Tag: Dion

This was Dion’s 5th Christian album and is actually my personal favourite. While Put Away My Idols was his big Christian album I actually think this is a better album. The Pop tracks are simple and fun which was actually Dion’s strength. It’s what made him big in 60’s and I’m glad he carried it through to most of his Christian albums. The album did have 2 CCM charting singles, “Still In The Spirit” made it to #5 and “He’s In You” made it to #24 so it was moderately successful but I think it should have done better. I am going to be a bit critical of Dion now however. I can’t see one artist on this album that was from the Christian music industry. All of the studio musicians are mainstream musicians. I’m not saying none of them were Christian because I never judge who is or isn’t a Christian but none of them were ever involved in the Christian music scene. Many people argue that Dion was jumping on the Christian bandwagon while it was hot, and he was not. I do understand their opinion because Dion just didn’t seem to be a part of the community. Strange bit of trivia about the album. Track 5 is called “Only God Can Change A Heart” an the jacket but is called “Only God Can Make A Change” on the label. Proofreading was a optional thing in the record industry. Anyway that aside I really enjoy this album and you should give it a listen if you enjoy the pop style.

Tracklist
1 – Still In The Spirit – 3:35
2 – Crazy Too (Fallen In Love) – 3:32
3 – He Hears Them All – 3:48
4 – He’s In You – 3:40
5 – Only God Can Change A Heart – 2:55
6 – Daddy Says – 2:50
7 – Come To The Cross – 3:43
8 – You Can Do All Things (Through Christ) – 4:23
9 – I’ve Come Too Far – 3:21
10 – You Only Go ‘Round Once – 4:02

Credits
Acoustic Guitar – Dion DiMucci
Art Direction, Design – Jeffery Fey
Backing Vocals – Chuck Kirkpatrick, Doug Shawe, Johnny Sambataro, Kitty Woodson, Pamela Sessody, Paul Pettitt
Bass – Phil Chen
Electric Guitar – John Sambataro, Leslie West, Rick Hitchcock
Engineer [Assistant] – Jim Sessody, Stan Lambert, Ted Stein, Teresa Verplanck
Management [Artist Direction] – Zachary Glickman Artist Management
Mastered By – Bob Ludwig
Percussion – Joe Galdo
Photography By – Bill Tuohy
Producer – Dion DiMucci
Producer, Engineer – Eric Schilling
Producer, Keyboards, Organ, Synthesizer – Paul Harris
Saxophone, Soloist – Ed Calle
Synthesizer – Larry Dermer

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Word, Inc.
Copyright © – Word, Inc.
Produced For – Salt Productions, Inc.
Designed At – Art Hotel
Recorded At – Criteria Recording Studios
Mixed At – New River Studios
Mastered At – Masterdisk
Pressed By – Electrosound Los Angeles – Δ26746

This is Dion’s first Christian album. He was a huge artist through the 60’s and 70’s perhaps best known as Dion & The Belmonts and Dion & The Wanderers. I have to make a confession that my friends and I didn’t listen to Dion. I remember that we were aware of him but for some reason he just never made it onto our playlists (cassettes in the day). This is further confusing because I think all of us grew up with Dion in our homes in the 60’s and early 70’s. It is odd that I know his secular work better than his Christian work. I am going to further confess that I had not listened to this album before writing this review. Now the reason I am going on about this is that this album is great, I would have loved it in 1980. I do love Dion’s 60’s work but this album sounds more like his 70’s work and I think it’s darn good too. So my apologies to Dion for not listening to him at the time but I’m making up for it now.

Tracklist
1 – I Believe (Sweet Lord Jesus) – 3:34
2 – He’s The One – 5:02
3 – Center Of My Life – 4:28
4 – The Truth Will Set You Free – 6:10
5 – Gonna Be Ready – 3:39
6 – Old Souvenirs – 3:51
7 – New Jersey Wife – 3:54
8 – Man In The Glass – 4:21
9 – Sweet Surrender – 4:33

Credits
Art Direction [Cover Art Direction] – Dennis Hill
Bass – George “Chocolate” Perry
Co-producer [Co-Produced By] – Eric Schilling, Paul Harris
Drums, Percussion – Jose Galdo*
Engineer – Eric Schilling
Engineer [Assistant Engineer] – Jim Peterson
Guitar – Dion DiMucci, Tony Battaglia
Keyboards – Paul Harris
Mastered By – Bob Ludwig
Other [Cross Presented By] – August DiMucci
Photography By [Cover Photographs] – John Miller
Photography By [Cross Photograph] – Dion DiMucci
Producer [Produced By] – Dion

Companies, etc.
Produced For – Salt Productions
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Word, Inc.
Copyright © – Word, Inc.
Manufactured By – Garrod & Lofthouse Ltd.
Recorded At – Bayshore Recording Studios

