this celebration of Dean Martin...is even more luxurious and impressive than advance word indicated.

Hey pallies, likes I'm still waitin' for my special order of both the six disc set of the Dean Martin Show DVDs and the "Cool Then, Cool Now" Dino-pix-book and double CDs. Likes hopes it ain't gonna takes too much longer for the Wells Fargo wagon to brings 'em to me.

But likes while I wait, likes I am grateful to have come 'cross this most enjoyable review of "Cool Then, Cool Now" by a Mr. Jeff Simon of the "Listening Post" section of the on-line presence of "The Buffalo News." Simon sez it best when he pontificates 'bout this very very cool new Dino-treasure sayin', "So, yes, this is a tribute to the Martin the world will always prefer to remember."

This Simon obviously "gets Martin" and musta be a true Dino-devotee since he let's on how much he digs Tosches' Dino-bio. His nifty review simply makes me yearn all the more for my own Dino-copy of "Cool Then, Cool Now."

ilovedinomartin shares our Dino-appreciato for Mr. Jeff's kind Dino-thoughts and hopes it will sends tons of pallies out to the music stores to gets their own copy of what is certainly the premier of premier Dino-treasures. To view this in it's original format, just clicks on the tag of this Dino-post. Dino-yearnin', DMP





Dean Martin, “Cool Them, Cool Now” (Hip-O, Universal, two discs plus 62-page book). It turns out that this celebration of Dean Martin in honor of what would have been his 94th birthday last Tuesday from “the Dean Martin Estate” (i. e., the Martin family) is even more luxurious and impressive than advance word indicated. Kevin Spacey in his introduction to the book pays tribute to the “cool, effortless way he seemed to manage everything he took on” (which seems accurate) and also tells us, “Dean Martin understood that life was a banquet and he was a master chef” (which seems in complete opposition to everything we know about Martin’s troubled final years from Nick Tosches’ masterly biography “Dino: Living High in the Dirty Business of Dreams.”) Did we need Spacey “featured” on Martin’s great big band swinger “Ain’t That A Kick in the Head?” But it’s the beautifully reproduced black-and-white pictures from all aspects of Martin in the world that impress the most. With two discs of hits plus, the music here is, predictably, heavy on cool and light on the novelties that festoon the two-disc “Essential Dean Martin” from EMI. So, yes, this is a tribute to the Martin the world will always prefer to remember. Just as the family, no doubt, would want it. Three and a half stars. (Jeff Simon)