More useful as a primer than as a comprehensive overview of Bing Crosby's 50-year career, Geffen's THE DEFINITIVE COLLECTION still packs in 22 superb cuts from the crooner's massive discography. Beginning with the early 1930s and continuing up through the '40s and into the mid '50s, the set covers traditional songs ("Home on the Range"), standards ("Stardust"), show tunes ("Ol' Man River"), and songs from his movies ("Road to Morocco").
Naturally, "White Christmas" is here (the song will forever be associated with Crosby), while "Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ral (That's An Irish Lullaby)" sounds like it was written expressly for Crosby. Despite the sometimes dated production and arrangements on some of these tracks, the artist's warm, pure baritone and jazz-tinged approach is so compelling that the performances have lost not one iota of their charm and appeal even decades and decades down the line.