Dusty in Memphis

by

Dusty Springfield

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Like the singer herself, this album is legendary. (It's also supposed to be Neil Tennant's favourite LP of all time.)

I first heard it in the early '80's, when I began listening to the LP output of Dusty Springfield, rather than just the hit singles. Of all her recordings, this is simply the best and most consistent of her LP's. The songs are all classics: Son Of A Preacher Man, Breakfast In Bed, Windmills of Your Mind, Don't Forget About Me....

The arrangements are scintillating: a deep soul groove, stong instrumentation, with restrained orchestral and string arrangements. You can almost imagine her singing these songs backed by a four-piece group in a small club environment.

Such is the attention to detail and the fluid inter-play of voice, instruments and rhythm that it has a really intimate and warm feel to it.

If you wanted to compare a diva of the 60's with the so-called divas of today, then this is an excellent starting point. Not a warble or forced note in ear-shot.

My only complaint about this UK version is that it rather short-changes the listener. There have been about 4 different versions of this album in recent years, each with "bonus" tracks etc. This one is not the definitive version - for that, the keen listener should look out for the US edition, which adds a whole album's worth of related recordings to the Memphis sessions...