this album was promoted by Crosby on his 1975 Tv Christmas special with Fred Astaire guesting, making it quite possibly the first new music "infomercial" that ever aired! ~ Greg Van Beek

Tracks:
01) Top Billing
02) How Lucky
03) Roxie
04) Spring Spring Spring
05) It's Easy To Remember
06) Change Partners
07) Pick Yourself Up
08) Mr Keyboard Man
09) I've A Shooting Box In Scotland
10) In The Cool Cool Cool Of The Evening
11) Bon Vivant
12) Sing
13) Dance In The Old Fashioned Way
14) I Love To Dance Like They Used To Dance
15) A Couple Of Song And Dance Men
16) That's Entertainment
17) Top Billing (reprise)

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