English singer Dusty Springfield is best remembered for her blue-eyed soul recordings, especially her masterful Dusty in Memphis (1969) album with her sultry “Son of a Preacher Man”. However, Springfield’s career was much longer and varied than this release.
The London chanteuse first achieved stardom in 1960, singing folk pop with her brother Dion and Tom Field as a member of the folk trio the Springfields, with hits in England and America, such as “Island of Dreams” and “Silver Threads and Golden Needles”. She left the band in 1963 and had a string of pop hits with songs such as “I Only Want to Be With You”, “Wishin’ and Hopin’”, and “I Just Don’t Know What to Do With Myself”.
Springfield then signed with Atlantic Records and put out Dusty in Memphis. She followed this with a softer album, A Brand New Me (1970), produced in Philadelphia by Kenneth Gamble & Leon Huff. Then came this record, Longing, initially recorded in 1974 but not released until this year. There were several reasons for this, ranging from problems in her personal life to changes in the public’s musical tastes. Also, despite Springfield’s musical gifts, the album is nothing special.
Much of the financially successful rock music of the early 1970s was created by soft rock singer-songwriters like John Denver, Carole King, and others. Longing (which was originally titled Elements) featured material that belongs to this genre by writers such as Barry Manilow (“I Am Your Child”), Chi Coltrane (“Turn Me Around”), and Melissa Manchester and Carole Bayer Sager (“Home to Myself”). These songs aren’t bad, but they are unremarkable.
Springfield delivers these songs in a breathy voice meant to express sincerity. She’s backed by a full band whose horn blasts, string sections, piano arpeggios, and other ostentatious instrumentation suggest an emotional depth that doesn’t seem quite earned. That’s part of the musical zeitgeist (think of Neil Young and Harvest and the orchestral accompaniment to “Heart of Gold”). Take it in and blow hard, indeed.
The best songs, such as Janis Ian‘s “In the Winter” and “Corner of the Sky” (from the Broadway musical Pippin), allow Springfield to tell stories. She does a fine job of building to climaxes and reaching resolutions without seeming pompous. There are several worthwhile songs that deserve to be heard, and Real Gone Music deserve appreciation for making this music available.
The record features two different producers, Brooke Arthur in New York and Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter in Los Angeles. It features well-known studio musicians including Hugh McCracken on guitar, Wilton Felder on bass, and Joe Sample on keyboards, artists who have contributed to some of the best-selling records of the period.
However, the album’s ten tracks, which last only 32 minutes, can feel less engaging due to the lack of narrative material. Hearing Springfield croon simplistic lyrics (i.e., “Make the man love me”, “Could it be too much to ask”, “Within there is infinity world within worlds within worlds”) and other such banalities suffer from the gilding. The playing does seem professional, but too often, uninspired. It’s not a shock that the results weren’t released at the time.
Springfield’s career stagnated during the rest of the 1970s and early 1980s. She made a comeback in the late 1980s with the number two hit in both England and the United States with Pet Shop Boys on “What Have I Done to Deserve This”. Female singers such as Adele, Lee Ann Womack, and Shelby Lynne have all cited her influence, but it’s the blue-eyed soul singer, not the easy listening Dusty, that had the impact. Longing leaves one wanting.