Dimucci Live on tape

Two live tapes that have recently arrived in Europe show the contrasting live styles of The man with the hat :

First off back to Metro Lounge 4 April 1996 for a concert by the Little Kings . Its ruff and ready but exciting . The track list is :

Curious / You Move Me / King of Hearts / Born To Cry / Heartbreak hill / Drip Drop / Heartbeat of Time / Stolen Kisses / Ride till I die / Jo-Jo Crazy / Ain’t Gonna Happen/ Won’t you stay with me / King of the NY streets/ The Wander / Hug My Radiator

For the other concert we jump into a time machine and slip back to The Bottom Line Club 11 September 1978 for a live radio broadcast from the Bottom Line NY. The tracks are:

Man in the glass/ The Wander / Ruby / Donna the Prima Donna / Abraham etc./ I wonder why /Guitar Queen / Brooklyn Dodger / Looking for the Heart of Saturday Night / Mid Town American main-street Gang Spanish Harlem Incident / Run-around Sue/ Teenager in Love

Here is the proof if anybody wanted it, that Dimucci is a living artist and not just a 50/60’s juke-box. Sound wise the 96 recording is an audience tape of reasonable quality, but the 78 one is a top quality FM broadcast.

The Kings tape contains a lot of new un-recorded material with Dimucci clearly enjoying fleeing the shackles of the oldies circuit. The only problem would appear to be the rhythm section, which does its best to churn out the same monotonous beat to most songs. This is bought home when Dimucci trots out the pot boiler hits and is forced to adapt them, not for the sake of change , but because of the base and drum limitations. My conclusions are that this was a glorious experiment, which ultimately went nowhere. The best of them can be heard on "The Road I’m on" – Sorry, I don’t think the band had much more to offer.

By contrast the 78 tape has a much higher proportion of oldies, but the Streatheart band are made up of first class musicians. They were not going to let the lead singer rest on his laurels, so they constantly push him into new arrangements and areas. Ok the whole enterprise falls apart in the last 2 songs but, as there is so much inventiveness and energy before, I can forgive a lot for these lapses. The reason I was keen to hear this tape was because I couldn’t see the band being as good live, as their first studio album "Return of the Wander". But its on those album tracks that they really excel and confirm they’re high regard with Dion fans, by showing they can play live with style. Dimucci responds well and gives one of his best ever live performances – what more can you ask?

The radio station DJ’s on this performance are equally as enthusiastic – you’d think they were at a football match!

I’m just left wondering how the Streatheart Band failed, when they had so much going for them. What would they have sounded like on "The way you do the things you do" and how did they make such a dud follow up album? Shame, at the time it sounded like they were headed for the world stage.

And thanks to Tony for providing me with nearly 3 hours of riveting listening.