Customer Reviews

Italian Love Songs / Cha Cha De Amor

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I play this CD all the time and I can't get enough of Dino and his wonderful voice. Each song is done so beautifully and the arrangements are excellent. I would recommend this CD for those who like Dean's slow smooth sounds and also some songs have the latin beat, which gives off the romantic aura when you sit back and just listen. You'll love it!

all the tracks sound great even though they were remastered using vinyl sources. However, one still wonders how much different or better if they were remastered with the original studio tape recordings. Nevertheless, i recommend it 200%. All the songs are great!!! Truly, vintage Dean!!!

We have the ol' reel-to-reel tape of this CD. But this CD sounded a little bit better though. Nonetheless, this CD is wonderfully arranged, and, of course, you have a wonderfully handsome singer to sing it to you. You can go for hours without getting tired of listening to the songs coz it's so good! By the way, I also recommend Dean's "Hurtin' Country Songs".....singin'... "make the world go away".....

Forget everything you've heard about this compliation being remastered from the vinyl and not the tapes. It may be true, but Dean has never sounded more beautiful. Do NOT pass this up. When my mom saw that I had "Italian Love Songs" on cd she immediately broke our into an off key version of "Pardon (Perdoname)." Only Dean can make the women swoon like this.

If you are Dino fan like I am, then you have to place "Italian Love Songs" among his best. The mood of the album is exquisite and infectious. No wonder this was his best selling Capital album. The performance that the producers of his Capital albums were able to get out of Dino was a step above those of his Reprise albums. In this particular case, the right mix of instrumentation and Dino's voice creates an absolutely incredible experience for the listener. This is one album I would take if stranded on the perverbial deserted island. Let yourself relax sometime, put on this album and just take it all in. If you really listen to the nuances of this album, you can't help but feel it's one of his best (if not one of the best all time crooner albums). My wife and I fell in love to this album and we still play it during our anniversary trips to our honeymoon spot. I am sad that the only Reprise album that even comes close to this one is Dream with Dean (another of my Dino favorites of course). If you are a Dino fan or just a true romantic at heart, then this album is for you. Oh and in case you thought I forgot, Cha Cha D'Amor is a fun listen also. Thanks for reading!

I feel it's only fair to warn everyone that this CD is mastered from vinyl albums, not the tape masters! I will admit that they did a decent job of it, and the material itself is great (especially the cha-cha half), but come on -- surely the tape for these songs exists. Capitol should be ashamed...

Dean Martin could sell a song without even trying--his voice was THAT good. This twofer CD gives us all the tracks from two of Dino's record albums entitled Italian Love Songs and Cha Cha de Amor, his last record album recorded for Capitol Records. All throughout this album, Dean's voice is rich, energetic and full of masculine warmth; and the quality of the sound is excellent.

The CD track set begins with "Just Say I Love Her (Dicitencello Vuie);" this beautiful love ballad gets the royal treatment from Dean Martin. He sings this to perfection with great sensitivity; what a wonderful way to start off the CD!

The classic "Arrivederci, Roma" follows; and Dean performs this without a superfluous note. The musical arrangement is quite lush with good use of the strings; the chorus doesn't quite do it for me but the rest of this ballad is so flawless my feelings about the chorus fade into the background.

Other wonderful tracks on this CD include "My Heart Reminds Me" which was recorded by Della Reese in 1957; but Dino breathes so much fresh life into this ballad he truly makes "My Heart Reminds Me" completely his own. The musical arrangement enhances the beauty of this number. We also get Dean's impeccable renditions of "Non Dimenticar" and "Return to Me;" Dean's voice and the musical arrangement complement each other completely. There's also the charming "On An Evening In Roma (Sott'er Celo De Roma);" Dean's voice remains strong and sensitive but the musical arrangement should have been played a little more softly to play up Dean's voice. This, however, is a minor disappointment.

In addition, you get "There's No Tomorrow (O Sole Mio)" which has been recorded by so many artists. Dean Martin, however, gives us the definitive interpretation of this classic ballad. Excellent!

