Customer Reviews

Runaround Sue

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
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While this isn't the place to start your Dion collection, (Get either the Repretoire Greatest Hits or the King of the New York Streets Box first.)if you're already a fan you should definitely dive in. This album is definitely one of the better LP from its era and some of Dion's best work.

In format, it's not a lot different than most other LPs of the time with a couple hits ("The Wanderer" and the title track), a handful of remakes and some token original tunes. However, this is a far more personal LP than you'll find from any other artist of the time. This LP truly represents the taste and personality of the Prince of the Bronx.

The covers here are not chosen randomly. "Dream Lover" is a tribute to one of Dion's most formative influences Bobby Darin. "Little Star", "In the Still of the Night" (the Five Satins song), "Kansas City" and "Life is But a Dream" were all the kind of stuff that Dion used to listen to on the street corner growing up. This is not to say that are all perfect.

Some of these like the Darin number and Bobby Vee's "Take Good Care of My Baby" are a little too close to the originals. And Dion doesn't quite have the pipes to convert "In the Still of the Night" as well as Fred Parris.

But "Kansas City really kicks with an astonishing guitar solo. It stands proudly along "Sue" and "The Wanderer". And "Life is But A Dream" is Dion musically naked pushing his voice to its limit, expressing not just his love for the song but an outlook on life.

The original songs are also of a high quality. Dion co-composed "Lonely World" which features a great arrangement with the Del Satins and could have been a hit on its own. The lilting "Runaway Girl" and "Somebody Nobody Wants" express the other side of Dion's personality, the wounded lover. It's almost affecting as his swagger. There are no tracks originals or remakes that are anything less than respectable.

What can you say about the hits? They are ageless and sound better here than on any other re-issue. Even more recent albums haven't captured what the engineers did here. You can hear the saxophone buried in the mix on "Sue" and the piano under the Del Satins' harmonies on "The Wanderer".

The new liner notes are brief but informative with input from Dion himself. The original notes are here as well. The main packaging drawback is that there are no additional photos to the ones on the front and back covers.

Overall, this is a splendid buy, especially if you want to prove to friends that great rock albums did not start with the Beatles.

Released originally in 1961, this album instantly became a classic and remained on the billboard charts for 51 weeks. I am quite sure that most people will know almost every song on this album, which, seeing as it is not a greatest hits album, is astonishing. He does an excellent cover of Bobby Darins 'Dream Lover' and a few other covers, but it's the song 'Runaround Sue' and the two blues 'Kansas City' and 'The Wanderer' that really make this album such a hit. A lot of people these days dismiss the old classics from the 50's and 60's as mere bubblegum, but I defy anyone to listen to this and not feel like dancing.

Alot of the album is other people songs.But he didit in the Bronx soul way. The Dion way.Little star one of my favor doo-wop song.How he belting out.Lonely world bring a tear to eye if you really understand the meaning.And been though it. And dream Lover makes you want to dream.Brings the best out of Dion.

Dion/ Runaround Sue (The Right Stuff): This is a true classic and an absolute joy. This is one of the few albums of real quality during that time and it helped the up-and-coming rockers to see that there was more to the music business than a slipshod single. This CD deserves a place on every collector's shelf...but it will be played far to often to collect any dust. Highly Recommended.

The other night, I was listening to Cyndi Lauper's SHE'S SO UNUSUAL when It suddenly hit me that the "bully boy" male chorus on the retro-ish "I Kiss You," was a cop from early Dion hits like "The Wanderer." Well, let's call it a "quote," not a "cop." Whatever you call it though, it just goes to show how enduring Dion's sound really was. These days, it seems that Dion doesn't always get his due from rock historians and critics, and the current listening public is likely to think you mean Celine should you announce that you're a Dion fan.

Of course, Mr. DiMucci is fondly remembered by those in the know--and he's survived lo these many years. There were good reasons for his durability. He really could sing, was a solid performer on stage, and he was as rootsy as any body from the Bronx could hope to be. In fact, his eclecticism and his degree of comfort in multiple genres bespoke an a musically sophisticated sensibility that one is tempted to describe as urban. For early 60s rock, it was certainly "urbane."

Dion has been anthologized to death, so it's nice to have an actual early album available on CD. Two of Mr D's biggest--the title track and "The Wanderer"-- are included, which alone are worth the price of admission. But it's fascinating to hear them in the context of a 1961 album. As others have pointed out, the album is a typical assemblage of a few actual hits, covers of hits by other artists of the day, and a few originals that were never destined to be hits (whether they are truly just "filler" or not is subject to debate).

There's an interesting tension here between the teen pop typical of the doo-wop stuff he'd been doing with the Belmonts, and the rockier stuff that demonstrates the grit and the punch he was capable of. He does a very credible version of "Kansas City," for instance. No surprise, then, that Dion would go on to do straightforward R&B and blues releases later in his career. As a mature artist and grown up "hoochie coochie" man, he may have found that he couldn't quite reduplicate the commercial success of youth. But he was wise enough to know he couldn't stay a "teenager in love" forever--and that realization helped ensure that he'd become more than just a nostalgia act.

Most of Dion's songs with or without the Belmonts are great, kind of White Doo Wop, and this album is no exception. But Laurie Records made a waste of "Runaway Girl" as a B-side, if I'm not mistaken of "Runaround Sue". I'll buy this CD just for this song as I have a very complete Dion's compilation. Raúl

Although 2 of Dion's biggest are here, the rest of the LP/CD is typical of the early 60's LP formula; hits, covers & filler. The fact that this is Dion makes it more attractive, but I'd either go for a hits compliation or the Ace release from several years ago, "Runaround Sue/The Best of the Rest".

THIS IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE OLDIES CDS! MY 2 FAVORITE SONGS ON HERE IS DEF "RUNAROUND SUE" AND DREAM LOVER". NOT TO MENTION, "THE WANDERER" IS GREAT TOO! ALL OF THESE SONGS MAKE YOU SING WITH EM. THIS CD IS A MUST TO BUY!