By Phil Rainone
Dennis
Diken With Bell Sound - Late Music
(cryptovisionrecords.com)
Dennis Diken has to be one of the best kept
secrets in rock ‘n’ roll. As stickman
for the Smithereens, who recently celebrated
their 30th anniversary, Diken's most recent
vocal exposure has been on The Smithereens’
cover of The Who’s Tommy. He
had the undesirable job of trying to replicate
Roger Daltrey’s searing, and emotional
vocals on most of the songs - and he aced
it!
Dennis says in the press kit, “Please
don’t call this a ’solo’
album." This music was hatched by two
musically like-minded guys: Fellow Jerseyan
Pete Dibella collaborated with Dennis to bring
these 13 songs to fruition, which also include
appearances by The Wondermints, Andy Paley,
and The Honeys (the almost forgotten all-girl
60's surf group that featured Brian Wilson's
wife, Marilyn.) No wonder I was getting a
strong Beach Boys vibe from this disc! The
aforementioned artists were instrumental in
The Beach Boys sound back in the 60’s
and as well as more recent times.
On Late Music Dennis sounds like
he’s having a great time, and it shows!
He said that he’s been writing songs
since he was a kid of about five or six years
old. Now, I know a LOT of people could probably
make that claim, but on Late Music
you can pretty much draw a linear, hip musical
timeline from the opening cut, “The
Sun’s Gonna Shine in the Morning.”
If Pat Dinizo had opted to write more cool,
upbeat working-on-a-sunny day tunes, instead
of his classic, I-hate-myself-for-loving-you
sizzling rockers, this could be a classic
Smithereens tune. It's like finding a long-lost
Beach Boys, fun-in-the sun holy grail! The
closer, “Tell All The Fools,”
is a Beach Boys--meets-The Association mid-tempo
house rocker that Dennis and the assorted
musicians deliver with a shirt-sleeved rolled
up work ethic. The interplay of the voices
and the instruments creates rhythmic balance
and a beautiful dynamic. “Long Lonely
Ride,” an ode to hotrods and B-movies,
is like a Jan & Dean semi-epic, “Deadman’s
Curve” ain't got nothin’ on this
baby! Dang!
“Let Your Loved One Sleep” sounds
like a crisply torn page out of The 1910 Fruitgum
Co’s songbook. Nostalgic embellishments
are rampant with indelible harmonies, but
that’s part of the magic and charm of
Late Music. Dennis Diken and the
band’s lack of pretension (in fact,
there isn’t any sign of it whatsoever),
and the way they honor their influences is
what makes this album fresh and inspirational.
It’s like they’re painting a picture
from memory, but their also adding current
influences as well!
