Bob Crosby And The Bobcats

Bob Crosby and the Bobcats is billed as a complete collection of Crosby's Standard transcriptions, but a different incarnation of his band recorded for Standard in the early '40s — these are his complete Standard transcriptions from 1950. The performances, credited variously to Bob Crosby's Bobcats, Bob Crosby with The Bobcats, and The Bob-O-Links, are roughly split between instrumental and vocal numbers, with Crosby himself singing half of the latter. Crosby gets downright whimsical on some of these cuts, from the tribal drums and mutant boogie beat of "Zing-A Zing-A Zing Boom" to Jimmy Wakely's "Broken Down Merry-Go-Round," which starts out soft and moody before kicking into Dixieland overdrive. The repertoire is fascinating, with an emphasis on pop songs and novelties, and the sound quality is excellent. These tracks were cut at the very end of Crosby's chart career, but his band and his voice are still fine.