Skip to main content

The Lush Years/Relaxin' by Dean Martin

The Lush Years/Relaxin'

Release Date: 3/14/2006

Recording Date: 1/2005

Tracks: 20

Length: 00:53:34 Hrs

Label: Collectors' Choice Music

Type: CD

Genre/Styles:
Vocal Pop, United States of America, Traditional Pop

What the Critics Say

After Dean Martin moved from Capitol Records to Reprise Records (then run by his pal Frank Sinatra) in 1961, Capitol still had plenty of material on Dino left in its vaults that either had been released only on out of print singles and EPs or had never come out at all, and between 1965 and 1967 its subsidiary label Tower Records put out four budget-priced albums assembled from this rare material. Since these LPs weren't advertised as featuring rare recordings, they came and went fairly quickly, and have been much sought after by Martin collectors until Collectors' Choice Music reissued them as a pair of two-fer CDs in 2005. The Lush Years and Relaxin' were the first two albums in the quartet, and on this disc they make for a stronger set than Happy in Love and Dino -- Like Never Before, thanks to notably stronger material. As its title suggests, The Lush Years features ten performances high on polish and classy orchestration, though there's a welcome degree of variety in the mood and tempo of the songs and Martin's vocals deliver the goods on all tracks. (The album also features two rare tunes of special interest to fans of Martin's movies -- songs tied into the films Career and Rio Bravo.) Relaxin' promises to deliver Dino in a mellow mood and does just that, but there are some pleasing up-tempo melodies added for good measure, and Martin's rich, easygoing vocal style hits the spot regardless of surroundings. Fans of Dean Martin's Capitol-era recordings will enjoy this look into the nooks and crannies of his back catalog (especially given the rarity of some of these tracks), and the consistent strength of Dino's vocals shows just how good (and underappreciated) an artist he really was. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Advertisement
Dean Martin

On Sale