Dean Martin left us with a musical legacy more than twice the size of the average pop singer's entire repertoire! Martin, a superlative crooner, made women swoon and the men loved his great voice, too. This CD gives us the reasons why Dean Martin was so successful.

This is a "two-fer" CD; this means that you get the entire track set from two record albums on a single CD. This provides us with value and an excellent look into Dino's ability to express all the emotions of love from the two great cultures associated so often with romance: French and Latin. The first twelve tracks are from the record album entitled French Style and the remaining ten tracks are from the record album entitled Dino Latino. You are sure to love this!

The CD starts off with a wonder selection of classic French love songs: "C'est Si Bon" features Dean Martin crooning to perfection with a terrific musical arrangement that uses the strings section so well. The chorus backs him up without a single superfluous note. Other equally wonderful gems and treats include "April In Paris;" "La Vie En Rose" and "The Last Time I Saw Paris." Excellent!

"I Love Paris" concludes the French track set; Dean sings this song with great sensitivity and the musical arrangement with its chimes absolutely glows!

The Latin track set follows immediately; even though it's not politically correct I love the playful song entitled "Mañana." Although some Hispanic people didn't care for the song, it was written by Peggy Lee and her husband Dave Barbour because they envied the relaxed pace of the people who lived in Latin American countries. Another classic pop vocal from the Latin world would have to be "Tangerine;" this song features a lovely Latin beat and the musical arrangement makes great use of the percussion. I love Dino's vocals on this song! He never misses a beat.

"South Of The Border" honors the wonderful lifestyle and romance enjoyed by the Latin people in Mexico and other Latin American countries; and "What A Difference A Day Made" gets the royal treatment with great use of the drums and orchestra to complement Dino's fantastic rendition of this ballad.

The album concludes with the classic "Bésame Mucho" and "La Paloma." Dean Martin delivers both songs with panache, care and sensitivity that few singers could ever hope to achieve. Thanks, Dino!

The liner notes give you terrific reproductions of the cover art for both record albums that are on this CD with the original commentaries. The cover art works well, too.

Overall, Dean Martin remains one of the best singers America even produced and his work inspired younger artists to this day. The quality of the sound on this CD leaves nothing to be desired--it's THAT good. I highly recommend this CD for fans of Dean Martin and people who enjoy classic pop vocals will also enjoy this CD very much.

These are two great albums by the incredible Dean Martin. What I love about "The Dean" is the color and shading in his voice that is also so evident on these records which also seem to create a unique mood (French or Latin American). Dean's rendition of "Gigi" is a favorite of mine: very delicate and warm. After these recordings came out in the early 1960s, Dean switched exclusively to producer Jimmy Bowen who, although good, seemed to keep Dean recording in a certain style for the rest of his career. It would have been interesting if Dean had done like his friend Frank Sinatra and branched out more with a variety of producers and arrangers.

I LOVE THIS CD...the only observation I would make here is that if this album was produce by CAPITOL RECORDS, the sound quality would have been better I think. The Reprise style of recording sounded a bit artificial to me. Anyway, it's still a great Dino album....I suppose the owner Frank Sinatra wasn't into the "technicality of sound" or sound quality when he and Dean were recording their songs at Reprise;nevertheless, their names and voices alone were great enough at Reprise. - John, Southern California.

Dino in this international repertoire feels like a fish in water. These French and Latin hits (among them my favorite: The Poor People of Paris, I Love Paris, Always In My Mind, What a Diff'rence a Day Made and classic Magic Is The Moonlight/Te Quiero, Dijiste) are immortal, and performed by Dino taste like an old wine. Collectors' Choice Music (EMI-Capitol Music Special Markets) delivers full, natural sound (with well balanced proportion between vocal and orchestra) that beats the CEDAR & Sonic Solutions Technology applied for remastering of another couple of Dino's international LPs (issued as EMI100 CD: Italian Love Songs/Cha Cha de Amor; see my review). Contrary to the CD mentioned above the current set contains 22 CORRECTLY numbered tracks (French Style:1-12, and Dino Latino:13-22).
What's interesting, Dino Latino contains only 10 (not 12, as usual) tracks. Two great Latin hits: Amor and Quien Sera (Sway) remain out of this collection :(

This is a really nice cd. The songs are fun and romantic. Dean Martin had such an incredible voice. Perfect music to play for a warm sunny afternoon on the veranda sipping wine with a beautiful lady!!!