"Simply... Dusty" by Dusty Springfield (2000)

 

Very beautiful tribute to Dusty Springfield who have passed away from cancer just a year before. Springfield was remember as the quintessential British 1960s female pop star and the point can be made that she will forever be associated with that particular decade, although - as this collection shows - her career stretches way before and after that period. It feels as there is a lots of love and affection involved into this compilation, starting from impressionistic little song "Dusty Springfield" by Blossom Dearie (who has also written songs about Lennon, etc) to a sheer spectrum of her golden years and beyond. Quite a lot of space is given to her initial false starts with groups The Lana Sisters and The Springfields which serves as example of pre-Beatles music world and makes her later solo work even more impressive - basically, once she had found her own voice, Springfield created body of work that was quite timeless.

Considering how much attention was given to her iconic 1960s looks, its interesting to note what matters the most is her music and under all that cellophane & distractions, the music was glorious. It was inspired combination of girl group sound, Phil Spector and Motown, filtered trough her particular sensibilities - by borrowing from here and there, Springfield has created her own individual style that was recognised as deeply soulful even though her voice had nothing to do with rough edged soul screamers so popular back than. If anything, Springfield was vulnerable, tender and fragile - even though she is praised as a foremost British blue eyed singer, her individual touch was soft and gentle. Surprisingly, she could easily adapt to anything thrown at her and for the most of this compilation it worked perfectly - no matter what genre or production, she had always her own idiosyncratic sound. 

With such impressive repertoire, there is hardly a misstep during 1960s but afterwards it feels as Springfield has lost the steam a bit - its as her razor-sharp instinct have suddenly deserted her and suddenly it all turns MOR - there is a noticeable loss of focus in her later career, as she was unsure does the path leads to Las Vegas or movie soundtracks. Still, the voice was always magnificent and majority of this collection is now classic.