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Old 06-22-2015, 07:08 PM   #937 (permalink)
Micco
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Trollheart View Post

Title: Dino: Italian Love Songs
Artiste: Dean Martin
Genre: Crooncore (!)
Familiarity: Well who doesn't know Dean Martin, but I have heard little from him
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dino:_Italian_Love_Songs

Track 1(Love) Typical sweeping orchestral backing with of course an Italian flavour to the music; can't fault Dino's vocals, and it's a big production without his singing being overblown perhaps a la Frankie...
Track 2(Love) Big Hollywood-style choir, accordion is very cliched now, but then this was back in 1962 so we can forgive that. Another lovely song, which I think I heard on “The Simpsons”!
Track 3(Love) Another great love song, great upright bass and accordion.
Track 4(Love) One thing about these old crooners; they knew how to keep it short. Nothing here is over three minutes, and many are below that. I know Martin didn't write these, but I assume he had a say in which ones to choose for this album. This is another smooth ballad with a sort of angelic choir backed up by a less prominent male one. Accordion solo!
Track 5(Love) The first song in Italian, and the longest at three minutes and five seconds (!) with another great orchestral intro then a nice smooth melody. Actually, interestingly, it's only the title that he sings in Italian. More accordion mania!
Track 6(Love) Yeah, anoher really nice one, and again that bass rips it up. Sixties crooner style of course! Oh look! He's gone into Italian mode at the end. Nice.
Track 7(Love) Starts out a bit like “When I fall in love” and is that mandolin I hear? Man I just love mandolin. Gotta give respect to a man called Johnny Cola! Another one with an Italian title, but that's as much as he sings in that language.
Track 8(Hate) More uptempo this time, and he's singing in Italian with some sort of organ going. Not as good as the rest though. Definitely don't like this one.
Track 9(Love) Orchestra is back, slowing down, think we're back on track now. Good. The backing vocals are annoying, but other than that normal service has been resumed.
Track 10(Love) This is very cinematic.
Track 11(Love) A bit corny but a good song and well executed; great orchestration
Track 12(Love) Another nice one to close with; could probably live without the female choir but the orchestra is good. I see it's based around the melody of “O sole mio”. Nice.

End result: I must admit, I would never have even contemplated listening to a Dean Martin album (and I probably never will again) but this was very enjoyable and didn't make me want to retch as I thought it might.

So, Love or Hate? Hmm. Oddly enough, yeah, it's a Love.

Chances of a full review: 0/10
Glad you liked it! Funny enough the only one you hated is arguably the most popular song of the album, at least second to "Arrivederci Roma." Those two tend to always make it on his greatest hits albums. This album is one of those vocal performances from Martin that set him above Sinatra vocally. I know you said you'll never listen to Dean again but if you ever want to hear a album perfect for late night listening, "Dream With Dean" is incredibly smooth and does exactly as the title recommends, it easily is his best vocal performance he has ever recorded and imo is the album that sets him as the greatest crooner of all time, it's not an official reccomendation just if you ever want to explore some more crooning haha. Salute!
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