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Dean Martin, “Sleep Warm,” Capitol. (** 1/2)

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Martin had some hit singles for Capitol in the ‘50s, including “Memories Are Made of This,” but he had trouble finding a large album audience. So, Frank Sinatra--in an apparent effort to convince some of his huge audience to take a chance on his buddy Dean’s LPs--conducted the orchestra on this collection of dreamy ballads, which were arranged by Pete King.

The danger in the teaming of two pals was that they might have ended up taking the whole thing too casually in the studio, but Martin turns in some of his most convincing vocals, focusing on the lyrics of such songs as Johnny Mercer’s classic “Dream” rather than simply the sing-along vibe that seems to be the aim of so many of his records. For the Capitol hits, try the just-released “That’s Amore: The Best of Dean Martin.”

*

Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent).

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