Dionne Sings Dionne (1998) Revisited

[face]

Let me get straight to the question: Is Dionne Sings Dionne (DSD) the most personal album that Dionne has ever recorded? In light of the news that her next project is more of the same, I've been thinking about her first project of this nature. After listening to it again, I've begun to appreciate DSD more not so much as an artistic triumph (although it certainly is pleasurable), but as a clear statement about Dionne's personal taste in music. Based on her interviews over the years, Dionne loves Brazilian music, love ballads, gospel music, "message" songs, and traditional R&B. DSD has the Latin/international flavors that she openly admires ("Brasil," "San Jose," "Always Something There"), the sappy big ballads ("Love Begins With You," "I Promise You"), the save-the-world anthems ("If I Want To," "WTWNN," "All Kinds of People"), the sleek urban contemporary numbers ("Say a Little Prayer," "Walk On By"), a gospel number ("Humbly I Pray"), flavors of her favorite group, Earth Wind and Fire, via the Emotions ("Reach Out For Me"), and, of course, obligatory nods to her children and current trends (Tyrese on "Be My Neighbor" and the rappers on "WTWNN"). DSD really stands apart as representing the "real Dionne" at a mature age, having fun singing the kind of music that she enjoys, instead of simply doing whatever has the most commercial appeal at any given time. Sure, it's a mixed bag, and all of us here cringe at the thought of people tinkering with Bacharach's originals, but DSD deserves respect as the closest look we might get at Dionne's musical tastes. Of course, one could also make the more cynical argument that DSD was merely an attempt to cram as many of Dionne's trademark styles as possible (with an updated sound) on one CD, most with the Bacharach/David stamp that was very much in vogue in the Austin Powers nineties, as a way of generating some hits. I like my story better!

[ron hertel]

face:
Your perception of this project is interesting! ... Coincidentally - I played it last week myself. .... It certainly has its moments. I really like the 2 George Duke productions - "I Promise You" and "If I Want To" (Bacharach & Will Jennings). .... After hearing those cuts - I had hoped that the late George Duke would produce an entire album for Dionne. ....... Didn't care much for the reworking of the BB/HD/DW classics with the exception of El DeBarge and The Emotions on "Reach Out For Me" .......... The hip-hop version of "What The World Needs Now Is Love" remains totally puzzling. ...... Since the release of DSD back in 1998 there have been a couple of other Warwick attempts to update these classics ("My Friends and Me" and "NOW") ...... I'm sticking with the "originals" ....... Dionne is releasing another collaborative CD in May with guests including Alicia Keys. Hope they resist the temptation to once again attempt to bring the BB/HD/DW classics into the 21st century. ........ By the way - the Japanese release of "DSD II" contains an interesting arrangement of "In Between The Heartaches".
ron

[BachtoBacharach]

I agree that your perception of the project is interesting as well. I have never found the remakes to be of much interest, Including the "Now" project although Phil Ramone's production was first rate and there were a few tracks which were really good. I have listened to DSD perhaps a sum total of three times in the past 17 years and it just never moved me at all. I have gone on record before as stating that I feel the majority of Dionne's 1980s work through now has been distressingly MOR, bland and uninspired with a few notable exceptions such as the Barry Manilow produced Dionne album, Heartbreaker project and a handful of cuts of Bacharach such as TWFAF and Finders of Lost Loves and even those are not nearly as compelling as her body of work from the 60s and 70s. But, I do feel that most of the 80s was dedicated to MOR synthesized blandness from many artists so she was certainly in good company. The exception of her current output is the Sammy Cahn project which was much more compelling than her endless revisits of her BB/HD material. I will also stick to the originals for those! I truly hope Dionne has one more outstanding project left in her although I have my doubts that her upcoming project is "It". The thing that discourages me the most about the upcoming project is the involvement of her son Damon who was responsible for the travesty "My Friends and Me" which featured the most cheesy, cheap production values I have ever heard on a Dionne Warwick project...she deserved better! That album has been enclosed in its case since I listened through half of it before I turned it off and that was years ago. Unfortunately, Dionne has never been able to live up to her work with Bacharach/David in the 1960s and early 1970s and perhaps that is unfair, but the comparison between the sublime and the merely good is inevitable. No matter how good her later work was, it pales in comparison to those BB/HD classics.

