Miki Dallon

As an artist, producer, and songwriter, Miki Dallon was an interesting secondary figure of the British Invasion, albeit one whose work rarely troubled the charts ("Take a Heart," a fair-sized U.K. hit for the Sorrows, being his most successful tune). As a singer he was only adequate, if exuberant, but as a composer he had a knack for combining some hard-edged R&B riffs with British Invasion pop-soul. That's Alright is an unwieldy but worthwhile compilation of 23 tracks from the 1960s in which he was involved, usually as an artist, though sometimes only as a songwriter. Mixing both rare singles and unreleased material, the cuts on which Dallon sings are mixed with covers of his songs by the Sessions, Boys Blue, the Crusaders, the Renegades, the Caretakers, Neil Christian, and Mickie Most -- none of them exactly household names, except Most (who was more known as a producer than a singer). Yes, it's one for the British Invasion obsessives, but if you're in that crowd there are some really good tracks here, particularly the ones that go for a poppy R&B raver kind of sound. Those include Boys Blue's "You Got What I Want" and the Sessions' "Let Me In," both of them also done by the Sorrows; the Sorrows' own versions of Dallon's songs (they did several) are unfortunately missing, and the rendition of "Take a Heart" here, by the Renegades, is far inferior to the tremendously exciting Sorrows interpretation. It's also unfortunate that Dallon's best performance as a singer, the stomping "I'll Give You Love," has the first few words cut off in an apparent inexcusable production error on the reissue, though luckily it's been reissued elsewhere. Fierce and excellent as well are Most's "That's Alright" and Christian's "I Like It," both with guitar by Jimmy Page, though much of the rest of the disc is tame and ordinary in comparison. Ending the CD are four "bonus tracks" of 1964 demos by Dallon with Chas Hodges, which have tinny lo-fi sound and Joe Meek-like arrangements. ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide