Dean Martin - Forever Cool

[BJBAmerica]

A new Dean Martin CD is due out in stores tomorrow, August 13th!! It looks to be a real winner......Classic Dino songs with a "twist"........Dino now has a bunch of Swanky Duet Partners......Check out the official Dean Martin site here for more details:

http://www.deanmartin.com/

Long Live Dino, Baby!!!

 

[Bebop]

Dean Martin was always one of my musical heros. Elvis claimed Dean Martin as a huge influence. He was so cool without the pretentious attiude which is what most rock n' rollers aspire to be, (if they only knew enough to check out the past in order to claim the present).
Can't wait to hear the new release.

 

[Tomasso]

IMO, Dean was the coolest cat in the Rat Pack.

 

[Feraud]

Dino!

 

[BJBAmerica]

Check out Dino's Lid........Whaddya say, shouldn't he be made an honorary member of the Lounge?

 

[BJBAmerica]

Dino & the Duke....Don't know who the third fella is, anyone have any idea?

 

[Mike in Seattle]

While I love Dean Martin as an actor, singer and all-around entertainer...there's just something horribly wrong about his singing "duets" in which he had no say over who his singing partners would be during his lifetime. Natalie Cole got the ball rolling with Unforgettable with her father, but that's a little different...

While I may "sing along with Dino" while out driving around in the car (or even at home if I'm here alone - trust me, it's not pretty!), that's one thing. But for these less-talented celebrities to come along a dozen years after his death and try to bolster their careers - and need I say, their bank accounts - by creating this "sing along with Dino" album is just cheesy and tacky. Wait - it's not "sing along with Dino" - they're "collaborative tracks" according to the website and press releases, which begs the question - how DOES one collaborate with the dead? Was a Ouija board or spirit mediums involved?

If Dean had wanted to make a duet of a particular song with Charles Aznavour, for example, I'm sure they'd have been in the studio recording said song. They were both living and popular entertainers in the 50's and 60's. But I think I'm pretty certain that Dean wasn't lying on his deathbed saying, "If only...if only I could've recorded with Aznavour, I could die happy...If only there were some way we could've sung a duet...or that Kevin Spacey actor guy...I bet he's gotta good set of pipes..." and heart-monitor goes to flatline...

But most of the rest were unheard of a dozen years ago when Dean died, and certainly unheard of if not unborn at the time of the most active portion of his career. I think I'd have a little more respect if they'd done a tribute album singing his greatest hits (not singing along with his recordings) and perhaps donated the proceeds to some worthy charity or a Dean Martin museum, statue or the like.

 

[BJBAmerica]

I have to admit, Mike, that I'm not overly impressed by the list of duet partners that were slected for this project......In fact, I wouldn't have paired a single one of those chosen with Dean for a duet.

There are others who might have been more well suited to this type of project. A few that come immediatly to mind are Chris Isaak and for a female duet partner, maybe Cyndi Lauper, who has a bit of a flair for this type of music as her album "At Last" will attest......Maybe even the likes of Robert Plant, might be the closest thing to another HoneyDrippers track that we're ever likely get from him. Natalie Cole would also have been another smart choice. As you mentioned she did the electronic duet on Unforgettable with her late father and Dino had recorded a couple of Duets with Nat while they were both at Capitol in the 50's.....Couple of really cool tunes, BTW, so might have been a cool pairing to have her duet with Dean.

I've watched the trailer on the Dean Martin site, and, although the artists aren't the same caliber of talent that Dino was, they have taken the project seriously enough it seems, and the new backing tracks sound great to my ears, at least the snippests that have been made available thus far.

Might have been cool just to update the backing instrumentation itself and leave Dino's vocals by themselves, no duets......

I don't know that I would immediatly categorize the project at cheesy or tacky until I've had a chance to give it a listen, and being a big Dino fan, I'm willing to give this CD a shot.

