Bing Crosby & Rosemary Clooney - Fancy Meeting You Here (1958) [Vinyl]

Rosemary Clooney's full-length collaboration with Bing Crosby and Billy May should've resulted in an electrifying LP, but unfortunately Fancy Meeting You Here doesn't quite meet the (admittedly high) expectations. A baker's dozen of tourist-themed songs with Crosby as a tagalong duet partner and May as globe-trotting scene-setter, the album does include several great teamings: the rousing title-track opener, a robust "It Happened in Monterey," and some great two-part harmonies on "You Came a Long Way from St. Louis." But for every delightful duet between the energizing, melodic Clooney and the mellow, laid-back Crosby, there are a few clunkers -- "On a Slow Boat to China," "Say Si Si (Para Vigo Me Voy)." May's arrangements are inventive as usual, but constant nods to the music of the globe at any mention of a far-flung location soon grows annoying as well as cloying. The peaks are delightful, but the few low points are enough to make listeners wish for an uneventful trip through the plains.