First Ever Dean Martin Box Set to be Released in June

Dean Martin is one of the greatest recording artists of all time with a career spanning almost 50 years.  Martin starred in over 50 films, recorded over 30 original albums and earned a long line of hits with a voice that continues to captivate a steady stream of fans each year.  His influence resonates today with the biggest stars and shows taking a page directly from Martin's style book-from the Don Draper character on TV's Mad Men to the top of the fashion world with Gucci's men's line, and from the movies with the pivotal scene from the Tom Cruise blockbuster Mission: Impossible -Ghost Protocol to the world of song, with the likes of international superstar Robbie Williams.

On June 12, 2012, Universal Music Enterprises (UMe) releases Dean Martin – COLLECTED COOL, the first and only career-defining,  four-disc box set that combines his biggest hits and signature tunes from both his Capitol Records and Reprise years.  Live rarities and spoken word intros make their CD debut including, in its entirety, the rare and unreleased audio recording of his 1962 Lake Tahoe show capturing Martin's unique vocal styling that cemented his reputation as one of the most revered and emulated artists of all time. 

COLLECTED COOL also includes a DVD of a live performance filmed at the London Apollo Victoria Theatre in 1983. This show was only aired on cable in 1983 for a brief time and has never been aired or available since then.  Martin commands the stage with his own unique and charismatic presence and that's all captured on this DVD for fans and newcomers alike to experience why Dean Martin still remains a superstar.  Musician/Actor Steven Van Zandt commented about Martin, "He was the coolest dude I'd ever seen, period."

Dean Martin's early autobiography is as gritty as that of any hip-hop star:  delivering bootleg liquor, serving as a speakeasy croupier and blackjack dealer, working in a steel mill,  ruling the ring as boxing phenomenon Kid Crochet, and rubbing elbows with members of the nightclub underworld. 

Born Dino Paul Crocetti, he soon christened himself Dean Martin.  Martin developed his own style, not content to follow the others.  He later paired up with comic Jerry Lewis and the comedy duo became the hottest ticket around and parlayed their onstage success into a string of hit movies and television appearances.  But Martin was also a formidable solo artist, scoring such hits as "Memories Are Made of This," "That's Amore" and "Powder Your Face With Sunshine (Smile! Smile! Smile!)" for Capitol Records; all are  represented on this box set. 

After Martin and Lewis parted ways, Martin continued to wow crowds in Vegas and impress critics with a series of dramatic film roles, successful TV specials and a consistent string of hit singles and albums.  Not long after, Martin's affiliation with Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr. and the rest of the fabled Rat Pack became a new chapter in his life.  He fueled his image as a boozing playboy through onstage antics with his pals in ensemble films like Ocean's 11 and Robin and His 7 Hoods. 

Dean Martin – COLLECTED COOL:  Disc one follows Dino's early rise to stardom and features the best of his Capitol Records years, packed with his biggest hits, signature songs, rarities and career-defining recordings.  Included are some of Martin's most well-known numbers such as "That's Amore," an instant classic and one of his most beloved songs that reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100; "Return to             Me" which hit No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100;  plus Martin's signature tunes "Volare" (peaking at No. 12 in 1958), "If I Could Sing Like Bing" (his homage to vocal great Bing Crosby), the stereo version of "On An Evening In Roma," the ever-popular "Ain't That A Kick In The Head," and the unreleased "Dean's Spoken Word Introductions," taped in 1949. 

In early 1962, Dean Martin left Capitol and began to record for Frank Sinatra's newly formed label, Reprise Records.  Disc 2 features some of Martin's biggest and most cherished hits from his rich and fruitful Reprise years plus a stripped-down version of the No. 1 hit single "Everybody Loves Somebody," which originally topped the charts and knocked the Beatles from the No. 1 spot.  Also included are his No. 1 Adult Contemporary hits "In The Misty Moonlight," "In The Chapel In The Moonlight," "You're Nobody 'Til Somebody Loves You" and the track "The Door Is Still Open To My Heart," which also reached No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.  Other notable highlights include "Guys and Dolls"(featuring Frank Sinatra), the top-10 hit "I Will," which entered at No. 3 on the Adult Contemporary charts, and his duet with Conway Twitty, "My First Country Song," which reached the top 50 on Billboard's Country & Western chart and earned Dean Martin his first ever country hit.

