Tonight’s selections from Dusty Springfield’s fifth studio album, 1969’s Dusty in Memphis; a potent mix of Brill Building songwriting and Memphis soul music. Have to start off with this one of course:
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Son of a Preacher Man
A few months ago I walked into the Rolling Stone office and palely inquired if the journal might possibly be interested in a review of the then-new Dusty Springfield album. Blank stares and a few snickers. Today, Jackie De Shannon’s “Put a Little Love in Your Heart” is one of the day’s events on AM radio and I still dig Dusty in Memphis.
Dusty started out with a nice little rocker called “I Only Want to Dance With You,” her first hit, riding in on the heels of Beatle boots in 1964, and then scored with, some of us anyway, a monster, “Wishin’ and Hopin.'” [...] And then a couple of years later she hit the top with “The Look of Love” and seemed destined to join that crowd of big-bosomed, low-necked lady singers that play what Lenny Bruce called “the class rooms” and always encore with “Born Free.”
It didn’t happen, and Dusty in Memphis is the reason why. This album was constructed with the help of some of the best musicians in Memphis and with the use of superb material written by, among others, Jerry Goffin & Carol King, Randy Newman, and Barry Mann & Cynthia Weil. Now Dusty is not a soul singer, and she makes no effort to “sound black”— rather she is singing songs that ordinarily would have been offered by their writers to black vocalists. Most of the songs, then, have a great deal of depth while presenting extremely direct and simple statements about love. Unlike Aretha, who takes possession of whatever she does, Dusty sings around her material, creating music that’s evocative rather than overwhelming. Listening to this album will not change your life, but it’ll add to it.
There are three hits on this LP, and they are representative of the rest of it. “Son of a Preacher Man” is as down-home as Dusty gets; it has an intro that’s funky, a vocal that’s almost dirty. The bass gives the song presence and Dusty doesn’t have to strain to carry it off. No one has topped her version of this yet and no one’s likely to. —Rolling Stone
So Much Love
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. —BBC
No Easy Way Down
By 1969, Springfield’s fortunes were deemed to be on something of a downward spiral. While that may have been true from a commercial standpoint, in artistic terms that was far from the reality. Case in point: in 1967 Dusty began a run of releasing singles that failed to chart in the UK, the only honourable exceptions being I Close My Eyes And Count To Ten and Son of a Preacher Man (both 1968). In fact, only 1970’s solitary How Can I Be Sure would make a (minor) dent on the Top 40 until the Pet Shop Boys spectacularly revived her career with quite possibly the greatest duet of all time, 1987’s matchless What Have I Done To Deserve This?
But what was the song that started the commercial decline? Only The Look of Love, the impossibly gorgeous theme song for the spoof James Bond film Casino Royale. The correlation between commercial and creative success had ceased to exist. And with Dusty in Memphis, Springfield not only proved that she was not only still relevant but hadn’t had even produced her best album up until that point. This was her moment, her definitive moment.
In recording terms, Dusty In Memphis was the first of her American albums, and represents what is perhaps now a lost art – a visiting English pop singer seeking to boost her credibility as a soul artist, backed by a crack country-soul house band of great players dabbling deeply in American music by finding and interpreting some of the best material coming out of Stateside songwriters at the time. —Steve Pafford
Just a Little Lovin'
Dusty in Memphis was recorded at Chips Moman’s American Sound Studios with session players known as the Memphis Boys, featuring bassist Tommy Cogbill and guitarist Reggie Young. The Sweet Inspirations provided the backing vocals and Gene Orloff conducted the orchestra. The producers assembled a list of songs for the album, some of which were written by Gerry Goffin & Carole King (“So Much Love,”“Don’t Forget About Me,”“No Easy Way Down” and “I Can’t Make It Alone”), Randy Newman (“Just One Smile”), and Burt Bacharach & Hal David (“In the Land of Make Believe”). One would think that this was the perfect set of circumstances lined up for Springfield, but her quest for perfection made the sessions a little difficult. Wexler wrote in his book Rhythm and Blues that out of all the songs on the list, “she approved exactly zero.”
Springfield was out of her element. Recording outside of the UK for the first time proved to be tough for her. In addition, recording with musicians who played with the likes of Wilson Pickett and many others, whose work she revered, was an understandably intimidating proposition. Her desire to honor the music which she was a fierce champion of was a hindrance, but listening to the album, you would never know it.
Springfield was used to having complete control over her recording sessions, even though she was never given credit as a producer on her previous four albums. American Sound Studios was not her turf and eventually her final vocals wound up being recorded in New York. One of the most fruitful events to come out of her Memphis sessions was Springfield suggesting to Atlantic Records that they sign a new group called Led Zeppelin. Bassist John Paul Jones was a part of her touring band and she fought for Led Zeppelin to get signed and they did. —Albumism
I Can't Make It Alone
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