Artist: Dusty Springfield
Album: A Girl Called Dusty
Year: 1964
Dusty Springfield was an Englishwoman who sang soul music. I guess the modern parallel for Ms. Springfield would be Adele, who's rolling in deep piles of cash these days. Ping pow fuhgeddaboutit.
A Girl Called Dusty shows off Springfield's rich voice to great affect here and helps to make soul music "safe" for white audiences to some extent. I'm not really quite buying that idea completely since a lot of the songs on here are standard Motown girl-group stuff and are a far cry from the likes of James Brown, Sam Cooke, and Solomon Burke.
There are classic songs in this set in spades. "Mama Said" is old-school bubblegum pop, as is "I Only Want to Be With You"--a song the Bay City Rollers would resurrect en route to stardom a decade later. "You Don't Own Me" shows off a more tender, sultry version of the singer's voice. "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" and "Wishin' and Hopin'" are early tunes from the soon-to-be-legendary Bacharach/David songwriting combo.
This is a good album. It's a little lightweight, but you can continue to see the influence of Springfield's vocals in some of today's divas. A Girl Called Dusty is not something I would ever listen to ordinarily, but it managed to keep my interest for the full 20-song set. Better than some of these artists can say.
Rating: Worth a listen
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