Great sequel to earlier volume

Dean Martin had two separate hit-making periods - in the fifties with Capitol and in the sixties with Reprise. The early sixties were not successful in the charts, although Dean continued to record albums and was also kept busy in other ways. You would normally have to buy his Capitol and Reprise recordings separately. This is the second British CD spanning both.

Many of the songs that are associated with Dean are to be found on the first volume, so if you are thinking of buying this, you should either own that already or buy the two together. There are many excellent songs here, but it makes no sense to buy this except as a companion to the first.

Standing on the corner and Send me the pillow that you dream on are two songs that perhaps ought to have been included on the first volume - when that was released there was no certainty of a sequel - but their appearance here demonstrates the strength in depth of Dean's musical legacy.

This set shows the wide range of songs that Dean recorded, including Latin, French, Italian and country songs - all adapted to Dean's easy-going style. On an evening in Roma, another song that might have been on the first volume, opens proceedings and shows Dean's Italian roots.

Dean was well capable of putting his own identity on classic songs from a variety of sources, including You belong to me (Jo Stafford), On the street where you live (Vic Damone), Baby its cold outside (Margaret Whiting), Mambo Italiano (Rosemary Clooney), King of the road (Roger Miller) and I take a lot of pride in what I am (Merle Haggard).

This is an outstanding collection of Dean's music and makes a great companion to the first volume, which I've already reviewed.