Jackie Gleason

Reviewed by TenTillDeath:

Music, Martinis, and Memories is a nice fireside chat sort of album brought to us by the incredible Jackie Gleason. Remember the old times American music from those 50’s romance movies that just get you feeling in a certain type of mood? That’s exactly what you’ll find here!

Side A opens up strong with “Once in a While” with a very romantic, nostalgic sort of energy. This energy translates into the majority of Side A, as Side A feels more like a happy memory trip of current and old relationships. Songs like “My Ideal” feature horn Instrumentation that cries out like a cry to a long lost love. This horn instrumentation is sweet, nostalgic, and romantic in nature. The following song “Yesterdays,” feels like a sudden heartbreak followed by a farewell goodbye. Once again, the instrumentation greatly accompanies this feeling as the instrumentation itself weeps  emotion. This is also strongly heard with a strong arrangement of strings that build up to an intense climax. 

Unfortunately, this is all that this album tends to be; a nice, romantic, fireside sounding album that is good as background music, but nothing else. In fact, it stumps me how this album was number one on billboard when it released. The instrumentation is great, and so is the overall string arrangement as well; however, this album tends to get really repetitive. If you like soundtracks from classic American romance movies of the 50s, you will love this soundtrack as it evokes feelings of nostalgia, heartbreak, and memories; however, you will find it extremely repetitive.

Our final rating for this album is a 3 out of 5. Watch out video review on the album below.