A great joy for established Dean Martin fans

This 3 CD Dean Martin box set from the UK features a grand total of 84 great Dino performances, running more than three and a half hours in total. This collection holds a greater appeal to established Dino fans than to newcomers or the curious, though. Two of the CDs are made up of old recordings mastered from old radio transcriptions. The 31 ballads of Some Enchanted Evening and the 30 varied tracks of Everybody Loves Somebody are all wonderful, but they lack the fullness of sound to be found on later Dean Martin recordings. They also, with the exception of the classic song Everybody Loves Somebody, can not boast of any of Dino's most popular and familiar recordings. Many of these songs may well be unfamiliar and new to Dino fans, however; I for one had never heard the vast majority of recordings available here, making this box set something of a thrill to my Dino-loving ears.

The third CD is the true gem of this collection, though. This amazing live album gives us Dean Martin at his most entertaining best. The date is February 8, 1964, and the setting is the immortal Sands Hotel in Las Vegas. Those looking for the world's greatest crooner's delivery of impeccably romantic love songs should look elsewhere, though, as this performance lives up to its subtitle: An Evening of Music, Laughter and Hard Liquor. Dean is in full character as the fun-loving, alcohol-consuming entertainer he portrayed so well, and there is probably more comedy than singing over the course of this 58+ minute performance. I believe only On a Slow Boat to China is sung without some kind of interruption or comedic break, and most of the songs feature Dino's own reshaping of the lyrics. After quasi-serious renditions of Memories Are Made of This and That's Amore, Dino launches into a monologue of almost seven minutes. The man is absolutely hilarious; he had me laughing heartily nonstop and the live audience rolling in the aisles. A lot of give-and-take with the band appears in Dino's cover of Bing Crosby's June in January, then after a terrific delivery of the song You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby, Dean goes back to pure comedy. More Laughs With Dean features another six and half minute monologue. From there, we get a most extraordinary medley of "throw-away" comedy songs, as Dean gives his own special twist to some old, familiar songs. The Pretty Songs medley that follows is less than serious in and of itself, as is the medley of Dean's classic Volare and On An Evening in Roma. This is followed by almost ten minutes of hilarious dialogue, after which Dean wraps up the show with his closing theme of Mr. Wonderful. Rarely have I laughed so much and enjoyed a performance so completely as I did this historic recording of Dean Martin Live From the Sands.

One out of three is worth the price.

I bought this CD collection because I'm a fan of Frank, Dean, and Sammy (always remember that Frank's name ALWAYS comes first), especially the various editions of their live performances. It has, in its midst, one recording of a 60s-vintage show at the Summit's favored hangout, the Sands Hotel. Dean takes center stage in this solo outing and, pallie, it's a gas. The humorous theme for the evening -- okay, for any evening with Mr. Martin -- is alcohol. The coolness of it, the effect of it, his familiarity with it, the lack of memory after it. He also jokes about his wife and family, his friend Frank, and smoking, sex, and other subjects. It makes no matter if you do or don't remember all the TV shows, movies, and stage acts he did, because you'll laugh the whole way through and love it. I haven't even listened to the other CDs in the collection yet because I don't want to take this one out of my disk player. It's worth every penny I paid for it. Oh, by the way, Dean sings, too, and it ain't bad either, baby.

THE Worst Dino cd I EVER Bought !

I bought this at a Sam Goody at the mall and I was appalled that they would release [material] like this. The sound quality is attrocious (I have RECORDS with better sound) The song selection was poor and it was sloppily put together. The artwork is not any better than the sound either. I listened to it and most of the tracks you can find much better versions of elsewhere. I am a huge Dean Martin fan but the only semblance this had to the Dino I love is the name. Most of the time it doesn't even sound like him. It's not the worst cd i ever bought but but the worst cd i've bought with Dean Martin's name on the cover. There's a reason it's cheap. I gave it two stars because it could have been worse but not by much. Also anything with Dino's name on it deserves at least two stars, no matter how bad.