Capitol/EMI will release two collections of Dean Martin’s music on June 7, just in time for Father’s Day. A new title, “Classic Dino: The Best Of Dean Martin” gathers 14 classic tracks, and the Platinum-certified “Dino: The Essential Dean Martin” has been expanded from a single disc to a 2CD package featuring 36 of Martin’s top hits and signature songs.

The expanded edition of “Dino: The Essential Dean Martin” includes a previously unreleased studio version of “Rock-A-Bye Your Baby With A Dixie Melody.” Recorded by Martin on April 28, 1950, the master was presumed lost until it was recently unearthed in the Capitol vaults.

On the same date, Universal Music Enterprises (UMe) will release a new 60+ page hardcover book and musical collection titled “Cool Then, Cool Now” featuring never before seen photos compiled from personal collections and family archives, and includes a 2CD, 28-song collection, spanning Dean Martin’s musical career.

Previously announced, NBCUniversal Television Consumer Products and TIME-LIFE will release three new DVD collections featuring “The Best of the Dean Martin Variety Show” on May 24. The single DVD, double DVD and six-DVD Collectors Edition sets capture material never before released from some of the shows greatest episodes during its nine-year run on television from 1965 to 1974.

Classic Dino: The Best Of Dean Martin [CD, digital]
1. That’s Amore

2. Ain’t That A Kick In The Head

3. Memories Are Made Of This

4. I’ll Always Love You (Day After Day)

5. Sway

6. You Belong To Me

7. Volare (Nel Blu Di Pinto Di Blu)

8. Powder Your Face With Sunshine (Smile! Smile! Smile!)

9. You’re Nobody ‘Til Somebody Loves You

10. Return To Me (Ritorna-Me)

11. The Door Is Still Open (To My Heart)

12. Everybody Loves Somebody

13. Houston

14. I Will

Dino: The Essential Dean Martin [2CD, digital]
Disc 1

1. Ain’t That A Kick In The Head

2. That’s Amore

3. Memories Are Made Of This

4. Just In Time

5. I’d Cry Like A Baby

6. Volare (Nel Blu Di Pinto Di Blu)

7. Under The Bridges Of Paris

8. Sway

9. Love Me, Love Me

10. If

11. Mambo Italiano

12. Angel Baby

13. Let Me Go, Lover

14. Standing On The Corner

15. You Belong To Me

16. Powder Your Face With Sunshine (Smile! Smile! Smile!)

17. Innamorata (Sweetheart)

18. Rock-A-Bye Your Baby With A Dixie Melody [previously unreleased]

Disc 2

1. On An Evening In Roma (Sott’er Celo De Roma)

2. Money Burns A Hole In My Pocket

3. Cha Cha Cha D’Amour (Melodie D’Amour)

4. I’ll Always Love You (Day After Day)

5. Kiss

6. You’re Nobody ‘Til Somebody Loves You

7. Return To Me (Ritorna-Me)

8. The Door Is Still Open (To My Heart)

9. Houston

10. Send Me The Pillow You Dream On

11. Everybody Loves Somebody

12. In The Chapel In The Moonlight

13. Little Ole Wine Drinker, Me

14. I Will

15. (Remember Me) I’m The One Who Loves You

16. In The Misty Moonlight

17. Somewhere There’s A Someone

18. Gentle On My Mind

Visit the official Dean Martin website: www.DeanMartin.com

Pain of Salvation
Road Salt One
InsideOut Music (0522-2)
Grade: ****

By Michael Popke

Sweden’s enigmatic Pain of Salvation represents the true spirit of “progressive music,” evolving with each successive release. After 2007’s polarizing Scarsick, on which the prog-metal band rapped and played with disco beats, Pain of Salvation returns with the first title in what is expected to be the two-album Road Salt project.

“Road Salt One” — also available on 180 grain black vinyl in a gatefold sleeve, as well as a limited-edition CD digipak that opens with a bonus track — is an organic, jam-oriented record punctuated by the intensity of vocalist, guitarist and band mastermind Daniel Gildenlöw. Always lyrically cryptic, Gildenlöw says this album is about making choices, and Pain of Salvation has decided “Road Salt One” should be one of its most-cohesive releases. Songs flow freely into one another, tapping deep emotional veins on the commercially viable rocker “No Way,” the haunting “Sisters” and the hymn-like “Of Dust.”

Typical of Pain of Salvation, though, Road Salt One is not an easy listen, as jarring chaos still ensues.

Neville Brothers
Authorized Bootleg
(Hip-O Select)
Grade: *****

By Michael Lovett

First of all let’s give a hallelujah to the late great Bill Graham for having the foresight to record this concert at San Francisco’s Warfield Theatre , February 27, 1989…The brothers Neville were on fire that night!! From the opening funk of “Fire On The Bayou” followed by riveting version of “Hey Pockey Way ” into a jolting version of Frank Loesser’s “Junk Man”. They were firing on all cylinders!

There are several medleys on this set. The first, is a funk medley of Brother John/Do You Want to Dance/Banana Boat Song (Day-O),a Rock n Roll medley of Johnny b. Goode/Boney Maronie/Dizzy miss Lizzie/Slow Down/Rip It Up/Oh Boy!/Long”One Love, one has to be eternally grateful to Mr. Graham for preserving this historic night.

• Buy the brand new edition of “Goldmine Standard Catalog of American Records 1948-1991, 7th Edition”

• Get a Goldmine collective on The Beatles, “Meet the Fab Four CD”<

Tom Jones
Praise & Blame
Lost Highway Records
Grade: ★★★★

By Carol Anne Szel

I had a pre-conceived notion when sitting down to review the new Tom Jones album, “Praise & Blame.” After all, this was the panty-thrown singer who thrust his hips in the 1970s to throngs of women. Well, what I found on that first listen was definitely not stripped down women but a much stripped down sound which was actually really good, full of a combination of artistry and spirituality which opened up a whole other side to Jones.

Opening with a Bob Dylan tune “What Good Am I,” it came out of the box with a simple low drum pounding which progressed into the song which Jones sang with clarity, showing off his true crisp sounding vocals and pronounced sound.

This now 70-year-old crooner then went into the Jesse Mae Hemphill tune “Lord Help,” which further uncovered the true gospel rooted sound he was going for without choosing any obvious gospel classics that would throw this release into a sort of greatest hits collection of Southern Baptist classics.

Produced by the well chosen Ethan Johns at Peter Gabriel’s studio in Wilshire, the “Did Trouble Me” cut was a stand alone song that is notably crisp with an almost speaking Jones heading into a soft banjo strumming accompaniment which sounds quintessentially Southern Gospel in its authenticity and tone.

The only offering which seemed a bit contrived was his rendition of the John Lee Hooker song “Burning Hell,” of which his vocals sound very contrived as if he’s just trying too hard, and the tune is sort of overtaken by an electric guitar that makes this song feel like an unwanted speed bump on an otherwise well paced CD.

Two standout tunes are by far “Strange Things” and “If I Give My Soul” during which I fond myself singing along to and can visualize Jones leading a huge choir of churchgoers in a heartfelt frenzy of seductive worship.

“Praise & Blame” is definitely one to put on your must-buy list, whether you remember the 1970s Tom Jones or are a music fan who wasn’t even born in that era but someone who really wants a good listen to hear what a simple, clear, melodic musical revival sounds like.