Dion DiMucci

Sit Down Old Friend/You're Not Alone

Dion/ACE

This is a welcome reissue, and for many reasons. Most importantly, these two albums charted the course for the direction of Dion's second career, showcasing songs that accent love and family, earmarked by melodious accompaniment. And then too, they are the finest of his Warner Bros. output, fresh, new optimistic, and beautifully performed. One conditional gripe, and it's only with Ace Records production team, who have otherwise done an outstanding job.

Building on his success with "Abraham, Martin, and John," he continued to feature Dick Holler songs as single cuts right up to the release of Sanctuary. Here "Natural Man" stands as a metaphoric anthem for the then-current trend of conscionable civil disobedience. (We'll forgive Holler for having earlier penned "Snoopy and The Red Baron." Everyone has to pay rent.)

But Sit Down Old Friend stands as a classic singer/songwriter testament more importantly because of the level of virtuosity Dion had achieved by that time. Not only was his voice mint, his classical guitar skills were uncanny. I know this was not studio chicanery because I witnessed a 1970 performance of the material at a Chicago venue, close-up, the audience mesmerized, Dion unflinching in his professional delivery. His gentle banter serving as a transitional device, the songs were served up one after the other, alternately warm, endearing, cocksure, profound.

You're Not Alone is a rich collection of impressionistically penned lyrics balanced against meticulous musical arrangements. The sonic spectrum is enhanced to include strings, organ, Caribbean steel drums, and a resonant bass bottom line. Dion's voice is once again superb and gentle, suggesting that there is no effort involved at all here, that stylized phrasing and intonation are second nature in his case. It ought to be noted that "Josie," a cut obscure in America, hit number one in the German music charts of 1972.

"That was self-indulgent," Dion said to me, regarding Sit Down Old Friend, in late 1974 before, opening a concert for Frank Zappa. Maybe. But self-indulgence never sounded more assured or beautiful.

One conditional gripe-and it's only with ACE Records. The bonus track, "Doctor Rock and Roll," a Dion single of 1973, is truncated by nearly half here, sans guitar solo and coda, the listener's loss. The original was endemic to the times, spirited, magical. It would be more accurately billed as a bonus fragment. And what frustration-after having been out-of-print for 28 years.

Born To Be With You/Streetheart
Dion/Ace
by Greg Herriges

A year after Born To Be With You was released in Great Britain, I was talking about it to Dion in his dressing room at the Condessa Del Mar supper club, in a suburb south of Chicago. He had just turned in a stunning and energetic performance, closing with "Young Virgin Eyes" and the finest rendition of "That's My Desire" I had ever heard.
"I don't feel like Spector really finished that album," Dion explained. He was referring to how Spector had gone through his Warner's catalogue, splicing "Your Own Backyard" and "New York City Song" onto an otherwise six-song compilation, and the indication was that he was less than pleased with the results. I was-I can say it now; I couldn't then-stunned. He didn't seem to recognize the level of his own accomplishment. Here in this re-mastered ACE Records Package is the work that marks Dion's apotheosis from quondam teen idol to contemporary artist, and it's set alongside the most canned and disappointing DiMucci outing yet-The Michael Omartian-produced Streetheart. (Credit author Richard Price for the title-one of the few bright spots on the LP.)
Take two of the most powerful elements of 1960's rock music-Dion's voice and Phil Spector's production prowess-and they combine to form not just a wall of sound, but a wall of utter spiritual force. The title track "Born To Be With You" is a first-take masterpiece in which Dion's splendid and mature tenor spars with Nino Tempo's plaintive and inspired sax riffs, all off the cuff, intuitive, perfect. In "Make The Woman Love Me" Dion's vocal soars above the rock orchestra, performing aural flight tricks that not even he should be able to pull off, but he does, in aces, and I believe it is thanks to Spector's goading influence. "In And Out Of The Shadows" takes Dion's instrument to loftier ground still, just when you think it isn't possible to hit notes any higher, or cleaner, or more desperately sought. End it all with the retro-rocker "Good Lovin' Man," enhanced by layers of tape delay echo, reverb, and double instrument tracking, and you've got one explosion of a record.
But there's more-the bonus single "Baby Let's Stick Together" sounds as though it could have been the flip side of "Instant Karma." Too teen-ish in lyrical quality? Probably. But you'll still want to blast it in your car, and you'll probably blow the speakers, so solid is the bottom end.
Ace has managed to clean the fidelity of the original vinyl release up, adding depth and clarity, which may sound oxymoronic in terms of a Wall Of Sound product, but actually adds to the overall impact. And consider the star-spangled backing Spector had assembled for the Hollywood sessions: Jim Keltner, Jesse Ed Davis, Nino Tempo, Steve Douglas, Bobby Keyes, Jim Horn, Klaus Voorman, Barry Mann. Wow.
And then there's Streetheart.
Oh, well.

