It’s Dean Martin!  Finally, the first review of a Dean Martin Christmas album.  Some things should be said right away about this CD reissue of Dean Martin’s Christmas album from 1959, A Winter Romance.  First off, this is a reissue of Dean’s 1959 Christmas album, and it contains 6 bonus tracks.  The original songs are all here but in a different order than on the original album.

Plus, this album has been reissued on LP many times since 1959.  The first reissue occurred in 1961 and had a different cover.  It was reissued again in 1962, again with a different cover from either earlier issue, and with two songs missing.  Then, in 1965, it was reissued again, under the title, Holiday Cheer, again with a new cover.  Also with the 1965 reissue, only one of the missing tracks was restored, and ironically enough, the remaining missing song from that 1965 reissue was the original album title, A Winter Romance.  It was this reissue that first charted on the Billboard Christmas charts that year.  I find it hard to believe the original album did not chart in 1959.

The LP was first issued on CD in 1989.  That release restored the original album cover, and all original 12 tracks, plus one bonus track.  The album has been reissued many times on CD as well.  Depending on when you bought it, will determine what cover you get and how many bonus tracks you get.

I have mixed feelings about my copy.  Mine is a European release, dating to 2007, and comes with 6 bonus tracks, the most of any of the reissues.  But, the cover is not original.  Collectors’ Choice Music released a CD reissue in the US in 2005 with the original cover, the original tracks and 4 bonus tracks.  Less than what I have now, but I don’t have the original cover.  I always try to get the CD reissue that has the original cover, unless it’s a CD-R.  I try to avoid those.  But the 4 bonus tracks on the Collectors’ Choice Music release in 2005 are NOT Christmas songs.  Unfortunately, out of the 6 bonus tracks on this CD, only one is a Christmas song.  None of the bonus tracks on this CD reissue are the same as any of the bonus tracks on the Collectors’ Choice Music release from 2005.  And, after looking over all the CD reissues throughout the years, the CD here has the most songs, even though only one bonus track is a Christmas song.  In hindsight, I’d rather have a CD reissue with the original cover, even if it has only one bonus track, which happens to be a Christmas song.  Song for song, I would still have just as many Christmas songs, and I would have the original cover.  Capitol Records released a CD just as I described starting in 1989.  If you’re like me with your Christmas music, that is the one you want to look for.

Dean Martin should be well known to everyone, but a little refresher is always helpful.  Born in Steubenville, Ohio in 1917, Dean Martin was the first-generation Italian American on his father’s side of the family.  His mother was a first-generation Italian American as well.  By all accounts, Dean Martin grew up in a middle-class household.

While bouncing around in odd jobs as a teenager, Dean Martin would also sing in local clubs.  He would leave one band for another, and in three years, would leave for yet another.  By the mid 1940’s, Dean Martin was working as a band singer in New York City.

It was in 1946 that he met the comedian Jerry Lewis, and oddly enough, they became a very successful comedy team.  Jerry Lewis would do his regular easily excited juvenile bit while Dean would sing.  The constant interruptions between the two proved very successful.  They made many movies together and appeared in New York nightclubs to sold out audiences.

The team broke up in 1956, and each went their separate ways.  Dean Martin continued to perform in nightclubs, appear in movies, and release albums.  His association with Frank Sinatra led to great opportunities.  By the late 1950s, Frank, Dean, Sammy Davis, Jr., Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop were inseparable.  Affectionately known as the “Rat Pack”, they were known to be a party just amongst themselves.  Their Hollywood / Las Vegas antics are legendary.

Dean Martin’s star continued to rise.  By the mid-1960s, he had a film franchise appearing as Matt Helm in a number of movies.  He had his own highly successful variety show on NBC until 1974.  After that, Dean Martin did about 4 celebrity roasts a year for NBC TV for a number of years.

Dean Martin had built a reputation as an all-around fun guy.  Sassy, quick witted, and appearing intoxicated most of the time, became his persona.  In truth, Dean was a dedicated family man and enjoyed going home to his wife and children every night.

Having been a lifelong smoker, Dean Martin was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1993 and passed away on Christmas Day, 1995.

On to the review.  Although the album title remained the same, the cover artwork is completely different.  The CD reissue shows a picture of Dean Martin dressed in a tuxedo on the left-hand side.  His image is superimposed against a red background.  The right side of the front cover has his name in large red letters and the CD title, “A Winter Romance”, in smaller green letters below his name.  Hand drawn Christmas ornaments decorate the area.  A few songs included on the CD are listed near the bottom.  All the graphics on the right-hand side are superimposed against a white background.

