That's What Life Is All About (album)
| That’s What Life Is All About | ||||
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| Studio album by Bing Crosby | ||||
| Released | August 29, 1975 | |||
| Recorded | October 17, 1974, February, 1975 | |||
| Genre | Vocal | |||
| Label | United Artists (UAG-29730) | |||
| Producer | Ken Barnes | |||
| Bing Crosby chronology | ||||
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| Allmusic |   |
That’s What Life Is All About is a 1975 vinyl album recorded by Bing Crosby for United Artists at Chappells in London in February 1975. He was accompanied by Pete Moore and his Orchestra.
The songs from the album were included on a 3-CD set called “Bing Crosby – The Complete United Artists Sessions” issued by EMI Records (7243 59808 2 4) in 1997. This included several previously unreleased alternate takes and studio chat.
In January 1974, Crosby was seriously ill and after two weeks of tests, he underwent three and a half hours of major surgery. Two-fifths of his left lung and an abscess the size of a small orange were removed. The tumor was a rare fungus called nocardia. There were concerns initially that he would not be able to sing again and his recuperation took many months. Record producer, Ken Barnes, later heard that Bing was thinking of recording again and he quickly presented his credentials and eventually met Crosby on September 9, 1974 at the singer’s home. Arrangements were soon made for two albums to be made in London. As a prelude, two songs were recorded with Johnny Mercer and a rhythm section at Mercer’s own “Heritage” recording studio at Oak Street in Burbank, California on October 17, 1974. Orchestra was added in February 1975.
Bing flew to London on February 18 and that afternoon visited the Chappells recording studio. He was shown the vocal booth where he would be singing but said that he did not want to work in that way. He wanted to be with the band and said, “I didn’t come seven thousand miles to sing to a pane of glass.” This worried sound engineer John Timperley who was concerned about separation problems because of the large orchestra which was to be used. Crosby was adamant however and, in the event, he successfully overcame the problems of recording in front of a full orchestra.
Over a period of eight days, Crosby, in six sessions, recorded twenty five tracks. Eleven of the tracks, plus the two Crosby had recorded with Johnny Mercer were issued on this LP. Thirteen, with the addition of another song to be recorded in 1976, were issued on an LP called At My Time of Life and the final recording was included with eleven others made in 1976 and issued on an LP called Beautiful Memories.
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Wikipedia