That Travelin' Two-Beat
That Travelin' Two-Beat | ||||
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Studio album by Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney | ||||
Released | 1965 | |||
Recorded | August, December 1964 | |||
Genre | Vocal pop, vocal jazz | |||
Label | Capitol | |||
Producer | Simon Rady | |||
Bing Crosby chronology | ||||
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Rosemary Clooney chronology | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
Allmusic | [1] |
That Travelin' Two-Beat is a duet album by Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney recorded in 1964[2] and released on Capitol Records in 1965.[3]
With its world tour theme, it was a revisitation of the concept explored in the duo's acclaimed RCA Victor album, Fancy Meeting You Here, released in 1958. That album had been arranged by Billy May, and he was called upon again to write the charts for this sequel.
As its title implies, the album took popular songs from around the world, but then set them all to Dixieland two-beat arrangements. The songwriters Jay Livingston and Ray Evans supplied the title track and added new lyrics and countermelodies to the other, more-established songs.
Crosby and Clooney were friends, who often performed together on television, radio and stage. That Travelin' Two-Beat was re-released on CD in 2001 on the Collectors' Choice label, combined with another Crosby album from 1965 (this time without Clooney), Bing Crosby Sings the Great Country Hits.
Reception
Variety commented: "This parlay of Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney results in fair session of Dixieland music pegged to a musical Cook’s tour. While the sound is traditional, the repertoire is definitely offbeat, setting some surprising material into a two-beat format. The duo works with some amusing ideas in the title song, “Knees Up, Mother,” “Roamin’ in the Gloamin’,” “The Daughter of Molly Malone,” “The Poor People of Paris” and “I Get Ideas,” plus a takeout on a Strauss waltz, “New Vienna Woods.” This was the last session produced by Capitol's A & R Executive, the late Si Rady."[4]
Record producer, Ken Barnes, wrote: "This second album, teaming Bing with the delightful Rosemary Clooney, is far less sophisticated than the 1958 classic Fancy Meeting You Here (RCA), but it is enjoyable nonetheless. Like the previous album, Crosby and Clooney have decided to retain the “travel” theme—with songs like “Poor People of Paris,” “Roamin’ in the Gloamin’,” and a clever, up-dated variation of Strauss’s “New Vienna Woods.” The only shortcoming—and with twelve songs it is a considerable one—is that everything is tied to a two-beat Dixieland format. Despite these limitations, Billy May's tongue-in-cheek backings raise a smile or two. The adaptations and lyrics by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans are very effective. Miss Clooney responds happily to Bing's bouncy phrasing. If the treatments had been a little more varied and the sound balancing a shade more sympathetic to the voices, this could have been just as good as Fancy."[5]
In Ken Crossland's and Malcolm Macfarlane's book about Rosemary Clooney, Late life Jazz, they reviewed the album saying: "So, the old firm of Crosby and Clooney went to work late in 1964 and over three sessions, recorded That Travellin’ Two-Beat. The album lifted much from its predecessor from six years before. It had the same theme, travel, and the same arranger (Billy May) and where the first had been the brainchild of one songwriting partnership (Cahn and Van Heusen), Two-Beat relied on another pairing, that of Jay Livingston and Ray Evans. The result was a spirited and lively album but, as with many follow-ups, one that never quite matched the original. Livingston and Evans composed some new material, including the title track, as well as providing some updated lyrics for some of the older material that Bing and Rosemary chose to include. Thus, the 1883 song about a Dublin fishmonger, “Molly Malone” became an updated “Daughter of Molly Malone”. A classical piece, Johann Strauss's “Tales from the Vienna Woods” became the “New Vienna Woods”, whilst the Latin standard “Cielito Lindo”” became “Adios, Senorita”.
Critical response to the album was lukewarm and few reviewers thought that it matched its predecessor. Some said the Livingston and Evans re-workings were too elaborate and complicated. Others thought that May's typically bombastic arrangements, complete with bells and whistles, owed more to a marching band or circus act than it did to the purported Dixieland theme. Perhaps the greatest difference however was in the duet performances of Bing and Rosemary. Until the Two-Beat album, they had always appeared as equal partners, working in a genuinely collaborative style. Two-Beat however was Crosby's show. His voice opens virtually every track and makes almost all the running. The reason, it later emerged, was that the duets, like Rosemary's outing with Sinatra the year before, were studio creations. Crosby put down his vocals first with Rosemary filling in the gaps later. The emergence of a rehearsal recording in which Jay Livingston sang Rosemary's part (“You’re very brave, Mr. Livingston,” said Crosby at the end of the session) was the first indication that the duets were spliced together."[6]
Track listing
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
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1. | "That Travelin' Two-Beat" | Jay Livingston, Ray Evans | 2:28 |
2. | "New Vienna Woods" | Johann Strauss II, Jay Livingston, Ray Evans | 3:25 |
3. | "Knees Up Mother Brown" | Harris Weston, Bert Lee, Jay Livingston, Ray Evans | 2:12 |
4. | "Roamin' in the Gloamin'" | Gerald Grafton, Harry Lauder | 3:00 |
5. | "Adios Senorita" | Quirino Mendoza y Cortés, Jay Livingston, Ray Evans | 3:26 |
6. | "Come to the Mardi Gras" | Max Bulhoes, Milton DeOliveira, Ervin Drake, Jimmy Shirl | 2:45 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Hear That Band" | Jay Livingston, Ray Evans | 3:15 |
2. | "The Daughter of Molly Malone" | Jay Livingston, Ray Evans | 3:20 |
3. | "The Poor People of Paris" | Jack Lawrence, Marguerite Monnot, René Rouzaud | 2:35 |
4. | "I Get Ideas" | Dorcas Cochran, Julio César Sanders | 2:49 |
5. | "Ciao, Ciao, Bambina" | Domenico Modugno, Mitchell Parish, Edoardo Verde | 3:02 |
6. | "That Travelin' Two-Beat" (reprise) | Jay Livingston, Ray Evans | 1:43 |
References
- ^ Allmusic review
- ^ "A Bing Crosby Discography". BING magazine. International Club Crosby. Retrieved May 28, 2017.
- ^ That Travelin' Two-Beat at AllMusic
- ^ "Variety". Variety. March 31, 1965.
- ^ Barnes, Ken (1980). The Crosby Years. Elm Tree Books. p. 96. ISBN 0-241-10177-8.
- ^ Crossland, Ken (2013). Late Life Jazz - The Life and Career of Rosemary Clooney. Oxford University Press. pp. 104–105. ISBN 978-0-19-979857-5.
- v
- t
- e
- 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)
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- Reprise Musical Repertory Theatre (1963)
- Return to Paradise Islands (1964)
- America, I Hear You Singing (w/ Frank Sinatra and Fred Waring) (1964)
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- 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)
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- 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)
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- 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)
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- A Little Bit of Irish (posthumous edition, recorded in 1966) (1993)
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- Gary Crosby (son)
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- Phillip Crosby (son)
- Lindsay Crosby (son)
- Kathryn Crosby (second wife)
- Harry Crosby (son)
- Mary Crosby (daughter)
- Nathaniel Crosby (son)
- Denise Crosby (granddaughter)
- Larry Crosby (brother)
- Bob Crosby (brother)
- Category