Dion - Yo Frankie (CD)

All Music Guide

Despite having written some beautiful songs, Dion's great creative strength has always been as an interpreter and, in that regard, especially as an adapter and assimilator of musical genres. Beginning with his early rock roll sides, which had the polish of classical recordings, and into the early '60s, when he took a moderately successful pair of early Drifters RB numbers, "Ruby Baby" and "Drip Drop," and transformed them into white rock roll without violating their spirit (and making million-sellers out of each in the bargain), he was always intermixing styles, approaches, and sounds into something of his own. Yo Frankie, released after his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, was Dion's most contemporary effort up to that time, and one that stood securely with its feet in both the '80s and the '50s. Producer Dave Edmunds took an approach here similar to what Jeff Lynne did with George Harrison and the Traveling Wilburys, giving the music a very full sound without going ov...erboard, and never losing sight of the singer at the center of it all. Dion also plays rhythm guitar alongside Edmunds (on lead) and Bryan Adams (who also sings, along with Lou Reed, Patty Smyth, and Paul Simon) on these sides, but mostly the focus is on his voice and on lyrics about romance, the streets of the Bronx, and generally a past worth reveling in. Paul Simon (himself a veteran of late-'50s rock roll much like Dion) turns in a beautiful performance on backing vocals. And "Always in the Rain" is a poignant contemporary personal message, based on his contact with a girl at a drug treatment center. The album fits together so well and coherently that the contemporary and the nostalgic elements merge seamlessly into a pleasing whole, as valid a statement from Dion in 1989 as "Runaround Sue" or "Donna the Prima Donna" had been 30 years earlier. - Bruce Eder, All Music Guide Read more Less