Dean Martin - Dean Martin Hits Again (2014) [Hi-Res]

By the beginning of 1965, Reprise Records had adjusted itself to the commercial success Dean Martin had begun to enjoy in the spring of 1964 with his hit recording of "Everybody Loves Somebody." Dean Martin Hits Again was the label's first album to be constructed entirely by Jimmy Bowen, producer of that hit, and Ernie Freeman, who had arranged and conducted it, and they used the same arranging formula that had worked before, employing a 4/4 beat, piano triplets, female backup vocals, and swooping string effects to the songs here. In attempting to keep up with demand, Reprise had recycled old songs on Martin's last two albums. This one was mostly new, although "You're Nobody 'Til Somebody Loves You" had appeared on The Door Is Still Open to My Heart the previous October and then gone on to become a Top 40 pop hit (number one on the easy listening charts) and "You'll Always Be the One I Love," its B-side, had also charted. But if the material was recent, there was less of it; Reprise cut the usual 12 tracks for an LP to ten, with a running time of only 24 minutes. The made the album skimpy, even though it produced another hit, "Send Me the Pillow You Dream On," which went Top 20 pop and Top Five easy listening. And even at the shortened time, the Bowen/Freeman formula was already sounding very repetitious. But that didn't keep the LP from being a Top 20 hit that eventually became Martin's fourth gold album. ~ William Ruhlmann