In 1975 Phil Spector decided that he was the person who could revive the flagging career of Dion DiMucci. At the time Dion was thrilled to be working with one of his heroes but by the time it was completed he all but disowned the album saying " it was basically Phil's album". The decision not even to release the album in the US and it's negligible impact in the UK can't have boosted Dion's confidence on the release either.
However listened to now, it is an absolutely astounding album where Spector's production shines but does not overwhelm DiMucci's vocals and the whole thing could sit proudly beside the best works of Scott Walker and Brian Wilson.
The song Born To Be With You is actually a cover having been a top ten hit both sides of the Atlantic in 1956. The Spector/DiMucci version although heavily produced, who would expect anything else of Spector, is an incredibly beautiful track which is interspersed with just the right amount of sax courtesy of Nino Tempo. I'm sure that Bobby Gillespie had been listening to this when he wrote Sometimes I Get So Lonely, well in my head anyway.
Dion - Born To Be With You
5 comments:
I'm discovering a lot of and about Dion round the blogs lately; I was telling Swiss Adam about this piece at Bob Stanley's.
Don't know this album at all. Track sounds quite a bit like some of Dennis Wilson's stuff on the similarly long-lost and neglected 'Pacific Ocean Blue' - also a big influence on Gillespie. Lovely.
Try this....
Dennis Wilson - 'River Song' (1977)
I love this album too (though I've not listened to it in a long while). Good to see it get some blog-appreciation!
Apologies if I'm repeating myself - but I was lucky enough to see his first UK show for years in 2007 at Blow Up Metro. A top rocking night - and still got the magic. I even got to shake his hand
looking forward to hearing this.......
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