The teen heart throb of the 50’s and 60’s becomes a troubadour for the Gospel by the 70’s and 80’s. Dion Dimucci (Dion) was a solo artist and member of Dion and the Belmonts in the early years of rock and roll and remained a chart topper for years. Ironically his two biggest hits, Runaround Sue and The Wanderer, were both about philanderers, one a woman and one a man. But right before the dawn of the 1980’s Dion had a spiritual awakening and began a lengthy career is Christian music. He released several successful albums for Dayspring Record with “I Put Away My Idols” being the most successful and most artistically satisfying. The style is closer to Dion’s 70’s folk rock style with limited 50’s rock and roll except in a novelty form. The content is very evangelical, yet never too trite or contrived. The title track is the closest to a “testimony” song as anything he recorded in CCM. “Trust in the Lord” and “Very Soon” have a very “island” sound (I wouldn’t call it reggae) similar to direction Steven Soles took but more Jimmy Buffet than Bob Marley. Most of the album is very “Scriptural” using direct Biblical references to support the message of the songs.

Contributor David Lowman – https://ccms500bestalbums.wordpress.com/

Tracklist
1 – Here Is My Servant – 3:37
2 – Trust In The Lord – 2:59
3 – Day Of The Lord – 4:02
4 – I Put Away My Idols – 3:08
5 – Daddy – 5:00
6 – Very Soon – 4:08
7 – They Won’t Tell You – 3:38
8 – Healing – 5:14
9 – Give It Up And Surrender – 3:09
10 – My Prayer For You – 2:53

Credits
Acoustic Guitar – Dion DiMucci
Alto Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone – Neal Bousanti
Arranged By – Dion
Arranged By [Strings], Conductor [Strings], Electric Piano [Rhodes], Piano, Organ, Harp – Paul Harris
Backing Vocals – Chuck Kirkpatrick, John Sambataro, Kitty Woodson, Pamela Sessody
Bass – Phil Chen
Congas – Walter Santos
Cover, Layout, Design – Jeffery Fey
Drums, Percussion – Joe Galdo
Engineer – Eric Schilling
Engineer [Assistant] – Jim Sessody
Layout [Inner Sleeve] – Dennis Hill
Lead Guitar, Rhythm Guitar, Acoustic Guitar – George Terry
Management – Zachary Glickman
Mastered By – Bob Ludwig
Photography By – Aaron Rapoport
Producer – Dion DiMucci, Eric Schilling, Paul Harris
Synthesizer – Tim Devine
Written-By – Bob Smith (tracks: A5-B4)

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Word, Inc.
Produced For – Salt Productions, Inc.
Copyright (c) – Word, Inc.
Recorded At – Criteria Recording Studios
Mixed At – Criteria Recording Studios
Mastered At – Masterdisk
Pressed By – Monarch Record Mfg. Co.
Designed At – Art Hotel
Published By – County Line Music
Published By – Skinny Zach Music
Published By – Brotherly Love Productions
Published By – Gold Mine Music Inc.
Published By – Word Well Music
Published By – Word Music

This was Dion’s 3rd Christian album. It followed pretty closely in the path of the first two but did concentrate more on the teachings of Christ rather than the misgivings of his own personal life. There really isn’t much more to say about the album. I do not mean this to be disrespectful but let’s face it, most Dion albums sound similar and are rinse and repeat. Now I’m not saying it’s a dull album, in fact it’s a good album as were all of Dion’s albums in my opinion.

Tracklist
1 – Hearts Made Of Stone – 3:58
2 – The Best – 3:29
3 – Sweet Love Of Jesus – 4:18
4 – It’s Gonna Rain – 3:35
5 – Only Jesus – 4:30
6 – Train For Glory – 3:32
7 – Thank You Lord – 3:07
8 – Sailing Ahead Of The Wind – 4:51
9 – Puttin’ On My Crown – 3:29
10 – Greater Is He – 4:12

Credits
Alto Saxophone – Jeff Kirk
Arranged By – Dion DiMucci (tracks: A4)
Artwork By – Rick Garcia
Backing Vocals – John Sambataro, Kitty Woodson
Bass – Jeff Caswell
Co-producer, Keyboards, Harp – Paul Harris
Co-producer, Recorded By, Engineer – Eric Schilling
Congas – Santos
Design – Jim Osborn
Drums, Percussion – Joe Galdo
Electric Guitar, Backing Vocals – Tony Battaglia
Engineer – George Gomez
Lead Guitar – George Gomez (tracks: A1)
Mastered By – Bob Ludwig
Photography By – Alan Messer
Producer, Arranged By, Acoustic Guitar – Dion DiMucci
Synthesizer – Reed Arvin, Ron Taylor
Tenor Saxophone – Charles Chalmers
Written-By – Bill Tuohy (tracks: A1), Dan Beck (tracks: B5), Dion DiMucci (tracks: A1, B2, B3, B5), John Fowler (tracks: A2), John Hanley (tracks: A5), Bob Smith (tracks: A3, B1, B4)

Companies, etc.
Record Company – Word, Inc.
Recorded At – Bayshore Recording Studios
Mixed At – Bayshore Recording Studios