'Bobby Darin - even more than Dion - was the best-equiped of all the early Italian- American rock and roll singers to follow in the bel canto pop footsteps of Frank Sinatra. Yet his best early records have a smooth, legato blues groove that belies such influences. So Darin was a rocker by choice, if not instinct - Splish Splash just about defines contrived. Maybe that's why Dream Lover, though it's a ballad, stands as his best record, not only because his wailing vocal is so soulful but because of a marvellous pizzicato string bit that carries the rhythm and an utter unity of sound and performance that marks it as one of the most thoroughly conceived of all the early Atlantic hits.'
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