Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
One cool daddy, one auspicious casual cat, but one with the rich seam of emotion that embraces the heart and mind together in a way that so few people can manage, can even contemplate, and in that full embrace the listener, the aural lover, will always find the one with love for humanity reaching out long after many have believed the message has stopped being sent.
People think of the term stomping ground as a kind of ownership, an arrogance perhaps that suggests that the speaker is unwilling to compromise on their past selves and all that they have seen, completed, helped create, or in some cases destroy. arguably they also consider the fact the speaker of the phrase is suggesting they required no help to make the Stomping Ground their own.
Memories of insight, of grace within our own dedication to where we have laid many hats, loved many times, been hurt, been scared, come back fighting, that is the truth of the stomping ground, and it wouldn’t be the same without help from friends, from collaborators who wish nothing but the best for you.
One of the most iconic names in music, Dion, understands this completely, and in his brand-new album, Stomping Ground, that collaboration is not just presented, it is the motive, means, and opportunity in which to attest that his hangout in the 20th and 21st Century pantheon of music greats, would arguably have been less rich had he not found the courage to be with others, to hold the relationship and the embrace he has been so famous for.
Across an album of exceptional music and lyrics, it is to the collaboration that sees the endeavour excel; names and legends such as Mark Knopfler, Patti Sciafla, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Gibbons, Rickie Lee Jones, the Godfather of 21st Century Blues, Joe Bonamassa, and Peter Frampton, come together to bring the album alive.
If Blues With Friends brought Dion the acclaim he undoubtedly deserved in the later years of his long career, then Stomping Ground takes it up a notch, and in the same regard, the same enthusiasm he fought alongside with in 2020, so to does this new album complete the majesty of his performance.
‘Accolades and rewards’, as Dion elegantly and honestly observes, ‘were my goals. But when I reached them, they didn’t satisfy’, and it is to the greatness of the man that it comes to us all that we realise what matters most is sharing the stomping ground, showing others where you once sat and formed plans, in the hope that they too will understand, and wish to experience it again, but with you by their side.
There are stars, and then there are those that you set your sail by and navigate dark waters by, and in tracks such as Take It Back, Dancing Girl, There Was A Time, The Night Is Young, Angels In The Alleyways, I Got My Eyes On You Baby, and I’ve Been Watching, those stars burn brightly, they release a calmness, a necessity, and an alliance, a friendship between artist and listener that is forged in fire and mutual respect; one to whom the Stomping Ground is shared with love.
Dion releases Stomping Ground on November 19th via KTBA Records.
The Wanderer, a musical based on the life and music of Dion, and written by Charles Messina, will stage its world pre-Broadway premiere at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Milburn, New Jersey on March 24th 2022.
Ian D. Hall