Dion is back as a full on Blues rocker and, incredibly, sounding as good as he ever did. The voice is older but still has that incredible Doo Wop generated tone and feel. This album isn’t about celebrating his amatory conquests, rather the title refers to him duetting with some of the finest ladies of the Blues you could imagine. The music seems to be written to suit the girl friends, but Dion fits perfectly into their styles, proving that he really is a man of many talents.
The Girl Friends include: Susan Tedeschi, Carlene Carter, Rory Block, Sue Foley, Shemekia Copeland and Joanne Shaw Taylor among others and there are no missed chances, all the tracks work at some level or another. The only problem with an album like this is that all the songs are written to the style of the ladies so the album loses much of the flow that you might expect.
The album opens with a duet featuring Susan Tedeschi, ‘Soul Force’. A smoky and spooky Blues, Tedeschi delivers a fine solo.
The duet with Shemekia Copeland is a joyful number with a great soulful vocal from Copeland and a classic soul presentation.
Maggie Rose is a name that is new to me, but her vocal on ‘I Got Wise’ is chilling and kinda haunting and their duetting is wistful and quite gorgeous. ‘Just Like That’ features Joanne Shaw Taylor on both guitar and vocal on a rock/Blues number that shows her well.
There aren’t any duffers here, it is well worth checking out.