As we won't be seeing any new material from the late, great Dean Martin, projects like this are as close as we'll come.....And in the past few years Capitol/EMI has released all of Dino's original studio albums both on the Capitol and Reprise labels, several greatest hits compliations, and the obligatory Christmas re-releases. So, maybe projects like this new CD will keep Dean's music alive and broaden interest in him a bit??

I'm willing to give it a chance, but, as I mentioned, I would have liked to have seen a different roster of duet partners. Selecting the "right group" of duet partners, which is subjective at best, would have been a sure bet to reach just the right target audience and guarantee success, both critical and financial......I'll be interested to see how well this CD does, both in terms of sales and in critical observations. For Dean's sake, anyway, I hope it does well on both counts.

 

[Mike in Seattle]

Agreed - I'm sure I'll give it a listen because I know a friend who preordered it and it's supposed to be delivered tomorrow so we'll no-doubt hear it over the weekend, but one of the cable stations has played some snippets and shown a little "making of" sort of thing that just left me shaking my head. I guess the good thing with setting my expectations low is I won't be disappointed, and if there's a good track or two - there's a win.

But I just can't wait for the "Old Blue Eye and Young Bald Head" Frank Sinatra-Brittney Spears duet album - the one with Federline dancing in the background with the Pepsi-reved tots...

 

[Hondo]

Dean was a class act

As a kid my Mom & Dad used to play, listen to Dean Martin, had his recorders, always watched his TV show and Dean Martin Roasts so I grew fond of him as a kid, his movies, his singing, wish I had his voice, I used to try to copy him, but never could hold a note like him, so I loved Dean and his pals the Rat Pack. Its just sad that he died, they say he never got over his son’s death, he just withered away. I’ll always remember him as being super cool, well dressed and in good company with all those women, Matt Helm or The Gold Diggers

"Everybody, loves somebody sometime...." Miss you Dino

 

[Mike in Seattle]

Did you see the latest? Lisa Marie Presley doing a duet with her father... :eusa_doh:

 

[Hondo]

She will be lucky to afford nails let alone build something from her duet :eusa_doh:

Did you see the latest? Lisa Marie Presley doing a duet with her father... :eusa_doh:

 

[Feraud]

Did you see the latest? Lisa Marie Presley doing a duet with her father... :eusa_doh:

I just sooo dislike children of celebrities milking their parents hard earned reputation for a few bucks.

Lisa Marie needs to get her own career.

 

[imoldfashioned]

Love Dean Martin--he was my first crush circa 1973 courtesy of The Dean Martin Show. The electronically created duet can be done well but I think it's rare.

Anybody remember Tom Hanks spoof of Dean's Holiday shows on SNL? I remember it as pretty funny.

 

[Hondo]

Natalie Cole and her father Nat King Cole, was one rare electronic duet, soft and in b/w, but "In the Ghetto"? [huh] Never mind we should stay on topic.

Dean was smooth, his voice, seems like all women fell for him, I envy him much.
I first saw him as Martin & Lewis (Jerry) what a great team, I was happy when they were reunited, Dino is greatly missed.

Love Dean Martin--he was my first crush circa 1973 courtesy of The Dean Martin Show. The electronically created duet can be done well but I think it's rare.

Anybody remember Tom Hanks spoof of Dean's Holiday shows on SNL? I remember it as pretty funny.

 

[BJBAmerica]

Well, my wife picked me up a copy of Dean Martin - Forever Cool, and with only a few exceptions, the disc sounds great.

Kevin Spacey, believe it or not, isn't a bad crooner in his own right.....Don't think I'd ever buy and album of his, but what he's contributed to this Dino project sounds good and works well.

My least favorite track is "I Can't Believe That You're In Love With Me", which features a duet with Joss Stone. Not that I don't like the song itself, in fact I love Dino's original version, but Miss Stone has decided to give it the "Whitney Houston/Mariah Carey" over the top treatment, which doesn't work well on it's own, IMO, let alone with the smoth vocal stylings of Dino.

