Dean Martin Dream with Dean: The Intimate Dean Martin 180g 45rpm 2LP

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A profile of a rugged Dean Martin by the fireplace with a cigarette adorns the jacket of this very interesting concept album. As Stan Cornyn's liner notes explain, "his longtime accompanist" on piano, Ken Lane, with "three of Hollywood's most thoughtful rhythm men" - those being drummer Irv Cottler, bassist Red Mitchell, and guitarist Barney Kessel - do create a mood, Dean Martin performing as if he were a lounge singer at 1:15 a.m. as the Saturday night crowd is dwindling. His signature tune, "Everybody Loves Somebody", is here in a laid-back style, produced by Jimmy Bowen, who would go on to produce Reba McEntire, Kenny Rogers & the First Edition, and so many others, also the same man who was behind the 1964 No. 1 smash.

This album with the original Martin recording was released after the hit single version and on the same day as the Everybody Loves Somebody LP, but how many times does the audience get a different studio reading of a seminal hit record? Not only that, but the version that preceded the hit. The backing is so sparse it is almost a cappella, with Kessel's guitar noodlings and Ken Lane's piano. The bass is mostly invisible, coming in only when needed. It's a slow and sultry version that caps off side one.

Martin is just crooning away, and if the album has one drawback, it is that the 12 songs are incessant in their providing the same atmosphere. The backing quartet does not deviate from their job, nor does producer Jimmy Bowen add any technique, other than putting Martin's voice way out in the mix. But Dream With Dean was no doubt the product of excellent research and development, as Bowen landed 11 Top 40 hits with the singer from 1964's "Everybody Loves Somebody", which evolved out of this original idea, to 1967's "Little Old Wine Drinker, Me". It sounds as if they tracked the album in one afternoon, and it is not only a very pleasant listening experience, it shows what a tremendous vocalist Dean Martin truly was, says allmusic.com.

Now Dream With Dean - The Intimate Dean Martin is back bigger and better than ever! They've gone the deluxe Analogue Productions route - remastered from the original analog tape by Ryan Smith at Sterling Sound, cut at 45 RPM, plated and pressed at Quality Record Pressings. Then packaged in deluxe tip-on gatefold jackets from Stoughton Printing. A great title, a brilliant reissue. Exceptional!

Martin sounds as if he's within inches of the microphone with the backing players mixed to keep the vocals way upfront. On the opener that's not a 'tic', it's Martin's lips smacking. That's a gutsy move for any vocalist but Martin adds to the daring by laying almost completely off the reverb send. He's in your room. The recording is simply astonishing. It's a show-stopper at every audio show ... The Analogue Productions first class gatefold packaging includes a laminated 'Tip-On' jacket and two wonderful studio shots, beautifully reproduced in black and white showing a relaxed and happy Dean Martin in what looks like Gold Star Studios. ... If you're going to have one Dean Martin record, this one would be it.