ALBUMS: Dion and the Belmonts 24 Original Classics (1984); Dion (1968)
MVC Rating: Classics 4.5/$$$; Dion 4.0/$$
If you are going to cover Purple Haze by Jimi Hendrix you better do it like Dion did it by totally deconstructing, making it virtually unrecognizable from the original.
He made it a slow smoldering, jazzy nightclub song : . ‘Excuse me while I kiss the sky’ he sings slowly, quietly, dragging the words out, and the line dissolves into flute, be-bop scats and an ethereal echo effects.
You may not like this treatment, click on link above to hear, but if he tried to do it like Hendrix, it would surely be a fiasco. On that song I give kudos for the creative arrangement.
Now on to the songs he was known for. Dion came out of the doo-wop New York City scene, where you got up a group of friends in the neighborhood and sang on the porch or stoop.
He hooked up with Bronx buddies: Fred Milano, Angelo D’Aleo, and Carlo Mastrangelo.
And of course you snapped your fingers as your voices — being the main musical instruments — blended in perfect harmony. Dion came from that scene and –became one the top singers in the era of the late 1950s after Elvis went into the Army and before the Beatles and British invasion.
Songs like Runaround Sue, which is addressing presumably an ex-girlfriend in a non-complimentary way:
People let me put you wise– Sue goes out with other guys
In the Wanderer, Dion is the macho loverboy who has goes from town to town loving and leaving them.
Oh well, there’s Flo on my left and then there’s Mary on my right
And Janie is the girl well that I’ll be with tonight
And when she asks me, which one I love the best?
I tear open my shirt and I show “Rosie” on my chest
Dion had lots of hits both as a front man for a band, (the Belmonts) and by himself. But the street corner dude was apparently hiding a heroin habit that began in his teens. Disappearing for a while he re-emerged with a softer folksy style that brought the hit ‘Abraham, Martin and John’ about the slain leaders.
Dion had a very soulful voice and feel for the song. The two-disc compilation I have is a great place to start. But I’ve found his discography to be deep. He did great songs that are sometimes hidden on albums like Born to Be with You. Beautiful.
He also did a very personal song, that may be one of the best and honest ‘getting sober’ songs ever done called ‘In Your Own Backyard.’ Listen to it below:
excellent. And they are all different, even though marked with his distinctive vocals and artful lyrics. (Last thing, whomever I lent This Year’s Model to, just leave it on my porch, no questions asked. Come to think of it I’m missing a number of albums over the years, such as Bob Marley’s Natty Dread, and Deep Purple Made in Japan which had Highway Star and a scorching performance by Ritchie Blackmore. As usual, I digress).