Dion Abraham, Martin And John...plus

Preview: Abraham, Martin And John...plus

Listen to sample now:

0:00

Please inform me as soon as the product is available again.

Please enter the digits and letters in the following text field.

I hereby confirm that I have read and agree with the privacy policy.

$14.66 *

* incl. VAT / plus shipping costsDepending on the country of delivery, the VAT at checkout may vary.

Item is temporarily out of stock.
Approx. delivery time: up to 3 weeks. (as far as available at the supplier - can be faster, but sometimes unfortunately not)

catalog number: CDCHM1147
weight in Kg 0.1

P Secure bonuspoints now

(ACE Records) 11 tracks 1968. The world is in turmoil. The US are fighting in Vietnam. The... more

Close menu

Dion: Abraham, Martin And John...plus

(ACE Records) 11 tracks

1968. The world is in turmoil. The US are fighting in Vietnam. The Russians are invading Czechoslovakia. Students are rioting in Paris and Chicago. Martin Luther King is gunned down in Memphis. While this is going on Dion DiMucci is down in Florida coming off heroin and preparing to live life straight for the first time in years.

Dion rose to fame in the late 50s as a New York doo wop street punk, one minute serenading sweetly, the next spitting out strutting street anthems like The Wanderer and Donna The Prima Donna. In 1964, however, the hits dried up as Dion became increasingly embroiled in the world of narcotics and pushed his music towards the blues and folk forms that had long since seduced him.

Recorded for Laurie Records, the label where’d he’d first found fame, “DION” is the sound of a soul broken free, released from the shackles of addiction and alive to all life’s possibilities.

Abraham, Martin And John is a Dick Holler song which commemorates the lives of Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King and J.F.Kennedy. Though the song might be lyrically simplistic, it’s undeniably beautiful; Dion sings with honeyed sadness and regret, his voice a more mature instrument than that heard on the street corner doo wop records of a decade earlier. It’s easy to see why Columbia’s Mitch Miller saw Dion as a potential inheritor of Sinatra’s throne, though, of course, Sinatra’s voice never reminds you of vocal magicians such as Tim Buckley or Fred Neil, as Dion is here.

Abraham, Martin And John must have been a soothing balm during the political chaos and uncertainty of the time. Its yearning for better times and better men and its warm, embracing arrangement took it into the Top 5 in the States. But if anybody had flipped the single over, they would have heard an entirely different sound, one that offered no succour at all, but which instead embraced the chaos and uncertainty of the times.

Daddy Rollin’ (In Your Arms) (included here as a bonus track) was recorded in Florida earlier in 1968, at a small recording studio near Dion’s house, with Caribbean musicians Dion met locally. Recorded just after his withdrawal from heroin Daddy Rollin’ has none of the sense of release of the A-side, rather it’s claustrophobic, uncomfortable and dark, redolent of the unease and paranoia associated with the addict’s life.

The sound of Dion’s blues and punkier pop excursions on Columbia is gone, his voice wearier, almost haunted. Respected critic Dave Marsh included Daddy Rollin’ at #452 in his list of the 1001 greatest singles ever recorded. Not bad for a B-side. Marsh described the record thus, “Haunted electric guitars clang and clash against one another, drums pound in from another room, uniting in a wad of noise symbolizing nothing but spelling out pain and fear... It was the scariest music Dion ever made.” Listening to it now it’s not very far from the sound of the Velvet Underground, something also heard on Dion’s reunion album with the Belmonts from a year earlier.

Dion approached Laurie Records with Daddy Rollin’ and they agreed to release it provided he also record Abraham, Martin And John. After delivering the single, Dion returned to the studio to record an album in the same vein as the top side. Largely consisting of other people’s songs it features more of Dion’s mellifluous vocals on cushions of swooping, soaring strings and occasional, almost “Forever Changes”-esque horn arrangements. It’s music that wraps you in a gossamer, near opiated embrace, nurturing, secure and sublime.

The second single from the album, Purple Haze, differs radically from the original version. Dion renders Hendrix’s psychedelic brainstorm as something far more pastoral and relaxed, with a touch of Mose Allison about the vocal. Dion sang the song to Hendrix when they shared a stage together and Jimi told him, “It’s exactly right, it’s a different expression, but going to the same place.”

The album’s other songs come from the pens of Bob Dylan, Fred Neil, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Stevie Wonder, Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell and Dion himself; they point the way forward to Dion’s early 70s career as a singer/songwriter while also continually reminding us of his, often unacknowledged, vocal prowess.

