“I know I’m old school but I still got it going on” so sings Dion on “Sugar Daddy”, and he’s not wrong.
In recent years, the Wanderer himself has made recording with others something of a pastime, making these albums with a load of special guests and “Girl Friends” is no different.
Indeed, it gives itself away in the title.
12 songs, loads of female special guests, and away we go.
It kicks off in the same fashion it spends most of it. Soulful, classy, and bluesy as you like. Susan Tedesci joins to do her thing on “Soul Force” and the collection finds its vibe immediately.
There’s a wonderfully old-school feeling about this, “Aim To Please” (on which Danielle Nicole is brilliant) is typical, in that it’s just music made because people loved making it.
If “Stop, Drop And Roll” doesn’t quite send greetings from Asbury Park, then it is still imbued with the salty air of the Jersey Shore. Indeed, there’s such a timeless charm to the 12-bar strut of “Do Ladies Get The Blues” (with Christine Ohlman and Debbie Davies) that you feel like you’ve heard it before.
Lyrically, most of this sounds like it’s concerned with matters of the heart – but right in the middle there’s an almost folk ballad. “American Hero” feels like a plaintive cry for the world, on which Carlene Carter sounds especially world-weary.
Mostly, though, this just sounds as content as can be. The acoustic-tinged, mid-paced “Man Like Me” relaxes in its skin. The aforementioned “…..Daddy” has things on its mind, that aren’t much to do with love, while the fiddle on “Endless Highway” (Randi Fishenfeld excels) proves that if the Devil did indeed go down to Georgia then he’s got the best tunes.
Because Dion has been there, seen and done everything, and got the scars to prove it, the musicianship is as good as it gets. Maggie Rose’s harmonies on “I Got Wise” rather make that plain, while somewhere John Fogerty is checking if he wrote the glorious “Hey Suzy”.
“Mama Said” sees Shemekia Copeland dial up the sass, while Joanne Shaw Taylor’s hot streak continues, with her mighty cameo on “Just Like That.”
There’s so much to like here. Not least I am pre-disposed to like duets because of a lifelong adoration of “Islands In The Stream”, but even more, there’s a feeling that you get when fantastic musicians get together that anything could happen and sparks could fly. When they catch fire here, it is special.
He’s been enjoying something of a late-career renaissance has Dion DiMucci
and this underlines why. Confident and classy but above all, fun, the warmth on “Girl Friends” is what makes the music – and these songs – so good.
Rating 8.5/10
