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Deja Nu

Collectables CD # COL 2794

STILL WANDERING

(The following article is by Dave Marsh and will go out in syndication. It will appear in an upcoming Playboy magazine.)

For sheer talent, there's never been a group of rock'n'rollers as great as the first generation. Little Richard, the Everly Brothers and Fats Domino had unparalleled voices; no one has written better songs than Chuck Berry; Bo Diddley's rhythmic command remains even deeper in the bedrock than James Brown's. Jerry Lee Lewis was both a great singer and a great pianist. And that's to speak only of survivors.

Yet none of these sustained his creativity. At most, one or the other will turn up every few years with a record that shadows his early work.

The exception is Dion.. He's remembered as a great rock balladeer and swinging rhythm machine, for hits like "The Wanderer," "Runaround Sue," "Ruby Baby" and "I Wonder Why." But Dion also made impressive albums as a singer-songwriter from the late '60s well into the '80s. A few weeks ago, I went through all of his music again while writing notes for a comprehensive three-disc set EMI will release this fall. I discovered a singular vision expressed across four decades. In an essay in the set, Bob Dylan claims that Dion knew everything when he made "A Teenager in Love." And he never forgot it. Doubt me? Get a copy of Deja Nu (Collectables).

He sings easier here than he has in decades, especially on "Shu-Bop," a mature reflection on puppy love (it's about the first time he saw his wife) with a doo-wop arrangement, and Bruce Springsteen's "Book of Dreams" and "If I Should Fall Behind," which he also interprets as doowop. He's always been an under-rated writer. "Every Day (That I'm With You)," written with Scott Kempner, is a tribute to his friend Buddy Holly. It has lines that Dylan and Bruce Springsteen (another box set liner note contributor) might envy for the way it expresses what it costs to live as a sober adult: "Every day you call upon the angels I they do what you tell 'em to." Dion is not only a deeply religious person; he is a deeply spiritual artist.

This doesn't preclude being a great rock'n'roller. "Hug My Radiator," sung here for the first time, is a Chuck Berry rocker he began putting together on the 1959 Winter Dance Party tour. Buddy and the boys chartered that plane mainly because the heater on the bus sucked; Dion turned down the ride and never finished the song 'til these sessions. Dion, one of rock's great unrecognized guitarists, plays it like a man still desperate for all the warmth he can find.

The trade papers say that "Shu Bop" and "Book of Dreams" are getting radio airplay, which is what a guy who sings so much about everyday miracles deserves. Or maybe it's no miracle. Maybe those angels really are at your command, or maybe another thing he sings in "Every Day" is true about Dion himself: "The sun is always shining somewhere when you smile / The chimes of freedom when your heart beats in time."

Smile on, brother, and thanks for the heartbeats.

(Thanks to Vicki Marshall of Collectables for sending this )