Dion - You're Not Alone (1971)

Dion is an American singer-songwriter, best known for his string of hits in the early 60s.

You're Not Alone was Dion DiMucci's second album for the Warner Bros label, released in 1971. Coming after the stripped-down, solo acoustic performances of Sit Down Old Friend, it was notable for featuring full band arrangements again, but still with an intimate acoustic focus. The subtle, unobtrusive arrangements  (with Paul Griffin on keyboards and Hugh McCracken on guitar) and stellar production qualities made for a wonderfully warm and soulful sound, and showed how well Dion had settled into this mature, introspective new format. It was mostly made up of originals, though it also featured covers of Melanie Safka's "Close To It All" as well as two splendid Beatles covers ("Let It Be" and "Blackbird").

Ultimately it generated pretty much nothing in the way of commercial success, but surely stands out as one of the very best albums from this fruitful phase of his recording career.

Sit Down Old Friend (1970) <|> Sanctuary (1971)
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Dion - Sit Down Old Friend (1970)

Dion is an American singer-songwriter, best known for his string of hits in the early 60s.

By the end of the 60s Dion had moved from Laurie Records to the Warner Bros label. His first album with Warner Bros saw him take the brave step of completely re-inventing himself, or at least finalising the transformation he had begun a few years earlier. In the late 60s he had changed gears to a folk-rock style with the success of the single "Abraham, Martin & John", but for Sit Down Old Friend he took it further and peformed solo, the album featuring just Dion and his acoustic guitar. And he turned out to be a very skilled guitarist. Combined with his splendid voice and his passionate delivery, it made for a very effective new sound, the songs themselves being a mix of tender acoustic ballads and blues, including a cover of Willie Dixon's "You Can't Judge A Book By The Cover". The album was a complete success artistically, though not commercially (the one single released only got to #75).

Wonder Where I'm Bound (1969) <|> You're Not Alone (1971)
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Dion - Wonder Where I'm Bound (1969)

Dion is an American singer-songwriter, best known for his string of hits in the early 60s.

After his run of early 60s hits had dried up, Dion had spent several years in the wilderness before making his comeback with a mature folk-rock sound in 1968, with the hit single "Abraham, Martin & John" and a splendid self-titled album on Laurie Records Following this Columbia Records (who he had been with for these 'wilderness years') quickly cobbled together enough recordings to make an album, to cash in on his sudden return to popularity.

The appropriately-titled Wonder Where I'm Bound was a very interesting mix of different genres, a collection of various stylistic experiments Dion had been making after his original doo-wop / pop sound had fallen out of fashion. He had made some solid folk-rock after The Byrds popularized the genre (complete with jangling guitars and tamborine), and also some startlingly gritty blues after discovering the music of Robert Johnson. The album thus was not exactly cohesive, but the individual songs were all very strong, ranging from raw folk-rock, to lushly orchestrated numbers, to acoustic folk and blues, and one step back into doo-wop with a cover of "A Sunday Kind Of Love". Other covers included the title track by Tom Paxton, Woody Guthrie's "900 Miles", Willie Dixon's "Seventh Son", the blues standard "Baby Please Don't Go", and Bob Dylan's "Farewell" and "It's All Over Now Baby Blue". Overall a very good album showing what Dion had been up to between 1963 and 1968.

 
Dion (1968) <|> Sit Down Old Friend (1970)
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Dion - Dion (1968)

Dion is an American singer-songwriter, best known for his string of hits in the early 60s.

Dion DiMucci had seen success with a number of hits in the early 60s. However the mid 60s were a period of commercial decline for him, as changing public tastes rendered his brand of pop music obsolete. His last Top 10 hit was in 1963, and for the next four years he did not trouble the charts. The singles he did release during this time saw him experimenting with both blues and folk-rock, as he tried to find a new direction. In 1967 he re-united for one album with his original group The Belmonts, but that too failed to produce any hits.

1968 was the year of his comeback. Citing a religious experience as inspiration, he kicked his heroin addiction and resigned with Laurie Records, with whom he had released most of his original hits. He recorded a recent song by Dick Hollier which was a tribute to the memory of four assassinated Americans - Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy (the last two having both been killed just earlier that year). "Abraham, Martin & John" was a beautiful record, a completely new sound for Dion, set to a folk-rock backing with lush, swirling orchestration (including some notable harp flourishes). It suited his supple, soulful voice perfectly, and became a huge hit, getting to #4 on the pop chart and effectively relaunching his career.

A self-titled album followed in its wake, with a fine selection of songs performed in the same orchestrated folk-rock style (the harp making some notable re-appearences). The songs themselves were mostly covers of those by the leading singer-songwriters of the day (Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Fred Neil, Joni Mitchell), plus a great version of The Four Tops' "Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever" and a very surprising (and very effective) re-imagining of Jimi Hendrix's "Purple Haze".

There is one bonus track featured here -  "Daddy Rollin' (In Your Arms)" was the b-side to "Abraham, Martin & John". It's a driving bluesy number, showing another sort of style Dion was experimenting with around this time.

Love Come To Me (1963) <|> Wonder Where I'm Bound (1969)
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Dion - Dion's Greatest Hits (1960-1963)

Compilation 
Dion is an American singer-songwriter, best known for his string of hits in the early 60s.

Dion DiMucci was born in 1939 in New York, and whilst still young began singing on street corners with other neighbourhood kids. In the late 50s he was signed to Laurie Records in a group with three of his friends. As Dion & The Belmonts, they scored hits on the US pop chart with "I Wonder Why" (#22), "A Teenager In Love" (#5) and "Where Or When" (#3), all of them classic doo-wop songs. However in 1960 their fortunes began to change, problems began to arise between Dion and the rest of the group, and Dion was checked into hospital for a heroin addiction he'd had since his teens. They parted ways, and Dion started a solo career.

Between 1960 and 1963 he continued to see plenty of success on the charts. His first solo single, "Lonely Teenager", got to #12, but his real breakthrough was 1961's "Runaround Sue", which not only was a #1 hit in the US but also got to #11 in the UK. Seven more top 10 hits followed, the most notable among them being "The Wanderer" (#2), "Lovers Who Wander" (#3) and "Ruby Baby" (#2). By 1962 he had moved from Laurie to Columbia Records. His last hit of the era was 1963's "Drip Drop", at #6. From 1964 on through most of the 60s his fortunes changed again, as the musical climate itself changed around him, and he had no more hits until his dramatic comeback in the late 60s.

This compilation brings together thirteen songs from this lucrative period of Dion's career, and includes all his early hits as a solo artist. All these songs are prime examples of Dion's distinctive rock & roll style, defined by his wonderful voice, most of them with backing vocals from The Del-Satins. There's also a surprise cover of Hank Williams' "Be Careful Of Stones That You Throw", which charted at #31. 

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