The back of the CD is mostly a numerical track listing.  The track numbers are in green, and the song titles are in red.  Some of the same hand drawn Christmas ornaments from the front cover are duplicated on the back.  All is featured against a white background.

The CD cover comes out and opens as a stapled, six-page booklet.  The first and third pages display Dean’s name in bold letters against green and red backgrounds, respectively.  The second and fourth pages feature a numerical track listing that includes writer and publishing credits.  More hand drawn Christmas ornaments decorate all the pages.  The fifth page is just red and gold bold stripes with little white sparkles.  The sixth page shows a smiling Dean Martin in a white shirt, gold tie and a festive red sweater vest.  There are microphone stands behind and the setting looks to be in a recording studio.

The back of the CD cover is gold with white sparkles.  No wording exists except for typical copywrite notices at the bottom.

All the songs from the original album are present, but the songs are in a different track order than what’s found on the original album.  Half of the songs on the original album, aren’t really Christmas songs, they are more ‘Winter’ songs.  Even a lot of the Christmas songs are more Winter songs than true Christmas songs, although they are familiar Christmas songs.

Out of the six bonus tracks, only The Christmas Blues, released as a single in 1953, is a Christmas song.  (For this review, I will not mention anything about the quality of the non-Christmas bonus tracks other than to say that even though they are not Christmas songs, they are great Dean Martin songs).

All the songs’ arrangements on the original album were conducted by Gus Levene as well as the chorus.  Three of the bonus tracks were conducted by Dick Stabile, one is conducted by Walter Scharf, one conducted by Frank Sinatra, and one conducted by Gus Levene, the orchestra leader of the original album.  Three of the bonus tracks precede this album in 1959.

Out of the six true Christmas songs from the original album, all are familiar secular Christmas songs from the 20^th century.  All are on the romantic side of Christmas except Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer.  Songs such as Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!, Winter Wonderland, Baby, It’s Cold Outside, I’ve Got My Love To Keep Me Warm and White Christmas remind us that Christmas is always more fun when two people are involved.

The ‘Winter’ songs are great Dean Martin songs.  The CD title, A Winter Romance, and June In January, The Things We Did Last Summer, Canadian Sunset, It Won’t Cool Off and Out In The Cold Again were all recorded in 1959 along with all the other Christmas songs.

The one bonus track that is a Christmas song is The Christmas Blues.  It features Dean pleading the lyrics of a bluesy Christmas song.  The arrangement combines Jazz elements in the brass section as the rest of the arrangement consists of lush strings.  This song was recorded in 1953.

Another bonus track, Brahms’ Lullaby, shows up on many other Christmas compilations.  This solemn track from 1959 features a lush string section conducted by Frank Sinatra, who had already recorded and released the song in 1945.

The great news with this CD is that all 6 ‘true’ Christmas songs are terrific Christmas songs, and all appear in my Top 500 Christmas Recordings.  The orchestrations are traditional; lush string arrangements paired with seasonal brass and reed instruments.  All are very familiar Christmas songs still heard every year.  Dean Martin was one of the best Christmas crooners of all time.

The not-so-great news with this CD, and the original album, is that half the songs are not Christmas songs.  This was the first Christmas effort for Dean Martin.  As great as the Christmas songs are, this album did not chart until 1965 under the title Holiday Cheer.

So, out of the 18 songs, only seven are Christmas songs.  That means 11 are not.  That’s a high percentage and makes it difficult to say this is a great Christmas CD.  Dean Martin is a great singer of Christmas songs and released another Christmas album in 1966 and there was only one out of 10 that wasn’t a Christmas song on that one.

Altogether, Dean Martin recorded around 16 Christmas songs.  Almost half are on this CD.  It would probably take a couple of CDs to get all of Dean Martin’s Christmas output since most Christmas compilation CDs still only have 10 or 12 songs on them.  Most Dean Martin Christmas compilation CDs contain many of the ‘Winter’ songs that are featured here.

Overall, we got the first Dean Martin Christmas album with 6 bonus tracks.  That’s pretty good in itself.  The other Dean Martin compilation CD I have is titled Making Spirits Bright, and with that, yes, I now have all of Dean Martin’s Christmas output.  (Look for a review of that CD sometime in this blog’s future).

I give this CD :

***