CD reviews

Dion
“Heroes: Giants of Early Guitar Rock”
Saguaro Road

It’s been 50 years since he and The Belmonts first cruised doo-wop heaven with “I Wonder Why” and 40 years since he patrolled the charts solo with the aching “Abraham, Martin and John,” yet Bronx-born Dion DiMucci has lost neither his muse nor that hip swagger that launched such tunes as “Teenager in Love,” “Runaround Sue,” “The Wanderer” and “Ruby Baby.”

Now a well-preserved 68 — and with voice emphatically intact — Dion follows last year’s sturdy blues outing (“Son of Skip James”) with a loving salute to 15 classic rockyroll hits that’s delivered with the kind of robust-yet-faithful power and flair not heard since Rockpile.

No pussyfooting around with rare/lesser-known tracks, either — the veteran sails into the teeth of the whirlwind by attacking iconic recordings by (in order) Eddie Cochran, Ritchie Valens, Buddy Holly, Ricky Nelson, the Everly Brothers, Gene Vincent, Del Shannon, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry, Roy Orbison and Bill Haley before closing out with a muscular reprise of “The Wanderer.”

Incredibly, all but three or four versions herein at least hold their own with the classics — and maybe two or three are definitive — making “Heroes” as much a tribute to the singer’s unsinkable rock’n'roll heart as to the objects of his affection.

– Jim Musser

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