Pre and post Dion history of the Belmonts and Carlo solo on Mohawk, Laurie, Sabrina, Laurie - hey there was a lot going on in the Bronx in the early 60s. Hear and read it on this fine compilation
Carlo Mastrangelo was one of the original Belmonts, the group who backed Dion Di Mucci for the first few years of his career. Dion split to find fame & fortune as a solo act in 1960, leaving the Belmonts a little high & dry. They in turn split from Laurie Records, after one unsuccessful single, and soon found moderate success, with a series of 45s on Sabina (and Sabrina) Records. Dion in turn left Laurie records for Columbia and so Laurie signed up Carlo again as his replacement. This compilation, which is made up of the 16 tracks on the original Carlo & The Belmonts wax release on Ace some years back, with the addition of 8 further sides, features sides from both Carlo's solo career and post-Dion Belmonts, some of which feature Carlo on lead vocals - confusing? Anyway the 24 sides on this bumper bundle CD take you on a trip from The Belmonts 1957 recording of "Santa Margherita" through to their 1975 AOR A Brand New Song/Story Teller single and Carlo solo outings from 1963 to the seriously, psyched out "Nowhere Chick" in 69. Weird, but wonderful.
