• Exceptionally good Double Plus sound (A++) sound or close to it on both sides — big, rich and full
• With a voice that is relaxed, smooth and warm, Dino is the perfect guy to sing these songs
• More songs on this copy than on the original?! However many there are, they’re all good
• Subtitled “Romantic vocals for the warmest kind of winter season”

Both Sides

Big and rich without the excessive, phony sparkle we hear on so many copies. There’s some nice clarity here as well — the background singers on the second track sound rich and clear, just the way they should.

A surprisingly large number of copies suffered from a lack of Tubey Magic, including even the 1959 originals we had on hand. Dino also gets a little hot and sparkly in the upper midrange depending on the song — watch for it.

All the copies we played were stereo. We’ve had very poor luck with mono Dean Martin records in the past and tend to avoid them. (The mono of Dream With Dean is a joke. Don’t waste your money.)  

“romantic vocals for the warmest kind of winter season”

Dean Martin isn’t a man you’d ordinarily associate with snow. The romantic Martin image definitely suggests warmer climes and pastimes. And that’s why there isn’t a better man for an album of songs about winter.

When Dean sings of a frosty evening, the musky Martin voice conjures subliminal pictures of all the good things there are to warm a man and fortify him against the chill: sizzling Chateaubriand for two…fine Scotch or sour mash whiskey…girls. He makes a white Christmas a truly nostalgic reverie–all the more because you suspect he’s standing on a sunwashed golf course, just cozily reminiscing, as he sings. And when he sings about ski trails, you feel he’s contemplating them from an easy chair on a sundeck, having momentarily put aside a wining play at poker to fondle a feminine hand.

The likable Dino is a summertime thing–with a mellow, easy style that wears wonderfully well the year around. A man, and an entertainer, for all seasons. And Dean seasons these favorite wintertime songs with a relaxed and swinging ardor that brings the listener the most delightful kind of glow.

[Yes, we found the liner notes! Thank you interwebs.]

TRACK LISTING

Side One

Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!
The Things We Did Last Summer
I’ve Got My Love To Keep Me Warm
June In January
Canadian Sunset

Side Two

Winter Wonderland
Out In The Cold Again
Baby, It’s Cold Outside
Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer
White Christmas
It Won’t Cool Off

AMG  Review

This is an abridged version of the 1959 album A Winter Romance. It is perhaps best described as a “seasonal” album rather than a Christmas or holiday release, despite the inclusion of such familiar fare as “White Christmas” and “Winter Wonderland.” Dean Martin has also included such standards as “The Things We Did Last Summer” and “June in January,” as well as some specially written material such as Sammy Cahn and Ken Lane’s “It Won’t Cool Off”. Nevertheless, with its lush strings, well-scrubbed vocal choruses and buoyant mood, this collection has an appropriately festive feel.