FEATURE:
A Buyer’s Guide
Part Forty: Dusty Springfield
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FOR the fortieth part of A Buyer’s Guide…
PHOTO CREDIT: Vivienne
I wanted to select the work of one of Britain’s greatest artists. Dusty Springfield is a true legend, and, through her career, she released some utterly amazing and engrossing music. If you need a bit of information about her first, this Wikipedia article will guide you:
“Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien OBE (16 April 1939 – 2 March 1999), professionally known as Dusty Springfield, was an English pop singer and record producer whose career extended from the late 1950s to the 1990s. With her distinctive mezzo-soprano sound, she was an important singer of blue-eyed soul and at her peak was one of the most successful British female performers, with six top 20 singles on the US Billboard Hot 100 and sixteen on the UK Singles Chart from 1963 to 1989. She is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and UK Music Hall of Fame. International polls have named Springfield among the best female rock artists of all time. Her image, supported by a peroxide blonde bouffant hairstyle, evening gowns, and heavy make-up, as well as her flamboyant performances, made her an icon of the Swinging Sixties.
Born in West Hampstead in London to a family that enjoyed music, Springfield learned to sing at home. In 1958 she joined her first professional group, The Lana Sisters, and two years later formed a pop-folk vocal trio, The Springfields, with her brother Tom Springfield, and Tim Feild. They became the UK's top selling act. Her solo career began in 1963 with the upbeat pop hit "I Only Want to Be with You". Among the hits that followed were "Wishin' and Hopin' " (1964), "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself" (1964), "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" (1966), and "Son of a Preacher Man" (1968)”.
To nod to a phenomenal artist, I have selected her four albums that are a must-hear/buy, in addition to one that is a bit underrated. I also take a look at her final-released album, and I recommend a Dusty Springfield book that makes for useful reading. Here are the essential works of…
A music icon.
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The Four Essential Albums
Ev'rything's Coming Up Dusty
Release Date: 8th October, 1965
Label: Philips
Producer: Johnny Franz
Standout Tracks: Won’t Be Long/Oh No !Not My Baby/I Can’t Hear You
Buy: https://www.discogs.com/sell/release/2035368?ev=rb
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/2Hba8F0toyYAF7pn4yOXu8?si=iQvkvAU0R62c00_U3Ey9aQ
Review:
“Dusty Springfield's second British LP was roughly equivalent to the American You Don't Have to Say You Love Me album, which appeared ten months later in the United States and had the title hit and one other song ("Little by Little") added, and three of the U.K. edition's songs stripped off. The British version also appeared as a gatefold, filled with a series of beautiful photographs and extensive notes. More to the point, this second album presented a more mature Dusty Springfield, doing songs by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley, Randy Newman and co., although all of the material here -- even "Who Can I Turn To," from the musical The Roar of the Greasepaint -- still has a soulful edge. Moreover, she scales new heights of passion on Rod Argent's "If It Don't Work Out" and the ethereal "That's How Heartaches Are Made," and seems close to bursting her lungs on Gerry Goffin and Carole King's "I Can't Hear You." A little more than half of this album -- mostly the up-tempo numbers -- was recorded with her on-stage backing group the Echoes, and they have a nice, lean band sound that was also a departure from the lushly orchestrated, outsized production of her early singles sides. The whole record comes off as perhaps the greatest Motown album that was never made by Motown, and has a pleasing unity in its British form that the U.S. version lacks. Ev'rything's Coming Up Dusty has been reissued twice on CD, first in 1990 from BGO Records and again, in 1998, from Philips Records in England, augmented with eight bonus tracks, all songs that she recorded in September of 1964 with producer Shelby Singleton and arranger Ray Stevens, most of which turned up in America on the Ooooooweeee! album, but three of which were unreleased in England until the issue of the Philips CD" - AllMusic
Choice Cut: Doodlin'
Where Am I Going?
