__NOTOC__ ''The Hit Sound of Dean Martin'' is a 1966 studio album by Dean Martin arranged by

Ernie Freeman Ernest Aaron Freeman (August 16, 1922 – May 16, 1981) was an American pianist, organist, bandleader, and arranger. He was responsible for arranging many successful rhythm and blues and pop records from the 1950s to the 1970s. Birth and fam ...

and

Billy Strange William Everett Strange (September 29, 1930 – February 22, 2012) was an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and an actor. He was a session musician with the famed Wrecking Crew, and was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame and M ...

. This was the third of five albums that Martin released in 1966, that year he also starred in three films and appeared in his own television show. ''The Hit Sound of Dean Martin'' peaked at 50 on the ''Billboard'' 200, and was still on the charts in the second week of February 1967. In contrast to the chart performance of his recent LP's, ''The Hit Sound of Dean Martin'' marked a waning in his chart popularity as it only became his first LP since 1964's ''Everybody Loves Somebody'' not to go gold. The album combines newly recorded material with previously issued singles and

B side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record company ...

s. The album featured Martin's singles " Come Running Back" and " A Million and One", respectively Top 40 pop and Top Five easy listening hits, with six newly recorded songs. "Shades" by

Lee Hazlewood Barton Lee Hazlewood (July 9, 1929 – August 4, 2007) was an American country and pop singer, songwriter, and record producer, most widely known for his work with guitarist Duane Eddy during the late 1950s and singer Nancy Sinatra in the 1960 ...

that appears on the album had previously been issued as the B side to "A Million and One". Two tracks, "Any Time" and "Ain't Gonna Try Anymore," from this album had been released originally on Martin's 1963 album '' Dean "Tex" Martin: Country Style''. The song "Any Time" was appearing for the third time on an LP by Martin, having also featured on his album ''

Somewhere There's a Someone __NOTOC__ ''Somewhere There's a Someone'' is a 1966 studio album by Dean Martin, produced by Jimmy Bowen. This was the first of five albums that Martin released in 1966, that year he also starred in three films, and appeared in his own televi ...

'', released earlier in 1966. ''The Hit Sound of Dean Martin'' was reissued on CD by Hip-O Records in 2009.

Reception

William Ruhlmann on

Allmusic.com AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

gave the album two and a half stars out of five. Ruhlmann commented on Martin's country music style writing that "The new songs, as usual arranged in a style that would define them as country music if they had been recorded in Nashville by a singer with more of a twang in his voice, were no great shakes".

Track listing

Side One: # " A Million and One" (Yvonne DeVaney) – 2:56 # "Don't Let the Blues Make You Bad" ( Billy Mize) – 2:05 # " Any Time" (Herbert "Happy" Lawson) – 2:20 # "One Lonely Boy" (

Baker Knight Thomas Baker Knight Jr. (July 4, 1933 – October 12, 2005) was an American songwriter and musician. His best known compositions were "Lonesome Town", "The Wonder of You", and " Don't the Girls All Get Prettier at Closing Time". His songs have ...

) – 2:22 # "I'm Living in Two Worlds" (

Jan Crutchfield Jan Crutchfield (February 26, 1938 – October 30, 2012) was an American country music singer and songwriter. He is best known for writing "Statue of a Fool", which was first recorded in 1969 by Jack Greene and was a No. 1 hit on the Hot Count ...

) – 2:38 # " Come Running Back" (

Dick Glasser Richard Eugene Glasser (December 8, 1933 – July 10, 2000) was a singer, songwriter, and record producer. Biography Glasser was born in Canton, Ohio, the third of eleven children and the oldest of five boys: subsequent to graduating Minerv ...

) – 2:07 Side Two: # "Shades" (

) – 2:21 # "Today Is Not the Day" (Mary Taylor) – 2:01 # "Terrible, Tangled Web" (Mize) – 2:09 # " Nobody But a Fool (Would Love You)" ( Bill Anderson) – 2:11 # "Ain't Gonna Try Anymore" ( Clint Ballard) – 2:18

Personnel

* Dean Martin – vocals *

– arranger *

– conductor *

Ed Thrasher Edward Lee Thrasher Jr. (March 7, 1932 – August 5, 2006), known as Ed Thrasher, was an American art director and photographer. He was the recipient of numerous Grammy Award nominations for his work on album covers and won a Grammy for Best Album ...

– art direction * Eddie Brackett –

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the limit ...

Jimmy Bowen James Albert Bowen (born November 30, 1937) is an American record producer and former rockabilly singer. Bowen brought Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood together, and introduced Sinatra to Mel Tillis for their album, ''Mel & Nancy.'' Early life ...

– producer

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hit Sound of Dean Martin, The 1966 albums Dean Martin albums Albums arranged by Ernie Freeman Albums arranged by Billy Strange Albums produced by Jimmy Bowen Reprise Records albums