Dion - King of the New York Streets (CD)

Dion put the rock in Doo Wop

By Yahoo! Shopping User  Dec 12, 2000

For those unfamiliar with Dion DiMucci, but who love doo wop of the 50's & 60's, this is a great intro to the first white artist (who along with his group, the Belmonts) defined the white, mostly Italian street-corner group sound. The ballads aside (everybody did 'em then), there was a decided twist to doo wop that hadn't been heard before, a singular, almost rock & roll feel to what had been mostly a club blues-based, decidedly black genre. Listen to the original Diamonds or Crows or Drifters and you'll get the idea. The Jacks & Cadets nearly made the rock & blues ballad collide, but their bent was obviously comedic. Dion's vocals, which were almost pleading like Clyde McPhatter's, were backed by a group, who individually could have been leads themselves (proving this later on after Dion left with "Come On Little Angel"). After going solo, Dion surrounded himself with good studio backup artists (check out Donna the Prima Donna) and later proved he could carry a serious tune by himself with sweeping instrumentation, as in the heart-wrenching "Abraham, Martin & John." His imperfect vocalization, sometimes almost straining, as in "Little Diane" or "Love Came to Me," dug underneath the listener's skin, sometimes with a slow lead-in, followed by an almost angry delivery, other times with an almost lazy one. Except for pitch, he very well could have been a precursor to "the Boss," whose style of writing, although less innocent and keeping with the time, was similar. Dion made a minor comeback in the late 70's with "Written on the Subway Walls," which may have been a Boss or Little Steven tune - hell, it could have been Southside Johnny - but whoever gave him the inspiration, DiMucci has never lost that 'East Coast' feel to his music. The set is a fine cross-section of his career, and although he is an acquired taste, if you like one or two of his tunes, you'll probably like the majority of them. Long live Rock 'n' Roll!!