doubting him. He was tough, arrogant, not really dangerous like Elvis, but unquestionably mean. A punk.

And in 1960-62, he was the best thing we had. Not only did he have the image, he also had a succession of great songs perfectly suited to his style, written by himself and Ernie Maresca; and to top it off he had the very best voice around, kinda rough but capable of all kinds of intonations, and a sure, instinctive sense of style and delivery that elevated his records to a plane far above the ordinary. He never had to reach or strain for a note, never sounded forced or contrived. His records were smooth, natural, honest, earthy, and vastly appealing.

He started out with the Belmonts in 1958, one of the very first Italian groups to join the streetcorner doo-wop scene. Their records together were mostly traditional ballads like "In the Still of the Night" and "When You Wish upon a Star," and their biggest hit, "Where Or When." Their only other Top Five record was "Teenager In Love," which was the closest Dion ever came to the whining Philadelphia sound.

When Dion broke away in 1960 his first record was "Lonely Teenager," which found him alone in the world, a rebellious runaway, at age 16. As "The Wanderer" he ran into Runaround Sue, Little Diane, Sandy, Donna the Prima Donna, Ruby Baby, and countless other girls whom he loved and left without telling his name. And thus the legend of Dion continued through 1963, when he left his original label Laurie for Columbia, and on into 1964, when his hits stopped coming. He got one more in '68 with "Abraham, Martin & John" but as a singer-songwriter he was not only ahead of his time but also always a bit out of phase. With his voice and songwriting ability I'm surprised he hasn't had a hit recently, especially after Nelson and Berry, but I guess he has his reasons.

I was always a fan of Dion's, but even so my respect for him went up several notches when I heard his Reunion album with the Belmonts, recorded live at Madison Square Garden (the first live recording of his career). The reasoning behind "Garden Party" always eluded me; Dion would never be enough of a wimp to accept money for appearing at an oldies show where people had paid up to $10 for tickets, and then rip them off by playing hokey folk songs. Dion's proud of his new stuff, but he's proud of his old stuff too, and rightly so.

It really shows in Reunion.