I find it hard to be objective about the woman who in 1969 joined Jerry Wexler to make one of my favorite--hell, one of the greatest albums of all time: Dusty in Memphis, pop with strings on top, good old boys below, and the most exquisite material of a class act's career in between. Springfield's only rival was and is Dionne Warwick, but Warwick has Bacharach-David in her karass while Dust was stuck with Ivor Raymonde. This mid-60's hits compilation could be a lot better: it predates the definitive "The Look of Love" and bypasses inspired filler like "Mama Said" and "Do Re Mi" for the hideously orchestrated schlock she spent her biggest years transcending. Yet though she never belted like she crooned, she put so much heart, soul, and mind into her big ballads that most of the time you can ignore the kettle drums. I only wish I could hear what Tom Dowd and Arif Mardin--and Dusty--would have made of "You Don't Have To Say You Love Me." B+
>>130132510One of the most overrated albums of all time.
>>130132569The review is of a hits compilation
>>130132510Even as a Dusty fan I think Dusty In Memphis is hugely overrated, or used to be. It should’ve been an obvious slam dunk but neither side of the collaboration seemed to bring their best effort I thought. I just never heard the brilliance that every critic in the world supposedly heard in it. Cuckgau applauding a white soul singer for underselling her talents is not surprising at all.
>>130132569>>130132600Dusty in Memphis was a big letdown for meI came in expecting Dusty channeling her inner fat black woman over soulful grooves, but instead it's mostly just basic pop with too many strings
>>130132569>completely standard Atlantic soul album backed by the Muscle Shoals gang but having a white British woman singing it is somehow an achievement
>>130132710It's just kind of sleepy. The production is restrained but not in a way that works for the material or the singer, and the singer herself isn't really trying either. Critics always seemed to be embarrassed by the idea of white singers "showing off" like black singers, but Dusty was one who could do that really well and the big sound of her earlier work accentuated that, while the Atlantic sessions went a little too far in the opposite direction. Also in Christgau's case he simply could not bring himself to admit that the British can do soul.
>>130132510good album
>>130132510>and bypasses inspired filler like "Mama Said"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyikIdu9gksPoints knocked off for just blatantly copying Shirley Alston's vocals.