Release Date: 27th October, 1967
Label: Philips
Producers: Johnny Franz/Dusty Springfield (on Chained to a Memory)
Standout Tracks: Don't Let Me Lose This Dream/Chained to a Memory/If You Go Away
Buy: https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?master_id=170792&ev=mb
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/4jdPgMWBBKtiQi7uEqfSW1?si=9dX9g0a5S8-M4QTnejpXHA
Review:
“Where Am I Going? is a phenomenal album by Dusty Springfield, and though it doesn't have any American chart hits made famous by the icon, it would have been a blessing had every single performance here conquered the Top 40. The LP cover is great -- a black-and-white photo of a smiling Springfield with wide-brimmed hat, mini skirt, and a comic book quotation in psychedelic off-pink and orange asking Where Am I Going? The music inside, with strings and orchestration, is a relentless delight. The Pat Williams arrangement of Bobby Hebb's "Sunny" with conductor Peter Knight reveals a touch of the James Bond riff, a definite sign of the times. One can hear the wondrous voices of Madeline Bell and Lesley Duncan, the backing vocals blending perfectly with the orchestration in songs like "I Can't Wait Until I See My Baby's Face" and "Don't Let Me Lose This Dream." "Where Am I Going?" is as perfectly surreal as its title suggests -- imagine Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music twirling around in the windmills of Springfield's mind. This is not the driving pop of "I Only Want to Be with You" or "Wishin' & Hopin'," this is symphonic adult contemporary. "They Long to Be Close to You" is the serious and dramatic blues that the Carpenters aspired to develop. "Welcome Home" is out-of-this world rhythm & blues told with authority. It and other tracks from Where Am I Going? puts Springfield in that elite class reserved for the best of Janis Joplin, Etta James, and Ella Fitzgerald -- female vocalists who found notes in niches of songs that were unavailable to lesser mortals. While Springfield was filling the airwaves in America with "The Son of a Preacher Man" toward the end of 1968, a band called Vanilla Fudge had "Take Me for a Little While" on the U.S. charts, but their disc was issued in July of 1967 and their success in the States was a delayed reaction. Dusty Springfield takes that great composition and turns it into snappy pop with an amazing vocal. Add "If You Go Away" and the musicians on these grooves take the listener on a wild ride running the gamut of genres without disrupting Where Am I Going?'s flow. This is a tremendous and often forgotten masterpiece in the repertoire of Dusty Springfield which deserves more attention. It truly is the record which keeps on giving” – AllMusic
Choice Cut: (They Long to Be) Close to You
Dusty in Memphis
Release Date: 18th January, 1969
Labels: Atlantic (U.S.)/Philips (Worldwide)
Producers: Jerry Wexler/Arif Mardin/Tom Dowd
Standout Tracks: Just a Little Lovin’/Breakfast in Bed/The Windmills of Your Mind
Buy: https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?master_id=74378&ev=mb
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/5FRB5oQaHxlDNe6gMGuzu2?si=34lpFanfQquzwLqsgJi5Bg
Review:
“Despite its status as a classic record, Dusty in Memphis had less than auspicious beginnings. By 1968 La Springfield had scored a string of chart successes with what she called 'big ballady things' and her decision to make an album in Memphis, home of hard edged R 'n' B grooves, was viewed with puzzlement by many.
Teaming up with the crack production/arrangement team of Jerry Wexler, Tom Dowd and Arif Mardin (responsible for Aretha Franklin's Atlantic classics) also proved a bit much initially for Springfield, whose confidence in her vocal abilities was never very high. Worried that the session musicians would think she was a sham and unnerved by singing in the same vocal booth as used by Wilson Pickett, Dusty's relationship with her producers became strained, with Wexler claiming he never got a note out of her during the initial sessions in Memphis.
You'd never know this from the recorded evidence though. Springfield unsurprisingly resists any temptation to do an Aretha, instead relying on understatement, timing and delivery rather than vocal firepower. The songs (all by Brill building denizens) are all top notch, and Springfield's interpretation of them is peerless, almost to the point that it's tempting to slap a preservation order on them to stop any attempts at future covers from the likes of Sharleen Spiteri. Likewise Mardin's sensitive blend of Bacharach poise and Memphis funk provides the perfect frame for Dusty's blue eyed soul.
'Son of A Preacher Man' and 'Breakfast in Bed' hum with a potent mix of vulnerability and knowing desire; though both songs are pretty much ingrained in the psyche of anyone of a certain age, they still retain a hefty emotional charge. On the other hand, Randy Newman's 'I Don't Want to Hear It Anymore' and 'I Can't Make It Alone' must rank amongst the finest ballad performances you're likely to hear, and Springfield even makes the cod psychedelic inanities of Michel Legrand's 'The Windmills of Your Mind" seem almost meaningful.
The cover boasts a sticker proclaiming that this record made it into Rolling Stone's Coolest records of All Time Top 10. Don't let that put you off; if you have ears, you need this album..” – BBC
Choice Cut: Son of a Preacher Man
Cameo
Release Date: February 1973 (U.S.)/May 1973 (U.K.)
