High Society:
A New High Fidelity Recording From the Sound Track of the MGM Picture
Soundtrack album by
Bing Crosby
Released1956
RecordedJanuary 1956
GenreTraditional pop
LabelCapitol
Bing Crosby chronology
Bing Sings Whilst Bregman Swings
(1956) 		High Society:
A New High Fidelity Recording From the Sound Track of the MGM Picture
(1956) 		Bing with a Beat
(1957)

High Society is a 1956 soundtrack album, featuring Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong and Grace Kelly. This was Crosby's fifth LP album, and his first recorded for Capitol Records. It was the soundtrack for the MGM feature film High Society, also released in 1956. Initially issued on vinyl either in mono or stereo format, the album has been issued on CD by Capitol in Japan (CD: TOCP-6587) in 1991 and by Capitol in the UK (CD: CDP 793787-2) in 1995. The album was also included in a 3-CD box set called "Original Soundtrack Recordings" issued by the EMI Music Group Australasia

Crosby's exclusive recording contract with Decca Records expired at the end of 1955 and he chose to go freelance.

After his recording of "True Love" with Grace Kelly went gold, Crosby joked that it was the only gold record to feature a real-life princess. "True Love" was the only song in the album to be nominated for an Academy Award but it lost out to "Que Sera, Sera".

Reception

The UK magazine The Gramophone liked the album saying: "...Lastly on Capitol LCT6116 El Bingo is heard along with nearly everybody else—Louis Armstrong, Grace Kelly and Frank Sinatra, for example—in the film "High Society". These numbers by Cole Porter are mostly available by the same artists on 45s, but whichever way you buy it do not neglect the wonderful 'Now You Has Jazz', in which Crosby introduces the band. It is an old gambit, but seldom fails, and certainly not here."[1]

Personnel in Louis Armstrong band

Louis Armstrong (tpt); Trummy Young (tbn); Edmond Hall (clt); Billy Kyle (pno); Arvell Shaw (bs); Barrett Deems (dms)[2]

Track listing

All songs written by Cole Porter.

Side one
No.TitlePerformer(s)Length
1."High Society(Overture)"Johnny Green, conducting the MGM Studio Orchestra3:32
2."High Society Calypso"Louis Armstrong and His Band2:14
3."Little One"Bing Crosby2:33
4."Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?"Celeste Holm, Frank Sinatra2:08
5."True Love"Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly3:07
Side two
No.TitlePerformer(s)Length
1."You're Sensational"Frank Sinatra3:56
2."I Love You, Samantha"Bing Crosby4:30
3."Now You Has Jazz"Louis Armstrong and His Band, Bing Crosby4:18
4."Well, Did You Evah!"Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra3:50
5."Mind If I Make Love to You?"Frank Sinatra3:46

Note: the stereo version of "Well, Did You Evah!" does not include Crosby's adlib "You must be one of the newer fellas." Note 2: "Well, Did You Evah!", as b-side of "True Love", was edited to 2:52 on the 78 rpm-single.

Chart positions

Chart Year Peak
position
UK Albums Chart 1957 1[3]
Billboard Best-Selling Pop Albums Chart 1956 5[4]
Billboard Most Played by Jockeys Albums Chart 1956 1[4]

Credits

References

  1. ^ "The Gramophone". The Gramophone. January 1957.
  2. ^ Reynolds, Fred. The Crosby Collection 1926-1977 (Part Four - 1951-1960 ed.). John Joyce. p. 158.
  3. ^ "High Society - Full Official Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
  4. ^ a b "Billboard". Billboard. November 3, 1956. p. 24.


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