Dion: Tank Full Of Blues

The Wanderer returns to the source.

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Old rockers never die, it seems, they just rediscover the blues. The final piece of the trilogy that began with 2006’s Grammy-nominated Bronx In Blue finds Dion (he of the Belmonts) in suitably gnarly form, investing a bunch of largely self-written tunes with both zest and purpose.

There’s a low-down greasiness to I Read It (In The Rolling Stone) and the Wild Thing-referencing My Michelle, although for the most part these songs are rooted in fairly perfunctory 12-bar stylings. Crossroads cliches abound on the Robert Johnson tribute Ride’s Blues, and both Johnson and Muddy Waters are covered on the medley Two Train.

That said, Dion rescues things with the climactic Bronx Poem, a valedictory salute to his former sidekicks the Belmonts, the early days of rock’n’roll and the formative influences that shaped him.

Rob Hughes

Freelance writer for Classic Rock since 2008, and sister title Prog since its inception in 2009. Regular contributor to Uncut magazine for over 20 years. Other clients include Word magazine, Record Collector, The Guardian, Sunday Times, The Telegraph and When Saturday Comes. Alongside Marc Riley, co-presenter of long-running A-Z Of David Bowie podcast. Also appears twice a week on Riley’s BBC6 radio show, rifling through old copies of the NME and Melody Maker in the Parallel Universe slot. Designed Aston Villa’s kit during a previous life as a sportswear designer. Geezer Butler told him he loved the all-black away strip.