Dean Martin Live From Las Vegas CD

Personnel: Dean Martin (vocals).
An unreleased recording of Dean Martin live at the Sands hotel circa 1967 should have any fun-loving hipster's tail wagging, but tell him it's the late show and his head will explode. That's what's captured on this entry into Capitol's Las Vegas Centennial series, and as with other volumes, Dino's Live From Las Vegas has great packaging, fantastic liner notes, and superb sound. Now, the Sinatra, Bobby Darin, and other volumes in the series might represent how the artist could sound different and looser while playing to a live audience, but the difference between the in-studio Dino and live Dino is as drastic as it gets. Martin could nail a perfect reproduction of his recordings if he wanted to -- as he proves with a line here, a stanza there on this recording -- but that's just too dull for the man Frank dubbed "the Funny One." Throughout Live From Las Vegas, Martin seems to start each song with every intention of finishing it properly, but somehow he gets lost along the way. Words are twisted, innuendos are plentiful, and the usual Dino quips work their way into even the most precious of numbers, and while some of these quips show up on every Dino show ever documented, the man has the charm to deliver them as new. He's the most graceful stumbler imaginable and has a keen sense of when to let up and dip back into the music. Drunk-driving jokes, a devil-may-care attitude toward cheating, and other politically incorrect moments are of their time but not as shocking as expected, due in part to Martin's charm and the "Dino never cheated, never!" liner notes. One wishes Capitol's outside packaging would have pointed out Dino's live show/studio album difference a bit more, but only the most cold-hearted, humorless folk will be disappointed by this disc. Buy a best-of if you want faithful versions of the hits, but if you want to hear Martin hilariously demolish his evergreens, take a venomous jab at Jerry Lewis, and work a late-night crowd like nobody else can, Live From Las Vegas is highly recommended. ~ David Jeffries
As charming on the movie screen as he was on record or in a concert setting, Dean Martin personified the grace, cool, and devil-may-care aura of the Rat Pack. And there was no place Dino was more at home than in Las Vegas. LIVE FROM LAS VEGAS presents Martin performing at the Rat Pack's second home, the Sands, in 1967--a time when he, Sinatra, and their pals where still mighty figures but had begun to shine a bit less brightly for the fickle public's whims. So what if the Beatles were outselling him? It mattered little to Dino, as he prowled the stage comically in his drunk schtick (which was never more than an act), the consummate entertainer, delivering swinging hits such as "Everybody Loves Somebody" and "It Had to Be You" interspersed with the Italianate ballads that helped make his name ("Volare," "There's No Tomorrow") and the charismatic showman's endearing humorous patter and asides. At a time when the world was changing, Martin provided a last (and lasting) glimpse into what it had been, and now the rest of us can experience it too.

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