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Dion Columbia Albums that Never Were by Doug Schenker
Dion had two official albums released by Columbia Records in 1963 ( Ruby Baby and Donna The Prima Donna). No other Dion albums were released while Dion was signed to Columbia. There were lots of songs recorded that could have been used on additional albums. I started thinking about this and here are my suggested track lists if there had been a summer 1965 and a spring 1966 album:
DION- BABY PLEASE DON'T GO:
Dion does rural and urban blues songs by Willie Dixon, Chuck Berry, Lieber & Stoller and others. A lot of this material is probably as a result of John Hammond turning Dion on to the blues in late 1963. Dion's three original compositions [" The Road I'm On (Gloria) " about the end of an affair, " No One's Waiting For Me, " about ending a life, are somber sparce numbers, accompanied by an acoustic guitar, while " Kickin' Child "is Dion trying to create his own up tempo blues style] are interesting. The best one is "No One's Waiting For Me," co-written with his wife.
DION-TIME IN MY HEART FOR YOU
[from sessions on Sept. 20, 1965 & Oct. 4, 1965]
This album is more focused as far as song writing, arrangements and production. Background vocals, drums, electric guitar & tambourine are quite prominent on most of these recordings that Tom Wilson produced (Wilson also produced Simon & Garfunkel, Bob Dylan & The Blues Project). There are a lot of original Dion compositions on this album. Plus a song by Mort Shuman , who in the past had written [with Doc Pomus] several recordings for Dion (" A Teenager in Love " being the most successful on the charts. He would later write the lyrics to " If We Only Have Love "). Dion also covers two unreleased Bob Dylan songs, plus Tom Paxton's " I Can't Help But Wonder Where I'm Bound. "
Also on this album Carlo Mastrangelo, formerly of the Belmonts, is co-writing some songs with Dion (" Now" and "Tomorrow Won't Bring the Rain ") and is probably one of the key voices on these recordings. These sessions may have been the springboard to the Dion & the Belmonts album, which was probably Dion's next recording session. Matter of fact, some of these songs are redone on that album. There is more of a uniform electric band sound on this album (with organ by Al Kooper) from two sessions within two weeks of each other.
The songs fit together as an album better than the 1965 album. Dion has woven the blues, folk, C&W, R&B and rock into an original Dion hybrid. It's a shame these albums were never released. The second LP must have been planned. You don't record that many complete songs unless an album was a possibility.
My Love [recorded Sept. 20, 1966] (this is a good track, but has a solo backing vocal that needs to be removed because the singer's pitch is off)
I suggest everyone get out your Bronx Blues (BB),Drip Drop (DD) and The Road I'm On (TRIO) CDs along with your Wonder Where I'm Bound (WWIB) LP and create your own cassette versions of Dion's 1965 and 1966 LPs. There are a lot of songs I didn't use to create the two albums. It is very satisfying listening and a good example of what could have been if Columbia had a clue in the mid 1960s as to the depth of Dion's talent.
The only songs not on those albums (BB,DD, TRIO & WWIB) are the B-sides " So Much Younger " (released in 1966) and " You Move Me Babe " (released 1965).