Disc 3 features a rare, live audio recording of Dino's concert at Cal-Neva Lodge in Lake Tahoe, CA, on July 27, 1962.  This show captures Martin at the apex of his career, during his post-Capitol years and extremely prolific tenure at Reprise.  This performance has never been released in its entirety- only a few tracks were available as bonus material-but it's now available on this box set.  Featured are incredible performances of  "Volare," "On An Evening In Roma," "It Had To Be You/Nevertheless," "Beautiful Dreamer" and his only recording of Matt Monro's hit "My Kind Of Girl."  Dino's quick wit and sense of humor shines bright through his onstage banter and parodies of classics such as "I Love Tahoe (Paris)"and "Drink To Me Only With Thine Eyes," all caught on this 51-minute rare recording.

Collected Cool also contains a DVD featuring 60 minutes of live footage from his show at London's Apollo Victoria theatre show in 1983. This performance  originally  aired only on Showtime and has never been made commercially available until now. This live concert features Dino performing some of his biggest hits and well-known songs including "Everybody Loves Somebody," "That's Amore," "Little Ole Wine Drinker Me" and "Welcome To My World," plus classic Martin parodies of "Pennies From Heaven," "Please Be Kind" and "It's Magic." 

Dean Martin's effortless vocalizing has become modern shorthand for cool, as evidenced by the use of his songs in films, television, and ad campaigns, and this box set chronicles one of the most important artists of the 20^th century. The Washington Post summed it up by saying,"Somewhere in the public identity of Dean Martin was a kind of essential Everyman of wonder, celebrating the fact that everybody does love somebody sometime, and that we could do worse than raise a glass to joys like that."

 

Track listing:

 

Capitol Records Years (CD-1):

 

1.       Dean's Spoken Word  Introductions

2.       My Own, My Only, My All 

3.       Powder Your Face With Sunshine (Smile! Smile! Smile!) 

4.       I Don't Care If The Sun Don't Shine

5.       That's Amore

6.       If I Could Sing Like Bing

7.       Sway

8.       Long, Long Ago

9.       Memories Are Made Of This

10.   Pardners (with Jerry Lewis)

11.   Volare 

12.   Rio Bravo

13.   On An Evening In Roma 

14.   Sleep Warm 

15.   Ain't That A Kick In The Head 

16.   Just In Time

17.   Arrivederci Roma

18.   Return To Me

19.   A Hundred Years From Today 

 

 

 

Reprise Records Years (CD-2):

 

1.       Tik-A-Tee, Tik-A-Tay

2.       Senza Fine

3.       Who's Got The Action

4.       Guys And Dolls

5.       Everybody Loves Somebody 

6.       The Door Is Still Open To My Heart 

7.       You're Nobody 'Til Somebody Loves You

8.       In The Misty Moonlight 

9.       Send Me The Pillow You Dream On

10.   In The Chapel In The Moonlight

11.   Welcome To My World 

12.   I Will 

13.   Somewhere There's A Someone 

14.   My First Country Song (featuring Conway Twitty) 

15.   LA Is My Home  

 

LIVE FROM LAKE TAHOE (CD-3)

 

1.       Drink To Me Only With Thine      

1.       Eyes

2.       Almost Like Being In Love

3.       I Love Tahoe (Paris)

4.       Show Banter #1

5.       My Kind Of Girl 

6.       Show Banter #2

7.       Show Banter #3

8.       June In January 

9.       Show Banter #4

10.   Break It To Me Gently 

11.   Show Banter #5

12.   Rock-A-Bye Your Baby With a Dixie Melody 

13.   Instrumental

14.   Show Banter #6

15.   Primrose Lane/You Are Too  Beautiful/Carolina In The  Morning/Love Walked  In/I Love Being    A Girl 

16.   Beautiful Dreamer

17.   You Made Me Love You

18.   It Had To Be You/Nevertheless

19.   I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter 

20.   Volare 

21.   On An Evening In Roma

22.   Show Banter #7

23.   I Love Paris (Tahoe)

24.   Outro

 

 

Dean Martin LIVE IN LONDON (DVD):

1.       Everybody Loves Somebody

2.       Drink To Me Only With Thine Eyes

3.       When You're Smiling

4.       Pennies From Heaven

5.       L-O-V-E

6.       Everybody Loves Somebody (reprise)

7.       Where Or When

8.       Welcome To My World

9.       Drinking Champagne

10.   That's Amore

11.   Love Walked In

12.   Please Be Kind

13.   It's Magic

14.   Ken's Noodle

15.   Bad, Bad LeRoy Brown

16.   For The Good Times

17.   Here Comes My Baby Back Again

18.   Little Ole Wine Drinker Me

19.   Bumming Around

20.   One Hour With You

21.   Bumming Around

22.   One Hour With You