Dean Martin – Memories Are Made Of This

(aka Singing At His Best)

 

Picture: C+     Sound: C+     Extras: D     Selection: B-

 

 

There are already several DVDs of Dean Martin’s music on the market, so popular is the iconic crooner.  Passport has some of the more interesting, obscure early TV footage on Memories Are Made Of This (aka Singing At His Best), which collects seventeen music numbers from various early TV appearances.  They may be on videotape, kinescope, or (when we are lucky) actually motion picture film, but it also happens to be some of the best on camera vocal performances he ever made.

 

The only problem with the content is that it is simply too short, running only 50 minutes.  The tracks include:

 

1)     Memories Are Made Of This

2)     Almost Like Being In Love

3)     If You Were The Only Girl

4)     You Made Me Love You

5)     When You’re Smilin’

6)     One For My Baby & One More For The Road

7)     Oh Marie, Oh Marie

8)     Too Young

9)     The Isle Of Capri

10)  I’m Gonna Sit Right Down & Write Myself A Letter

11)  There Goes My Heart

12)  Louise

13)  Love Me With All Of Your Heart

14)  I Don’t Care If The Sun Don’t Shine

15)  It’s Easy To Remember

16)  I Wonder Who’s Kissing Her Now

17)  Would I Love You

18)  Dino’s Theme

 

That last track is an instrumental meant to enhance the brief facts that are laid in between each song, which is even an admission that they needed to find more material, yet there is always the possibility that few stand-alone segments were available or have survived.  Those are not bad, but it is the music and showmanship that make this set very rewatchable.  Martin may be lost on new generations, but the personality and subtle joy in which he indulged his exceptional vocal gifts was groundbreaking in its time and has been rarely equaled since.  This is some of the best evidence of that.

 

The full frame image varies in quality between the videotape, kinescope, and film footage, but looks decent for what the sources respectively are.  Though many of the songs were recorded in stereo and still exist that way, many are actually live recordings here in their original TV sound.  All are in Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono.  There are no extras.

 

Fans will want to get this immediately, but others should also consider seeing just how good these selections actually are.  Those who are still waiting for Martin Scorsese’s long-delayed Dino film (on hold until they can find the angle of the screenplay) will get an idea of the wealth of material Scorsese and his great team of regulars will have to pull from.  Memories Are Made Of This is a pleasant surprise.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo