A major influence on artists as varied as roots rocker
Dave Edmunds
,
Lou Reed
, and
Bruce Springsteen
(two of whose
Lucky Town
songs he covers here),
Dion
effectively mixes his tough yet delicate city-styled street corner harmonies with basic
Chuck Berry
chords to produce evocative tunes that, although embedded in the echoes of his youth, bubble with a soothing, low-key effervescence.
's perennially youthful voice delightfully swoops and swirls on the autobiographical
"In New York City"
and the
Everly Brothers
-styled
"Hey Suzy,"
but it's on the
Springsteen
tracks, especially the beautiful a cappella ballad
"If I Should Fall Behind,"
which seems like it was written with this arrangement in mind, that the concept fully clicks. The band chugs behind him with shabby charm, the backing vocalists are warm and subtle, the sound sparsely clean, and the album cruises along like a shiny '50s convertible primed on hi-test. Some of these songs, like the magnificent opener
"Shu Bop (The Lost Track),"
although retro in concept, sound lean and fresh with little of the stylized production of the doo wop era.
sings with the joyous vitality of his youth throughout, making the appropriately named
Deja Nu
one of the best, and most fully realized, albums of his extensive yet uneven career. ~ Hal Horowitz