|
"Suite for Late Summer" track listing:
(side 1)
1.) Soft Parade of Years - 3:00
2.) Running Close behind You - 3:06
3.) Traveller In the Rain - 3:33
4.) Tennessee Madonna - 3:36
5.) Sea Gull - 4:08
(side 2)
1.) Wedding Song - 3:12
2.) Jennifer Knew - 3:51
3.) Didn't You Change - 4:32
4.) It All Fits Together - 3:07 5.)
To Dream tomorrow - 2:35
Dion had settled into being a pretty average-'70s singer/songwriter by
1972 when Suite for Late Summer appeared, albeit a singer/songwriter
with a very above-average voice. The songs (mostly original) were
average, though, and Russ
Titelman's production was on the lush side. There's a sluggish
introspection to most of the tracks, and the occasional injection of melodic
melancholy — as on "Soft Parade of Years," or the classical
string arrangement embroidering on "It All Fits Together" — does
it quite a bit of good. "Jennifer Knew," though, has to count as
one of the highlights of his post-'60s work, with strings that just about
manage to enhance the drama, rather than deaden it, and memorably haunting
passages. The album was paired with his 1972 LP Sanctuary
on a 2001 Ace CD reissue, which adds three additional tracks from the late
'70s.
The re-examination of Dion Dimucci's 70's oeuvre continues twofer set
combining 1971's part live part studio Sanctuary with the wistful elegiac
Suite for late summer LP from the following year. Sanctuary's live portion ,
revisiting old faves like the wanderer , ruby baby and AMJ finds Dion in
muscular bluesy form ,instilling new life into old grooves . But the studio
material is a revelation with the small band combining to produce a set of
majestic mellow grooves like Sunshine Lady ,whose easy charms are worthy of
Fred Neil . Russ Titlemans under stated production on the soaring Seagull
and the delicate Soft Parade of Years bears comparison with Neil Youngs
finest acoustic work . There are also several rare 45's which rap up Dions
Warner Years .
Steve Rippon
Like Bobby Darin, Dion Di Mucci never stopped at the border posts between
musical styles. After doo-wop, rock'n'roll and gritty R&B, he entered
the 70s as a folkie - albeit one with an edge over his rivals, namely the
fact that he possessed a voice that was the epitome of white soul. That's
enough to give these patchy but undeniably enjoy-able early 70s albums a
real touch of class (and more than a hint of the feel of Van Morrison's His
Band And Street Choir).
Sanctuary is crisp, relaxed and (on a three-song live set from the Bitter
End) exuberant; Suite For Late Summer is more homogeneous, but none the less
convincing for that. Add in three rare B-sides (including 1977's 'Young
Virgin Eyes', a blatant rewrite of his Spector classic, 'Baby Let's Stick
Together'), and you have a quality package, completed by three bonus tracks,
one of which, 'Young Virgin Eyes', delightfully anticipates Dion's Yo
Frankie later period.
Peter Doggett
DION: Suite for Late Summer. Dion (vocals and guitar); orchestra. Soft
Parade of Years; Seagull; Jennifer Knew; Wedding Song; Didn't You Change;
and five others. WARNER BROS. BS
Performance: Good but strained
recording: Excellent
I continue to admire Dion He had the guts to see that there was something
beyond teenybopper stardom (at a time when that term hadn't yet been coined)
and set out to become a real musician.
This album proves that he has succeeded, but it also hints that his
particular talent - applying high romanticism to every-day adolescent
life-is about ten years out of date. Soft Parade of Years, for example, is a
lovely song. But it is essentially a reminiscence, and an inaccurate try at
describing the mood of today.
Of course, if the performances and songs were of a slightly higher
quality it wouldn't matter whether or not they were "now."
But Dion still seems to draw from his late-Fifties teenage experience and
values. Like others of his generation-Neil Sedaka, for instance - he is
trying hard to reach new audiences, but he doesn't seem to be able to resist
the occasional "commercial" fillip in his work.
It is a fatal temptation. for that sort of thing has long since gone. and
only strikes today's audiences as hokey. P.R.
At last, a great romantic fulfils his incomparable promise. An exquisite,
tender and highly original collection of all-new love songs. Suite for Late
Summer is by far Dion's finest and most consistent album.
Reaffirmation
Suite for Late Summer triumphantly reaffirms the primacy of romantic
music and heralds a new era by shaking off many of the love song's most
tenacious clichés. Much of the credit for this breakthrough goes to
lyricist Bill Tuohy, who collaborated with Dion on seven of the album's ten
songs. Together with Mike Birzon's "Wedding Song," Stuart
Mitchell's "it All Fits Together" and Dions,, "To Dream
Tomorrow," the Tuohy lyrics form a unified experience, inspired and
inspiring.
multi-Careers
Dion's long and colourful career is really several careers. Back in the
days when it seemed that everyone was a teenager, Dion was a teenager, too.
Unlike the rest of us, he was lucky enough to have a hit with his first
single ("I Wonder Why") and talented enough to follow up with many
more. From 1958 to 1963 he had ten records in the Top Ten, with and without
the Belmonts. That's career number one.
Career number two, equally accomplished musically but less fortunate
commercially, was that of Dion the rock-blues singer. As the public proved
indifferent to such ahead-of-their-time efforts as "Spoonful" and
"Kickin' Child," Dion was forced into an early retirement. That
retirement ended with a song that woke up America, "Abraham, Martin and
John." America woke up in 1968 not only to the frightful timeliness of
Dick Holler's song, but also to the newly mellowed, warm and tender voice of
a very mature young man, no longer a teenager.
