Dean Martin
Cool Then, Cool Now
Hip-Oselect Records
www.hip-oselect.com
By George W. Harris

I just finished reading an interesting book on pop singers, and after
listening to this hour’s worth of Dean Martin’s pop collection, the
book made more sense to me where it said that Elvis Presley got his
singing inspiration from listening to the man of this release. You can
hear hints that Elvis completely stole from the Rat Packer left and
right. But that wouldn’t be enough to get this release. The fact is,
Dean Martin is one of the most underrated of the post WWII singers,
possibly because he never took this aspect of his career too seriously.
Too bad-this collection, which has some great music, only hints at what
could’ve been.

What we do have are some wonderful tunes that reflect Martin’s easy
attitude on life. Most of these songs sound a bit dated because
they have Martin accompanied by vocal choruses; sometimes it works,
sometimes it distracts. Still, life doesn’t get too much better than
the very hip take of “You’re Nobody Till Somebody Loves You,” and his
hits like “Memories Are Made Of This” and “Everybody Loves Somebody
Sometimes” drip with casual charm. His humor pops out like a New Year’s
Eve toy, as “Italian Mambo” is one of the funniest songs you’ll ever
want to memorize. He can play it straight as well, as he swings in
front of a Basie-ish big band on “Don’t Talk About Me When I’m Gone,”
showing he could out Sinatra the Chairman himself. Great and fun stuff
here. Salute!