There are a few records in rock's pantheon whose legend and influence are massive in spite of the fact no-one, save a few musicians, has ever actually heard them. 'Born To Be With You', a 1975 collaboration between battered rocker Dion Di Mucci and maniacal genius producer Phil Spector, is one of them, revered by Pete Townshend and Bobby Gillespie. And, with its sky-scraping ballads, quite possibly studied by Spiritualized and Richard Ashcroft, too.
As this welcome CD reissue proves, the whispered hype is entirely justified on this one. 'Born To Be With You' is an astonishing album, placing Dion's soaring white soul vocals into some of Spector's greatest cavernous, reverberating settings.
Since his early '60s hits like 'The Wanderer' and 'Runaround Sue', Dion had passed through alcoholism and heroin addiction, become a born-again Christian and developed a philosophical approach to his experiences, something Spector exploited brilliantly in these mammoth and moving songs. On the title track, 'Make The Woman Love Me' and 'In And Out Of The Shadows' especially, the two of them create the sort of New York street hymns that Bruce Springsteen could only dream of. Springsteen himself, Lennon and Cher, amongst others, stopped by to watch the sessions - sometimes featuring several horn sections and up to ten guitarists.
And you can tell. The result is a towering achievement - albeit one the ever-fickle Spector decided should only be released in the UK. On this reissue, its impact is diluted a little by the addition of a hardly earth-shattering 1976 MOR set, 'Streetheart', with Spector and crew conspicuous by their absence. Nevertheless, now it's finally available again, 'Born To Be With You' deserves to be celebrated by many more than the rock cognoscenti.
by John Mulvey