Dean Martin- Everybody Loves Somebody & Dean Martin Hits Again

There's something about Dean Martin singing that I find very relaxing...I guess he didn't sweat the small stuff much... Anyways Dean Martin had recorded for Capitol Records and when Sinatra started his Reprise label he jumped ship like many other Sinatra friends (Sammy Davis, Nelson Riddle, Keely Smith, Rosemary Clooney,etc.).. From what I've read he also invested in the company.. Anyways, by 1964 the Rat Pack had probably lost a bit of its Kennedy Era glamour but Dean Martin still had a few tricks up his sleeve like the monster hit single "Everybody Loves Somebody" which in August 1964 took over the top spot on the pop charts from none other than the Beatles "Hard Day's Night"! Prior to this Dean had recorded a couple of great albums that had not sold particularly well although they sure sound great (proof they didn't sell much is the fact that you never find them in the bins while the stuff pictured here is a dime a dozen)... I'm thinking of albums that featured Dean singing country songs or french songs or of course italian songs.. ANyways by this point in 1964 I think Dean hadn't experienced much in the way of hits but that changed with Everybody Loves Somebody which was actually a re-recording of a song he'd originally cut for Capitol Records.. I suppose also that Jimmy Bowen the producer had something to do with developing a sound for Dean that worked on the charts.. After this hit single Dean recorded incredibly prolifically. He cut almost 20 records in the next five years! And you can tell listening to these albums just how relaxed, loose and comfortable these recording sessions were! Legend has it Dean would come in record a few songs and head to the golf course and the entire album would basically be completed in a weekend! Easy-going is what comes to mind when I think of Dean.. I've read many descriptions of him as the King of Cool but I tend to think of him more as easygoing... Shortly after he hit with Everybody Loves Somebody this album was released probably culled together from a few singles etc to capitalize on the situation (on Reprise R-6130) and it charted all the way at number 2 on the album chart... Then a few months later (following another release sandwiched in between and released November 1964) Dean Martin came back with "Dean Martin Hits Again" on Reprise 6146 which featured another hit in a very similar vein to "Everybody Loves Somebody", "You're Nobody 'Til Somebody Loves You", released February 1965 and which charted at number 13..I mean this was how quickly Dean was cutting albums! By this point producer Jimmy Bowen had found a formula for producing and framing Dean's voice working with Ernie Freeman as arranger/conductor..the formula is described by William Ruhlmann of the All Music Guide as "employing a 4/4 beat, piano triplets, female backup vocals, and swooping string effects to the songs."...Dean would release another three albums in 65 and another FIVE in 1966..Most critics nowadays tend to be fairly dismissive of the albums but to my ears they hold up.. They're not too ambitious and yes they are fairly similar but its a good formula for Dean Martin and helped him lengthen his career until the early 1970s no small feat for someone that had begun performing in the 1940s! I found these two LPs for the taking in front of a record store. Free/Free