Career number three, so auspiciously started, progressed uncertainly as
Dion, working for a single-oriented label, was unable to score a solid
follow-up to "Abraham." In 1969, he signed with Warner Bros. and
made an album called Sit Down, Old Friend with only his acoustic guitar for
company. You're Not Alone and Sanctuary followed in 1971, to encouraging if
not spectacular sales, while Dion toured the nation in a long, uphill
struggle to convince the people that he had outgrown the Oldies but Goodies
bin. (in pop music, past success can actually be a handicap; there is no
clearer case of this than Dion's.)
Career Number Four
Suite for Late Summer is a work of such assured excellence as to make
Dion's earlier efforts seem tentative by comparison. It would be hard to
imagine a voice more pleasant or relaxing, or one more involved in its
music. The lyrics hold one's attention throughout. "Soft Parade of
Years" is about growing old, but mostly about staying young.
"Seagull" paints a soaring romantic image for all the world to
share; a similar image is the subject of a current best-selling novel. The
poetic imagery of Bill Tuohy is at its peak in 'tennessee Madonna
,"while Mike Birzon's ' ' Weddind Song with the same fullness,
tenderness ... (sorry missing section ) ...love gone 'astray, there is never
any hint of sarcasm, bitterness or coldness in either the lyrics or in
Dion's interpretation It is this quality, perhaps, that makes Dion unique
among contemporary singers.
Side One
1. SOFT PARADE OF YEARS 3:00
(Bill Tuohy and Dion DiMucci)
2. RUNNING CLOSE BEHIND YOU 3
(Bill Tuohy and Dion DiMucci)
3. TRAVELER IN THE RAIN 3:33
(Bill Tuohy and Dion DiMucci)
4. TENNESSEE MADONNA 3:36
(Bill Tuohy and. Dion DiMucci)
5. SEAGULL 4:08
(Bill Tuohy and Dion DiMucci)
Side Two
1.---WEDDING SONG 3:12
(Mike Birzon)
2. JENNIFER KNEW 3:51
(Bill Tuohy and.Dion DiMucci)
3. DIDN'T YOU CHANGE 4:32
(Bill Tuohy and Dion DiMucci)
4. IT ALL FITS TOGETHER 3:07
(Stuart Mitchell)
5. TO DREAM TOMORROW 2:35
(Dion DiMucci)
PRODUCED BY RUSS TITELMAN
(An album made for CD - is anybody listening out there??)
Where's Dions Zing
Dion Suite for late summer
I tried I really tried hard to find something to like about this album
review, but by the end of it I just wanted to scream from Boredom. The
longest songs on Mr Dimucci's newest LP is only four and a half minutes long
but every song seemed to last forever. Perhaps its because they all sound
alike and neither Dions voice nor the arrangements add any hint of life.
Where has the zing of Run around sue or the wanderer gone ? He now sounds
like a tired blood case who could use a shot of rock'n'roll music to wake
him up. His delivery is totally wooden . Maybe he thinks that's the way
contemporary singing-song writing artist is supposed to sound but one need
only listen to Paul Simon or Peter Yarrow or Tom Paxton to know that isn't
so.. Most of the material on the album is written by Dion with lyrics
provided by a man called Bill Tuohy who is taken with seagulls "born in
the whirling womb of a spinning time" and watching "the caravan of
time go by". He may be trying for romantic poetry but he gets bogged
down in the pretentious and the trite. Ironically Dion himself wrote the
best song on the album "to dream tomorrow" is a nice simple song
about going home – and there's a lovely line in it "it makes me smile
to dream tomorrow " but alas it's the albums final song and hope has
long since vanished.
Lorrain Alterman - journal unknown.
Dion Suite for Late' Summer
Let it Rock March 73 by Stephen Barnard
Dions problems are identical to nelsons , but he has not surmounted them
so easily . Rick after all went straight back to his first love country
music when he finally decided he wanted to please himself , but dions gone
for the Leonard Cohen bit by completely forsaking melody. He sings well dam
it , for a former balladeer he should do and Russ Titelman the producer has
seen fit to add strings to each and every track , but they don't hide the
fact that these are nothing tunes .
The lyrics may be good but its impossible to tell with all that dirge for
the listener to cope with. No one is credited on the sleeve for the
arrangements but they sound like a poor mans Randy Newman or Nick De Caro
although it may well be the songs that defeated the arranger and for that he
can't be blamed .
The title tells the storey of passing years and the blooming of artistic
maturity -"soft parade of years", "traveller in the
rain"," DIDN'T YOU CHANGE ","IT ALL FITS TOGETHER
", "TO DREAM TOMORROW " – and I can only presume that that
is what the songs are about. Trouble is that somewhere along the line he
like many of his contemporaries has forgotten that the prime function of pop
music is to entertain.
The relentless release schedule continued, but Dimucci had the sense to
vary his direction. This album was not received well by the critics at the
time, but that's not surprising, it is one that grows over a prolonged
period of time. Like earlier albums this one is relaxed but it also has a
dreamier side that sets it apart, largely contributed by the steel guitar
heard throughout. Bill Tuohy makes a major contribution co-writing 7 of the
10 songs. The album is a set of autumnal love songs about relationships and
growing up. In some ways its difficult to pick out individual tracks because
each one contributes its bit, to the perfect whole, and that also counts for
the yellowish pastel shading of cover. For the re-release the single version
of "Running Close Behind you" could be added, said to be produce
by Phil Spector, but I find that hard to believe. Ian Maunders in depth
re-assessment of this album can be found in YF 4. (Rating 10)
Although 2 further albums would appear on Warners, neither could easily
be described as folk. Had Dimucci ran out of ideas for that genre, or more
likely was the company applying pressure for him to vary his style to
generate greater sales.
|
