http://www.allmusic.com/album/son-of-skip-james-mw0000781400
http://www.allmusic.com/album/tank-full-of-blues-mw0002289381
The 50s musician Dion - Dion DiMucci, as in Dion and the Belmonts, known for “Run Around Sue” and “I Wonder Why” and “A Teenager in Love” and others - is still recording. Dion’s first hit records were released before I was born. I guess I was aware of his stuff as a kid because his tunes still got airplay and are so vibrant and musical.
In the past few years he’s been releasing blues albums. And they’re good, they’re really good.
A few years ago I was a member of an acting group in Long Island City Queens run by a music producer and former musician, and I copied one of these Dion CDs for him. Not sure if he ever listened to it (are you reading this Richard?). It was probably 2005’s “Bronx in Blue,” a fantastic stripped-down acoustic blues album. The producers behind this must have had no clue if it was going to work; a blues album by this old 50s ex-junkie doo-wop guy? (It does.)
In 2007 Dion followed that up with another fantastic blues album “Son of Skip James.” There’s a weird track on it where he proselytizes Catholicism in a spoken word thing, which is a bit of a surreal 180 for a blues album and not successful, but man what a great record. Or CD, since that’s how I bought it.
“Bronx in Blue” was nominated for a Grammy in the Best Traditional Blues category (right, try to tell me you knew that), but I never read anything about these albums. There didn’t seem to be any popular recognition of what I thought were great recordings. Also weird, they were on different labels. “Bronx in Blue” is on Razor & Tie, and “Son of Skip James” is on Verve Forecast. That means after a Grammy nomination, Dion got dropped and picked up by another label?
In 2012 Dion released “Tank Full of Blues.” I just got it. This album is rated higher than the first two on All Music Guide, but to my ears it’s not nearly as good as the first two, it’s way too slick. The first two are stripped-down, raw, bare, heartfelt, unfiltered. This latest one is full and almost lush. Granted I’ve only just heard it, but I’m a bit surprised. A bit disappointed. I’ll listen to it again, but so far it sounds like the worst of Eric Clapton, watered-down ball-less white-boy blues.
No comments:
Post a Comment