[face]

I'm glad you think my idea has some merit. I just get the feeling listening to it that Dionne was enjoying herself and that she had a big hand in how it all came together, and that's probably why I enjoy listening to it so much. I don't get the same good feeling from other projects like Friends Can Be Lovers or the Cole Porter project, for example, where she was just clearly going through the motions with no real investment. I also get a cold feeling from the 1972 Dionne album, Just Being Myself, Love at First Sight, and much of Friends.

As far as the other remake albums, My Friends and Me is easily the worst album of Dionne's entire career. The production values are beneath her, and her singing was completely uninspired. She even displayed pitch problems a few times, which is unacceptable for a musician of her caliber. I've listened to that CD no more than a few times since I bought it when it came out. I hope that Damon comes through for his mom on this new CD, because another project like My Friends and Me would simply alienate everyone. I love Now because the production was excellent, Dionne's singing was polished and elegant, and because she took on some lesser known songs. If she must continue to remake the BB/HD tunes, I hope she'll continue mining the lesser known gems instead of singing the big hits over and over and over again (no more "I Say a Little Prayer"!!!).

I think another thread analyzing Dionne's post-Arista work would be interesting. While this period of her career seems to get the least attention, she has recorded some really stellar (and personal) music in these last 16 years. DSD, some tracks from DSD II, the live Syracuse concert, the Christmas CD, the Sammy Khan project, the gospel CD, and Now all contain some real pleasures. Say what you will about her "vocal decline," but Dionne can still interpret a song like no one else, and her mature voice brings depth and wisdom to good lyrics.

[Blair N. Cummings]

Even those of us most critical of Dionne have an abiding affection for what she once could do. Nevertheless, I can`t help but think that Burt must have been shaking his head in regret when he handed this to the Stylistics.
Not to detract from Russell`s talent, but I always thought that this was Burt`s way of saying, "Okay, you can mimic me, but can you handle this?"
Of course, he could, but imagine Dionne ten or fifteen years earlier....

[An Enormous BB Fan]

People's tastes are so different. Of course, this is a given. For example, I absolutely love The Stylistic's version of Hang My Teardrops Up To Dry. My thinking is that Burt loves it. It has a Thom Bell feel to it as well (maybe he arranged it) and that ain't bad. It should have been a hit song if you ask me. And I absolutely loved Dionne's "Just Bein' Myself" album from so many years ago, with all those great H-D-H songs. Her singing was spectacular on that album. I wish they had done a second album together.

The great Derek Jeter said that this will be his last year playing baseball. He realizes that his skills are not the same. People will say about him, "He knew when to quit."

[Blair N. Cummings]

I don`t think I made my point well. I like this recording, but it had an uncharacteristic complexity compared with what Burt was churning out with Carol at the time. I always heard this as a lost Warwick track.
Stylistics material was, from the start, Bacharach-influenced. I simply meant that it might have been with some wistfulness(better word) that Burt handed this to the group.

[An Enormous BB Fan]

I don`t think I made my point well. I like this recording, but it had an uncharacteristic complexity compared with what Burt was churning out with Carol at the time. I always heard this as a lost Warwick track.
Stylistics material was, from the start, Bacharach-influenced. I simply meant that it might have been with some wistfulness(better word) that Burt handed this to the group.

I get what you're saying now and I totally and whole-heartedly agree. And, of course, you're right -- this easily could have been a lost Warwick track. As I was saying to a friend the other day: Burt had such a great thing going with Hal and Dionne. It really was perfection (at least to me). And for Burt to break it off made lovers of what they created together lose years and years of great recordings. If only someone could have knocked some sense into Burt. If only the movie "Lost Horizon" had been the biggest hit movie that year!

[blueonblue]

Dionne in her prime.


"blue"