April 10, 2015

Rolling Stone on Dion

Dave DiMartino’s review of our new Dion release for Rolling Stone!

You can order the CD of Recorded Live At The Bitter End, August 1971 from our shop now.

Dion: Recorded Live At The Bitter End, August 1971 (Omnivore) Speaking of Mott The Hoople, I find it interesting that 1) One of my very favorite Mott songs ever was “Your Own Backyard” from their manic 1971 set Brain Capers, and 2) I grew up in Miami, Florida, and saw Mr. Dion DiMucci many, many times in concert, during the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, and likely saw him perform that song many times, and 3) I have no recollection of it whatsoever. So: all praises to the people of Omnivore & Ace Records for resurrecting this superb live set from Dion in his early-‘70s prime. He is in fine voice, his low-key guitar accompaniment serves him well, and the songs he sings—from “Abraham, Martin And John,” “Your Own Backyard,” and even “The Wanderer” and “Ruby Baby”—are immaculately performed, emotionally sung, and better than most everything you’re likely to hear for a while. And this was just something he whipped out in mid-1971. It’s a great addition to anyone’s music library, and a superb encapsulation of all that was great about Dion back when he finally decided to stop wanderin’.