DION, remastered for this release, has never sounded as good as it does on this CD. The arrangements are open and expansive, the sound deliciously warm and crystal clear. Though I’ve long loved Abraham, Martin And John I never realised quite what a musical jewel it is until hearing it again here. Ace Records are proud to add this album to their catalogue of Dion recordings. It features some of the most beautiful music he ever recorded, as well as possibly the scariest, and deserves to sit alongside the rightly lauded “Born To Be With You” in many a CD collection.

By Tim Tooher

Article properties: Dion: Abraham, Martin And John...plus

Interpret: Dion
Album titlle: Abraham, Martin And John...plus
Genre Folk
Label Ace Records
Artikelart CD
EAN: 0029667026420
weight in Kg 0.1

Dion - Abraham, Martin And John...plus CD 1
01	Abraham, Martin And John	Dion
02	Purple Haze	Dion
03	Tomorrows Is A Long Time/Everybody's Talkin'	Dion
04	You Better Watch Yourself (Sonny Boy)	Dion
05	The Dolphins	Dion
06	He Looks A Lot Like Me	Dion
07	Sun Fun Song	Dion
08	Both Sides Now	Dion
09	Sisters Of Mercy	Dion
10	Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever	Dion
11	Daddy Rollin' (In Your Arms)	Dion

Dion and The Belmonts A Teenager In Love Dion und die Belmonts Dion and The Belmonts... more

Close menu

"Dion"

Dion and The Belmonts

A Teenager In Love

Dion und die Belmonts

Dion and The Belmonts
A Teenager In Love
(Doc Pomus-Mort Shuman)
Laurie 3027
2:36

The pride of the Bronx, Dion and The Belmonts personified the best in Italian-American doo-wop, by now flourishing across the boroughs of New York City. Lead singer Dion DiMucci describes his quartet's brawny sound as "black music filtered through an Italian neighborhood and comes out with an attitude: 'Yo!' It's true. It has all those elements. But the New York Italian-American, there's an element of, 'Yo! You talkin' to me?' There's this kind of idea, like you come across like you're supposed to know everything. I don't know where I got that idea, because it's absurd. But anyway, that's the attitude. I would say it's a confidence."

DiMucci assembled his Belmonts from the mean streets of his home turf, gathering first tenor Angelo D'Aleo, second tenor Fred Milano, and baritone/bass Carlo Mastrangelo. Their infectious I Wonder Why was a pop hit in the spring of 1958 on brothers Bob and Gene Schwartz's freshly minted Laurie Records, and they were just getting started (it's on our previous compilation). For their next Laurie outing, Dion and his cronies gave Fats Domino's I Can't Go On (Rosalie) a rocking reading, but it was the butter-smooth ballad flip No One Knows that made the charts late that summer, actually bettering I Wonder Why at #19 pop. Before year's end, they charted again with another tender ballad, Don't Pity Me.

Brill Building denizens Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman were about to embark on an incredible songwriting roll, having just handed Fabian his first smash. "I wanted to do 'Turn Me Loose,'" notes Dion. "I liked 'Turn Me Loose.'" The prolific duo had something special for Dion and The Belmonts too. "The way 'A Teenager In Love' came in, Ricky Nelson had 'Poor Little Fool.' So I kind of sang it to The Belmonts, and they started doing this thing," says Dion. "Then Mort Shuman and Doc Pomus, they had another song, I forget what it was called. And they kind of changed it to 'Teenager In Love,' and put that together. So it was kind of wonderful to just kind of sit on this blanket, the sound that the group was making. But definitely, if you listen to 'Poor Little Fool,' you can hear what kind of inspired it.' Waxed March 3, 1959 and issued on the same month with the mellow I've Cried Before on the flip, A Teenager In Love was a #5 pop smash that spring. Dion and The Belmonts were now teen idols. DiMucci wisely never underestimated the value of his songwriters.

"Doc Pomus was like a father to me, very much so. He really encouraged me. I miss him. He was just a great guy. I just used to like talking to Doc. Mort Shuman I loved. Mort Shuman was totally incredible," says Dion. "He was a great guy to hang out with. He was so interesting. I loved being with him."

Various Street Corner Symphonies 1959 Vol.11
Read more at: https://www.bear-family.com/various-street-corner-symphonies-1959-vol.11.html
Copyright © Bear Family Records

Read, write and discuss reviews... more

Close menu

Customer evaluation for "Abraham, Martin And John...plus"

Write an evaluation

Evaluations will be activated after verification.