Going back where it all started - after all, she had her real breakthrough as a member of The Springfields right here in Nashville, back in 1962. - newly rediscovered Britain's pop icon enjoys the belated renaissance and media attention, but where collaboration with Pet Shop Boys placed her among than cutting edge chart toppers, on her own Dusty Springfield shows surprisingly careful (dare I say, middle-aged?) approach and unfortunately results are very generic and bland.
Its easy to be blinded by Springfield's reputation and subsequent health issues - apparently at this point she was already very ill and recording was difficult - but for all her alleged perfectionism and fastidiousness in the studio, the selected material is surprisingly unadventurous. Where once, long time ago, she broke the ice with her covers of Motown and was willing to take risks recording with mighty Jerry Wexler now elderly veteran settles for fairly mainstream collection that has Nashville more as suggestion than the fact - there is occasional guitar twang or two, but otherwise this is not a country recording. There is a duet with Daryl Hall and a few ill-chosen uptempo ditties that distantly evoke 1960s but by far the best are ballads and some are scorching indeed - "I Can't Help The Way I Don't Feel" is beautiful and the final song "Where Is A Woman To Go" ranks amongst the best things she ever did in the studio. Still, two songs can't really save the whole album and one wishes that Springfield dared to push the envelope just a bit more, since her recent chart success suggested she could easily stand tall again amongst the relevant artists. Old recordings are deservedly classics but this one kind of slips under the radar unless you are fan touched by poignancy of what became her farewell. "Go Easy On Me" might surprisingly move listener familiar with circumstances in recording studio.
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