King Of The New York Streets
The Dion Box Set

Review by Greg Heriges

There is no denying it-this is a brilliant, career-spanning anthology by an artist supreme and heretofore unheralded to the degree he deserves. Just exactly why Dion has evaded the public's acclaim for over four decades may be not only a mystery, but now moot, because of this collection and his late-breaking, best-selling Deja Nu album. The Italian street kid who sang lead on "I Wonder Why" grew up to be the man who kept a marriage and career together, raised three children, and still had time to forge new musical frontiers-and here, at last, is the proof: three CDs that condense the heart and soul of a Brooklyn Dodger down to their harmonic core. This guy may have toured the world in his fashion, but his spirit never left 186th Street.
King Of The New York Streets offers the big picture, forty years of rock and roll, not an album so much as the Baedeker of an artist's soul. When the youthful and iconic "The Wanderer" and the world-weary and obscure "King Of Hearts" (performed live with the Little Kings) are juxtaposed as they are here, albeit on separate discs, it is impossible to come away from this box set without understanding that at some juncture, whether by luck or sheer determination, music and life merge. Dion is his craft, and vice versa, posing this dilemma for the would-be critic: How do you review a life?
Of course, you can't. This kind of album is a fan product. And that is a record executive's nightmare. You don't want to sell only to fans-you want the biggest possible numbers. Grease the schmeggege from Indianapolis! And that means feature the selections that have worn well over the years. Problem is-your true fans will know where you have shorted them, and where you have sold the sizzle instead of the steak. Case in point-no offerings here from Dion's Sit Down Old Friend and You're Not Alone, two of his most expert outings, and yet the producers still found room for cuts from the Streetheart album-the music of which was so formatted, it was all recorded before DiMucci even stepped into the studio. This is what happens when you attempt to appeal to masses who are not all that familiar the artist's repertoire.
And the genuine fans will register the exclusion of rare and desired tracks like "Dr. Rock and Roll" and "Young Virgin Eyes." They will also wonder what gives when they are offered songs in the vein of "I'm In The Mood For You" after having paid for them when they purchased the previous anthology, Bronx Blues.
Thankfully cuts like "Man In The Glass," "Sea Cruise," and "King Of Hearts" are enough to satisfy thirst-ridden DiMucci fans-and maybe someday soon a record exec (not the most foresighted creature, unfortunately) will realize that the Dion/Little Kings LIVE CD is artistic gold, begging for a release of its own. Till then this collection will suffice. Savvy product presentation and heartfelt, intelligent liner notes by Dave Marsh match the spark of the finest moments of King Of The New York Streets. Dion truly is a rock and roll king, and its about time he was treated like one.

LITTLE KINGS LIVE IN NEW YORK

So 1960s former heart-throb and rock icon Dion DiMucci gets together with Scott Kempner, Frank Funaro and Mike Mesaros of the Del Lords and Smithereens, and they hit New York clubs as "The Little Kings" to wow patrons with their unlikely line-up and blistering musical approach. Its American Graffiti gone Sci Fi, and if you can get your hands on this ultra-rare brand new bootleg, you've got yourself quite a find. Dion, who has never made a career move according to the rules, will be 60 years old in July of 1999, but yet he delivers unabashedly pulverizing vocals and impressive guitar licks in this live set of street-tough cuts. Dig the opening number, "Serious," as the band gets warmed up and Dion plays coy with off-rhythm vocal riffs that sizzle and blister. The very moody and passionate "King Of Hearts" should break yours, while simultaneously calling to mind Neil Young in his better moments. Other glittering treats on this gritty live set include "Heartbreak Hill" (sounds a lot like Dion's "What's That Sound" from the DREAM ON FIRE CD), "No" (Dion's voice cuts with the precision of a lead instrument on this one), and the playfully sick "Jo Jo's Crazy." The single here, though, the one you want to hear a studio take of, is "Stay With Me." Zesty/ballsy pop never sounded so fresh, so good--and live, yet! This is the album I dreamed of when I was 15, and it has only taken Dion 33 years to get around to it. It's off-center, innovative rock in its inchoate stage, a one- of-a-kind CD. Pay whatever you have to for it--only get it. --Greg Herriges 

Top picks from the CD include: "The Road I'm On [Gloria]" --a lovely acoustic track that induces evocations of Peter, Paul & Mary's "Don't think Twice;" "Chicago Blues"--L. Johnson's down and dirty recollection of a cold city during cold personal times; "Johnny B. Goode"--a real Mississippi delta version of the Chuck Berry original; "I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man"-- a hot- cold acoustic jam laced with a shrill and piercing harmonica riff; "Tomorrow Won't Bring The Rain"--co-written by a former member of the Belmonts, Dion never sounded better, or more like the Beatles. This song is a jarringly bitter-sweet number laden with miraculous harmonies and sterling guitar solos; "Two Ton Feather"--for the first time, this single release that escaped the notice of the public the first time around appears in stereo, featuring a crisp, slapping syncopated snare and Dion's scalding rendition of a lover who's had enough; and finally, "You Move Me," recorded just last year with his new group, THE LITTLE KINGS. Here Dion proves that at the age of 58 he can still rock and sing like a gifted novitiate. The track boils over with energy and the Bronx legend's scorching vocal. You'd be doing yourself a disservice to let this collection slip by.

Greg Herriges ...and here is a link to Greg's site