Reviewed by Tony Cummings

IN THE MAINSTREAM The perfect accompaniment to Ace’s other classic compilation ‘The Best Of The Gospel Years’, this lovingly compiled set shows how spectacular was Dion Dimucci’s creative rebirth after those big rock’n’roll hits with, and without, the Belmonts. With God’s help Dion shook free of heroin addiction in the ‘70s then proceeded to cut a stream of breathtaking acoustic orientated songs. Here are many of them - his brutally honest look at his junky years “Your Own Back Yard”; his wonderfully swaggering blues rock opus “Doctor Rock ‘n’ Roll”; his plaintive ballad “It All Fits Together” and “Born To Be With You”, that extraordinary musical collision between the singer and the out-of-control producer Phil Spector which, despite all the odds, produced a wall-of-sound classic. Throughout Dion’s lazily languorous Bronx blues vocal style is a classic sound so that today it’s not altogether surprising that James Walsh from pop hitmakers Starsailor recently took over a page of NME to explain why Dion’s ‘70s recordings show him a the “greatest singer that ever lived.” Timeless pop music from one of the all time greats.

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