Dean Martin
finally got access to conductor/arranger
Nelson Riddle
for an album project, and the result was an easy swinging collection with appealing horn charts and a series of comfortable readings of recent and vintage standards. Especially notable were the two songs borrowed from
My Fair Lady
,
"On the Street Where You Live"
and
"I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face,"
which
Martin
Riddle
re-imagined as straight-forward love songs;
"You're Nobody 'til Somebody Loves You"
(which
would try again in a more contemporary arrangement four years later for one of his biggest hits); and a solo version of
"Just in Time,"
which the singer had recently done with
Judy Holliday
in the film version of the musical
Bells Are Ringing
.
This Time I'm Swingin'!
was a good, confident set by an artist who had figured out how to make competent albums without expending a lot of effort, which was a key to his charm. ~ William Ruhlmann