Ratpack-Vegas to St. Louis

The Rat Pack | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 8, 2002)
• Original Release Date: 1963
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Musicrama/Koch
• ASIN: B0000DEOBD
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #506,561 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Dean's Vegas Melody

2. Monologue

3. June in January

4. Via Veneto

5. Volare

6. On an Evening in Roma (Sott'er Celo de Roma)

7. I Only Have Eyes for You

8. My Heart Stood Still

9. Please Be Kind

10. Monologue

See all 22 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Johnny Carson Introduces Dean Martin

2. Send Me the Pillow You Dream On

3. King of the Road

4. Everybody Loves Somebody

5. Medley: Volare/On an Evening With Roma

6. Johnny Carson Introduces Sammy Davis Jr.

7. My Shining Hour

8. Monologue

9. Who Can I Turn To (When Nobody Needs Me)

10. Medley: I've Got You Under My Skin/You Are My Sunshine

See all 23 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Hit And Miss Collection, December 9, 2002

By 

"[e-mail]" - See all my reviews

Here we have a neatly packaged time capsule the 'Rat Pack' at their best - two live performances from the early 60s when Frank, Dino and Sammy were at the peak of their popularity. The first disc is from The Sands Hotel in Las Vegas on the 6th September, 1963; the second disc is from The Kiel Opera House in St. Louis on the 20th June, 1965.

The first concert is the miss. Basically, there is an official, remastered version of the following night's performance (7th September) available from Capitol ("The Rat Pack Live At The Sands", 2001) that is infinitely preferable - there is better sound, Frank Sinatra performs ""I Have Dreamed", which he doesn't do here, while the jokes and running order are 90% the same on both nights. But there is one major difference between the two recordings:

"Ratpack: From Vegas To St Louis" inexplicably (and cleverly, so you can hardly tell the split) fades away from the 1963 show and REPLACES Sammy Davis, Jr.'s "The Lady Is A Tramp" with a performance of him doing the same song at the Sydney Opera House in, wait for it, 1977!!! It then fades back as if nothing is out of the ordinary, with no notes in the liner. Quite frankly, it is outrageous; but at this price you get what you pay for!

However, the 1965 St. Louis performance CD is worth the price of the 2CDs alone! We hear Dean Martin, Davis and Sinatra backed by Count Basie and the Count Basie Band, and the performances are sensational. TV legend Johnny Carson does the introductions - and even sings a verse of "The Birth Of The Blues" at the end!! The highlight: a very long 'Rat Pack Monologue' which basically consists of the four of them clowning around for over 10 minutes - and you won't get that on any Vegas or Villa Venice Rat Pack CD.

So, the bottom line: get this CD - then, unless you're a completist, throw away disc one and buy the Capitol release as well.