337. Dion - Born To be With You (1975)


















Track Listing

1. Born To Be With You
2. Make The Woman Love Me
3. Your Own Back Yard
4. He's Got The Whole World In His Hands
5. Only You Know
6. New York City Song
7. In And Out Of The Shadows
8. Good Lovin' Man
9. Baby Let's Stick Together

Review

Dion walks the fine thread between the tacky and the quite good. Phil "Ladykiller" Spector's production actually helps it to fall on the right side of that line. It sounds like a rough Spector production, but the fact that it hasn't much sheen is good for the album.

The fact that Dion has always felt that this album was quite unfinished helps explain the problems behind the album. IT is inherently tacky and it just isn't bad because it was left quite rough.If they had made the album the way it was intended it would be much worse.

In the end it is a pretty good album, Dion's voice is affecting and delivers each line perfectly, the production is "wall of soundy" without being intrusive. It has something of the rock right next to something of the lounge and that makes it interesting. An album to check out.

Track Highlights

1. Born To Be With You
2. Make The Woman Love Me
3. New york City Song
4. Good Lovin' Man

Final Grade

8/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

Dion was born to an Italian-American family in the Bronx borough of New York City. As a child, he used to accompany his father, a vaudeville entertainer, on tour, and developed a love of country music – particularly Hank Williams – and the blues and doo-wop stars he heard in local bars and on the radio. His singing abilities were honed on the street corners of Crotona Avenue, where he rounded up other local singers inventing acapella licks, and in local clubs.

In early 1957 he auditioned for Bob and Gene Schwartz, who had just formed Mohawk Records. They recorded him with a vocal group, The Timberlanes, and released a single "The Chosen Few", arranged by Hugo Montenegro, which became a minor regional hit.

Starsailor cover the title track: