Dion - Tank Full Of Blues (2012)

Erzes

[Tracks]

1. Tank Full Of Blues 4:14
2. I Read It (In The Rolling Stone) 3:56
3. Holly Brown 3:34
4. Ride's Blues (For Robert Johnson) 4:41
5. Two Train 4:05
6. Do You Love Me Baby 3:48
7. You Keep Me Cryin' 4:23
8. My Michelle 3:51
9. My Baby's Cryin' 3:39
10. I'm Ready To Go 3:13
11. Bronx Poem 5:03


[Notes]

When Dion DiMucci was nominated for a Grammy in the Best Traditional Blues
category for 2006's Bronx in Blue, an excellent collection of blues
standards, it was an official affirmation that he was "back." In truth, he'd
never left, and had been recording all along. He issued a stellar follow-up
in 2007's Son of Skip James, a collection of revelatory blues covers and
fine new material. The third album in this blues trilogy is Tank Full of
Blues. Recorded in a trio setting, Dion produced the album, wrote all but
two selections, and played the hell out of all the guitars on it. Tank Full
of Blues is a slippery, street-smart, utterly inspired album of blues and
roots rock tunes that are free of nostalgia and drenched in history. Truth
be told, any of the current era's bluesmen would be hard pressed to come up
with lyrics near as profound as those found the in the harrowing "Ride's
Blues (For Robert Johnson)." The track offers a new myth about the great
bluesman; it delves deep into spiritual matters while addressing the terror
that lies in the heart of anyone lost to her or himself. There's a
redemptive twist that's as surprising as it is free of cliches. The meld of
acoustic and distorted snarling electric guitars tells its own story -- the
story of the blues itself -- to underscore the narrative. The title track,
offered in swaggering Chicago blues style, offers a familiar and bitingly
humorous tale of the life of an itinerant musician to be sure, but in a
larger sense, also speaks to the conflicted nature of the human heart. "Two
Trains" is a beautifully executed medley of Muddy Waters' "Still a Fool" and
Johnson's "Ramblin' on My Mind." "My Michelle" pays tribute to Jimmy Reed's
enduring musical influence and sense of humor. The strutting, updated
rockabilly in "I'm Ready to Go" lays out Dion's sense of purpose in this
world and the next. Finally, in "Bronx Poem," a spoken word piece that
closes the disc, Dion speaks the unvarnished truth about where he's been
and, perhaps even more bravely in this cynical age, where he stands --
without flinching. He possesses a rhyme skill set that would make any rapper
jealous. Accompanied by his own haunting guitars and Robert Guertin's
quietly shuffling drums, Dion celebrates humanity in the light of his
spiritual convictions. In doing so, he comes full circle to meet himself as
a street corner poet in the 1950s, and reveals his wisdom as the result of
his experiences in the past and the present. He has no need to romanticize
or apologize; he remains the keen-eyed, tender-hearted observer he has
always been. Tank Full of Blues may be the late entry in a catalog of great
work by Dion, but it stands with his best recordings. In fact, it is the
album he's been waiting an entire career to make.

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