Everyone, as near as makes no difference, knows of the Dion DeMucci who ascended to doo wop divinity with The Belmonts in the late 50s, then seamlessly progressed to the finger-clicking, pomade-bespattered Noo Yoik braggadocio of solo hits Runaround Sue and The Wanderer in 1961. You could just picture the switchblade in the pocket of his tuxedo.
Less celebrated is Dion’s subsequent folk-blues phase: and this is palpably unfair because, as Wonder Where I’m Bound reveals, he swam in these waters like a natural. Originally issued in 1969, this somewhat thrown-together compilation from Dion’s early-to-mid-60s stint with CBS nevertheless can’t seem to help mining purest gold all over the place. Chiming, shimmering folk-rock compositions such as Knowing I Won’t Go Back There and Now rub corduroy caps with tersely beautiful acoustic-guitar-andvocal readings of Southern Train and Woody Guthrie’s 900 Miles, as well as a coolly undersold Mose Allison-style version of Baby, Please Don’t Go. Only the rather gloopy standard A Sunday Kind Of Love is a tad misplaced in this august company; but, like everything else here, it’s still immaculately sung. Dion was inducted into the US Rock’n’Roll Hall Of Fame in 1989. Today, we’re pushing hard for living sainthood.