The two older gentlemen featured, Tiziano Ferro on "Arrivederci Roma" and Charles Aznavour on "Everybody Loves Somebody" are just passable in my book, could have found much better choices to duet on those two numbers. Not that they're bad, just not the ideal vocal partners on those songs.

There are a couple of songs where the actual duet partner is an instrumentalist, and those are OUTSTANDING!! "Just In Time" with Dave Koz is one of those and "I've Grown Accustomed To Her Face" festuring Chris Botti is another. A third track featuring only new backing instrumentation as the duet partner is "Who Was That Lady", which features The Capitol Studios Orchestra. They have provided all new backing instrumentation for all of the songs on this project and they sound out of this world on each and every one.

The real stand-out track for me is one called "Baby-O" which features an artist I'm not familiar with, Paris Bennett, but she really suits the song and Dino's style to a "T".

Most tracks feature some witty studio banter from Dean, which are a hoot to listen to.

The set closes with an acapella version of "Brahams' Lullaby" which is sublimely gorgeous.....All in all, I would recommend this disc to anyone who has an appreciation for Dean's music. Everyone has taken their time to give serious treatment to the songs on which they are featured, with the notable exception of Joss Stone.

My wife found it for less than $10 at the local Wal-Mart.......Not a bad buy at all....I'm already giving the disc another spin, as I'm typing this......Again, anyone who has an appreciation for Dean's music will be pretty pleased with this latest release.

I'd give this a Solid "Thumbs Up" rating!!

 

[PrettySquareGal]

I love Dean Martin and all of the Rat Pack. My father is a big influence since he has always loved them.

Now that I'm almost too old to care about things, I have started a puerile pursuit: I'm pinning up pages of such handsome fellows from my old magazines (the ones that are in disrepair) onto my wall. No matting or frames, just good old-fashioned pin up action of some super suave fellows.

 

[Hondo]

Rat Pack

It was a great time back with the "Rat Pack" Dean Martin, Frank, Sammy, Peter and Joey, throw in Shirley MacLaine the only woman who could drink, sing and have respect from these guys really set the pace, an era long gone.
How I miss the old days in Las Vegas, catch tribute acts of the Rat Pack.
"Everybody Loves Somebody" is one of my favorite Dean Martin songs, there are so many, I can't hold a candle to Dino, having always watch his show (with the Gold Diggers) and that photo of Dean with John Wayne and the other guy, I know who he is but can't place his name, he is a fellow actor. They were just goofing around, duet wasn't meant to take seriously. Its just the sign of the times, gosh how I wish I was in the audience what a blast it must have been, catch Dean Martin tribute acts

"Everybody loves somebody sometime....."

 

[60Years2Late]

I tell ya what. I love everything rat pack, myself. The things they said, they way they talked, the way they joked and sang, and sang and joked, and carried on, and mixed it all together. It was amazing stuff. Nothing could ever be that perfect in my eyes.
If ever a man meets me and tells me he doesn't like Dean Martin, I believe I'm gonna pull a Frankie and punch him right in the mouth.

Dean shall forever be in my eyes, though, the coolest, suavest, best sounding guy in the group. His jokes were better, his timing was better, he was more human, more down home, and at the same time, he managed to be the classiest. He always had a smile on. Even in the interactions with the rest of the group, it shows. Frank could boss everybody else around, but he never did that with Dino, really.

Gotta say, if I had to pick a favorite Dino song, though, it's gotta be Standing on the Corner.

Just a few Dino quotes.
"Just tryin' to have a little fun folks, that's all."
"It was a woman that drove me to drink. Come to think of it, I never did thank her for that."
"You ain't drunk unless you can lie down on the floor without holding on."
"What about my drinking? Did I miss a round?"
"I don't drink anymore. I freeze it and eat it like a popsicle."

 

[Forrestal]

BJBAmerica…. I believe the third guy in your picture of Dean and the Duke is Guy Madison. From 1951 till 1958, Guy Madison stared in 113 episodes of the TV western “The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok.
Regard’s
Forrestal