We then get the songs from Cha Cha de Amor. While this may not be Dean Martin's strongest album; he's still in great form and Nelson Riddle deserves much credit for the fine arrangements of these songs.

"Somebody Loves You" sports that classic early `60s and late `50s Latin cha cha beat with a fine musical intro; and when Dean comes in this number takes off like a jet! What a loss this was for Capitol Records when Dean left to go to Reprise Records after this album was recorded! "My One and Only Love" makes good use of the guitar; the music fits in perfectly with Dean's vocals and he handles this like the pro he always was. "My One and Only Love" is truly a major highlight of this album. "Love (Your Spell is Everywhere)" is amazing; and so is "I Wish You Love." "I Wish You Love" is a very classic love song that could never go out of style; I really like Dean's Latin-style rendition of "I Wish You Love."

"Cha, Cha, Cha, D'Amour" makes good use of the percussion and the brass sections; and Dean uses his excellent sense of timing to make this number stand out from the others. Dean sings this very well and it's great music for dancing with your sweetheart even in our times. "I Love You Much Too Much" features Dean squarely front and center--right where he always belonged! "I Love You Much Too Much" has a lush musical arrangement but this time it doesn't drown out Dean; and that's grand.

"(I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons" is a tune Dean Martin aces as easily as if he were breathing; and this reflects just how talented he was. I could never do this! "(I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons" is another huge hit on this album; and listen for "Two Loves Have I." "Two Loves Have I" has Dean swinging gently with that classic Latin beat and the maracas sound just right on this number.

Dean Martin fans would do well to add this twofer CD to their collections unless they have the individual CDs already; and even newcomers just discovering Dean's artistry will be enchanted with these songs. I highly recommend this CD.

I can understand what "Mr. Tadeusz Z." was trying to tell us with his previous review...and he's technically correct here, that is if you're a very conscious listener. In other words, the sound is "stinging" and artificial. And so...I don't think Dean had it meant to sound this way when he recorded it back in 1961...and I don't think it naturally sounded this way in it's original form...BUT, with GREAT RESPECT for Dean, this album is still great.

What they should have done, in my opinion, was just to refurbish the NATURAL SOUND of the vinyl recordings instead of remastering it...this would probably make

the sound more natural and original. MY ULTIMATE SUGGESTION: BUY THE SEPARATE CD'S OF "DINO ITALIAN LOVE SONGS" AND "CHA CHA DE AMOR" WHICH WERE RELEASED JUST LAST YEAR. THEY ARE THE CLOSEST TO BEING THE MOST NATURAL IN SOUND QUALITY. Rating: 3 stars only because of the lack of originality and naturalness in sound. But, more than 5 stars because Dean is singing them. - John, Southern California.

A highly pleasurable set of Dean Martin's last Capitol efforts (both from 1962). The sound quality of this disc is exceptional. A solid collection for any Martin collection!

A very good collection of songs capturing the deep, melodic, textured voice of Dean Martin. The collection divided into the 2 respective sections-Italian songs and Cha Cha d'Amour shows its respective flavours. It was good easy listening songs to relax by, with a glass of wine and fire in a winter night. The background music and the orchestration of the entire CD is superb. There are the light and sunny numbers like "On an evening in Roma" and "Cha Cha d'Amor" which Dean handles them very well, singing smoothly, his range of vocals showing.
"Non Dimenticar" one of the favourite of Dean Martin songs was one of the loveiest song in the album. His well-known soothing voice never fails.
I have heard "I love you for sentimental reasons" sung by many singers, but this is the first time I heard it done in a Cha Cha fashion, and it sound good too.
"I wish you love"-Dean Martin has his own interpretation/style of singing for this song. I felt Nat King Cole sang this song better.
From the CD, 2 songs that I like tremendously, and this is the first time I heard them too. They are "If love is good to me" and "My one and only love".
A great CD to have in anyone's collection.