The last decade has been a challenging time for our favourite artist, but not always a successful one.

Yo Frankie

1989 started off with the artistically successful Yo Frankie, a well produced album full of strong tracks. But it obviously did not reach its break-even point because he was not called back by Arista for a follow up. That failure has had a knock on through the rest of the decade.

To survive he does not need to record another record – switch off his brain and just perform his greatest hits on the golden oldies circuit. The trouble is Dimucci wants to be a creative artist. For him the golden oldies circuit is like being on the event horizon of a black hole – get sucked in (in a non presidential manner!) and his creativity will be gone forever – most other 50’s Rock’N’Rollers have already gone that way.

His 1992 effort "Dream on fire" is a case in point. He was back to budget studios, and probably did not have the luxury of being able to record a lot discard most and only retain the best he. The album opens with one of his all time greats "If I should fall behind" and that’s where the problem lies, because the rest of the album is such an anti-climax. Some of the tracks sound like Yo Frankie outtakes; why oh why did he re-cut "Guitar Queen "; and he only slightly recovers with the closing track.

With his long-term manager behind him he did get his product out to the world, but that relationship broke up at the time of his new group The Lt. Kings. It looks like Dimucci used his co-operation with Sony over "The Road I’m on" to get a shop window for his new band. But at this stage it sounds like there were no takers for a contract. To me the reason became obvious when I heard a Lt. Kings live tape .

Try listening to them not from the viewpoint of a fan, but as any company scout who has to put major bucks in before a return. What he would hear was their obvious weakness in the rhythm section – regrettably nearly every song followed the same chug-a-lug beat, including Dimuccis old hits, not performed that way because it made a change, but because of the sections inability to play in any other style. That weakness could be covered up if they had strong material but outside "You Move me" (cherry picked by Sony) they seem to be short in that department.

By all accounts Dion still wishes to push forward, so can we make any suggestions too him. I think he may have already identified the way – which is a Doo-wop/ accapella album. Two tracks have already suggested this could be a fruitful direction "If I should fall behind" and "Lennys Theme". Could the mood be sustained for a whole album – surly he could find a mix of his own material, contemporary songs and perhaps the occasional oldie (how about Earnie Marescas "Shout" a song tailor-made for him?). The advantage would be that provided the group was well practised, a good quality product could be achieved with few over-dubs. With the right marketing it could be sold both to the oldies stations and the folk/world markets.

He needs an album to go out of the nineties on in style. Would a Doo-wop/ accapella album meet those needs? Has anybody any alternative (better?) suggestions? Perhaps he’d appreciate hearing there are fans out there that would prefer to hear him do something challenging rather than just re-cycle "Teenager in Love" once again as he sinks into that black hole?

I don’t understand why Dion should be offended if someone suggests he might try for instance Van Morrisons ""Have I told you lately that I love you"" or Neil Youngs " After the Gold rush".

As a creative artist he must need stimulation, and suggestions from others might just spark off his creative juices. Better to suggest alternatives than just shout from the audience "sing Teenager or The Wanderer again".

I feel that Dion needs to find a new market. All the time he just goes for the golden oldies it cuts off his other opportunities. If he could make an album to reach new markets, then relentlessly go and promote it, he might get out of the rut he’s in danger of falling in.

Lt. Kings was a brave but ultimately unsuccessful try, but perhaps he needs to get himself on the folk / world circuit. People like V Morrison / R Thompson survive quite nicely by always being different, always, playing alternate festivals (in the UK like the Fleadh or the Cambridge Folk festival, or the second stage at Glastonbury). The message is there’s a whole alternative/ world / folk circuit in Europe willing to hear Dimucci the creative artist sing.

Last year he had 2 albums of quality released (Road and Gospel) , it seems a pity to me that he didn’t squeeze some promo money out of either company and go and put in a few guest appearance round the world. It was his 89 tour, which turned me and others on to him – what a pity it was never followed through?

To my mind the biggest threat to his creative future is the projected movie, which will once again pigeon hole him as a 60’s icon – great for his golden oldies circuit fees but it could well be the death of the creative artist?