Label: ABC Dunhill Records
Producers: Steve Barri/Brian Potter/Dennis Lambert
Standout Tracks: Who Gets Your Love/I Just Wanna Be There/Learn to Say Goodbye
Buy: https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?master_id=256973&ev=mb
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/42QGez2quv3TGMUKbFJU3d?si=q8SmCWk-TyGgdlQlI8M1PQ
Review:
“When Dusty Springfield takes on "Easy Evil" by frivolous songwriter Alan O'Day -- the man who wrote "Rock & Roll Heaven" and sang "Undercover Angel" -- you understand she can do no wrong here. The production and the performance is top notch. "Mama's Little Girl" sounds like it inspired Gamble & Huff's Elton John hit "Mama Can't Buy You Love," which came six years after this, the brilliance of Gamble and Huff clearly influencing Steve Barri and company. The choice of material is wonderful; David Gates' "The Other Side of Life" shows how a song of his can blossom outside of the confines of his hit group, Bread. All 12 titles are sublime pop, some of the best Lambert and Potter you'll find anywhere. What a hook they wrote for this artist with "Comin' and Goin'," and what heart! It moves and grooves like one of those album tracks you wish was beat into your head on a daily basis by Top 40 radio. Ashford & Simpson can be very proud of "I Just Wanna Be There"; Springfield just claims the tune as her own, with horns and backing vocals creating the wave for her magical voice to ride. Audiences can get caught up in the hit records of an artist, and often they fail to seek out the material they never got familiar with. Universal's Hip-O label has re-released Cameo under the new title Beautiful Soul with additional tracks. It hopefully will get people to hear Dusty Springfield take Willie Hutchison's "Who Could Be Loving You Other Than Me" to another realm. Just a wonderful, wonderful record” – AllMusic
Choice Cut: Mama’s Little Girl
The Underrated Gem
White Heat
Release Date: December 1982
Label: Casablanca
Producers: Howard Steele/Dusty Springfield
Standout Tracks: I Don't Think We Could Ever Be Friends/I Am Curious/Losing You (Just a Memory)
Buy: https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?master_id=356921&ev=mb
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/0crnMQvNEVdezBBlvKSGgq?si=PPVU1c4KQdCdk-zlVkU1Xg
Choice Cut: Don’t Call It Love
The Final Album
Faithful (Recorded in 1971)
Release Date: 7th April, 2015 (U.S.)/13th April, 2015 (U.K.)
Label: Real Gone Music (recorded for Atlantic Records)
Producer: Jeff Barry
Standout Tracks: I'll Be Faithful/Live Here with You/You’ve Got a Friend
Buy: https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?master_id=1038705&ev=mb
Review:
“Unlike Dusty in Memphis and A Brand New Me, Faithful was neither recorded in a major hotbed of soul music, nor produced by a crew with serious soul bona fides. (Barry was just coming off a stint writing for cartoon bubblegummers the Archies, while songwriter Bloom had scored a hit of his own in 1970 with the calypso-flavored “Montego Bay.”) Nevertheless, the songs and instrumentation on the album are simpatico with Springfield’s loose yet controlled style, and are varied enough to show all her faces. On the one hand are the great belters, like angsty dancefloor filler “Haunted” and tough-as-nails “Natchez Trace,” which proves Dusty could turn on hard rock vocals as naturally as Janis Joplin or Ann Wilson.
The best song on the album, however, is the blue-burning groove of “I Believe in You.” Springfield starts the song with seemingly off-hand phrasing, backed with a few stray piano, bass, and organ notes. The arrangement gradually begins to ground itself and swell in size, throwing in backing vocals, drums, and rumbling horns, but never loses its fragile grandeur. Album closer “I Found My Way Through the Darkness” shares a similar quality, its superficial looseness and busyness enrobing a deceptively tight construction. Together, the pair of tracks recalls the low-key epics and dirt-floor mysticism of Van Morrison’s Tupelo Honey or the Band’s Music from Big Pink, transcending the mere terrificness of the rest of the album to become something almost holy” – Rebeat Mag
Choice Cut: Make It with You
The Dusty Springfield Book
Dancing with Demons: The Authorised Biography of Dusty Springfield
Authors: Penny Valentine/Vicki Wickham
Publication Date: 5th April, 2001
Publisher: Hodder Paperbacks
Synopsis:
“Dusty Springfield led a tragic yet inspiring life, battling her way to the top of the charts and into the hearts of music fans world-wide. Her signature voice made songs such as, "I Only Want to Be With You," "Son of A Preacher Man," and "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me," international hits. In Dancing With Demons, two of her closest friends, Valentine and Wickham, capture, with vivid memories and personal anecdotes, a Dusty most people never glimpsed in this no-holds-barred yet touching portrait of one of the world's true grand dames of popular music” – goodreads.com
Order: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dancing-Demons-Authorised-Biography-Springfield/dp/0340766743