Dean Martin – Dino Latino (1962/2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/96 kHz | Time – 25:08 minutes | 525 MB | Genre: Pop
Studio Master, Official Digital Download – Source: Qobuz | Front Cover | © Legacy Recordings
Dino Latino is an album by Dean Martin. Recorded during August 1962, the album is a collection of Latin standards and popular songs composed in the same vein. While the first side of the record features five uptempo songs (among them are “Mañana” (popularized by Peggy Lee) and “South of the Border”, which he later re-recorded for the soundtrack of The Silencers), Side 2 consists of five ballads. All songs on the album were arranged and conducted by Don Costa, except for the closing track, “La Paloma”, which is credited to Chuck Sagle.
In 1962, Capitol Records, Dean Martin’s former record label, and Reprise Records, his new one, were engaged in battle as the former issued his final recordings for it and the latter put out just-recorded material. (The skirmish was a sideshow to the larger war between the two companies over Frank Sinatra, who had founded Reprise even before completing his Capitol contract.) In the LP racks, Capitol struck first with Dino! Italian Love Songs in February, and the album became the singer’s first to figure in the best-seller charts. Reprise followed with French Style in April. Cha-Cha De Amor, the last album Martin recorded for Capitol, appeared in early November, and three weeks later Reprise responded with Dino Latino. The two labels seemed intent on emphasizing Martin’s international appeal with these releases, and having gone to Italy and France, musically speaking, already, Martin had little trouble extending his tour to the Spanish-speaking countries here. Arranger/conductor Don Costa came up with five string arrangements and five brass ones, varying the album’s tones from the playful “In a Little Spanish Town,” with its lively Don Fagerquist trumpet solo, to the lush charms of “What a Diff’rence a Day Made.” Martin sang convincingly in Spanish here and there, never seeming to work hard for his effects. The glut of releases from the two labels doesn’t seem to have hurt his sales as it did Sinatra’s; Dino Latino became his first Reprise album to reach the charts. ~~ AllMusic Review by William Ruhlmann
Tracklist:
1. (All En) El Rancho Grande 02:16
2. Mañana (Is Soon Enough for Me) 02:30
3. Tangerine 02:03
4. South of the Border 01:49
5. In a Little Spanish Town 02:31
6. What a Diff’rence a Day Made 02:43
7. Magic Is the Moonlight 02:36
8. Always in My Heart 02:42
9. Bésame Mucho 02:25
10. La Paloma 03:03
Personnel:
Dean Martin – vocals
Don Costa, arranger, conductor
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