Dusty Springfield Longing (CD)

(Real Gone Music) 10 tracks

In the early 1970s, Dusty Springfield relocated from her native England to Los Angeles in an effort to pursue new opportunities in her career and signed with ABC/Dunhill Records. Her 1973 album Cameo showcased Springfield's soulful pop in splendid fashion but failed to generate significant traction outside of Billboard's Adult Contemporary listings. For her sophomore project with the label the following year, Dusty travelled to New York to team with producer Brooks Arthur, renowned for his work with Phil Spector's 1960s coterie of girl singers, For Longing, Arthur chose to frame Dusty in the 1970s singer-songwriter milieu, surrounding her with material from Colin Blunstone ("Exclusively for Me"), Melissa Manchester & Carole Bayer Sager ("Home to Myself"), Janis Ian ("In the Winter"), Stephen Schwartz ("Corner of the Sky"), Chi Coltrane ("Turn Me Around"), Barry Manilow ("I Am Your Child") and others. In many cases, the songwriters themselves contributed directly by playing keyboards on their respective creations at Arthur's famed 911 Studios. Bruce Springsteen was also known to sit in on some of the sessions in admiration.
 
As the sessions wound down in the summer of 1974, Dusty found herself suffering from emotional exhaustion and professional uncertainty. She subsequently chose to put the album on the shelf and part ways with the label, ultimately re-recording a pair of the tracks when she signed to United Artists Records a few years later.
 
In 2001, under the supervision of producer Arthur, nine of the ten tracks he recorded with Dusty were released on CD as part of a collection of her ABC/Dunhill period.  A tenth track ("Corner of the Sky" from the Broadway musical Pippin) was reworked as a duet with Petula Clark and included on a pair of her anthologies. Now, Longing makes its CD debut as an album, featuring the first-ever solo release of "Corner of the
Sky" along with new mixes for eight of the other selections.
 
The haunting beauty of "In the Winter," the warm affirmation of "Home to Myself," the soulful intimacy of "Exclusively for Me," the tender romanticism of "Beautiful Soul," the raw energy of "A Love Like Yours" and the heartbreaking vulnerability of "I Am Your Child" demonstrate Dusty at the peak of her professional powers while suffering from personal insecurities, giving these recordings a unique power and poignancy. 
 
Includes vintage artwork and other rare images along with track-by-track annotations by noted Dusty expert and author Paul Howes. Mastered by Mike Milchner at Sonic Vision.

Dusty Springfield

Dusty Springfield.

Born Mary O'Brien in London's Hampstead district on 16 April 1939. She performed with her brother Tom as a semi-professional folk duo in summer camps as early as 1957. The following year Dusty Springfield joined the Lana Sisters. In 1959, together with her brother and Tim Feild (later replaced by Mike Longhurst-Pickworth alias Mike Hurst), she founded the trio The Springfields, which received its first contract with Philips in 1961. Of ten singles released by 1964, five reached the UK charts - one only appeared after the three had already split up.

Dusty Springfield continued as a soloist. Their debut single was released in November 1963. Thanks to her outstanding voice she quickly became one of the most sought-after singers in England. In December 1964, it made the headlines in a different way. At a concert in South Africa, she refused to sing in front of an audience that had to sit separately by skin colour. The result: a few hours in jail and deportation. In 1967 she sang'The Look Of Love' for the James Bond film parody'Casino Royale'. Hits like 'I Only Want To Be With You', "I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself', 'You Don't Have To Say You Love Me' made them famous on all continents. Further hits like'I Close My Eyes And Count To Ten' and'Son Of A Preacher Man' followed. Their LP highlight was "Dusty In Memphis', recorded with local stars. During the 70's it became quieter around the singer, between 1980 and 1984 there was complete radio silence. This was followed by a single in duet with Spencer Davis (' - Private Number') on the small allegiance label (ALES 3).

Dusty Springfield made a top comeback in 1987. Their single "What Have I Done To Deserve This', recorded together with the Pet Shop Boys, reached number 2 in the charts. A following duet with Richard Carpenter ( -'Something In Your Eyes' - A&M) failed the audience. Also their only German-language single had not been able to place itself 23 years before in the hit lists. Dusty Springfield died on March 2, 1999, after a long and serious illness, and the cream of English pop music of the last 30 years appeared at the funeral ceremonies.

Countless personal letters of condolence - for example from Queen Elizabeth II and other members of the English royal family, from politics and the entertainment industry - underlined the exceptionally high reputation of the class singer in her home country. Guitarist and singer Mike Hurst drew attention to himself once again in September 2000. In ten years of musicological work as a researcher he had found out that war songs from Lower Saxony are the real origin of rock music.

From the Bear Family book - 1000 pinpricks by Bernd Matheja - BFB10025 -