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T O P I C R E V I E W
lemonade kid
Posted - 09/11/2011 : 19:56:11
During the Memphis sessions in November 1968, Dusty suggested to the heads of Atlantic Records to sign the newly formed Led Zeppelin. She knew the band's bass player John Paul Jones, who had backed her in concerts before. Without having ever seen them and largely on Dusty's advice, the record company signed a deal of $200,000 with them. For the time being, that was the biggest deal of its kind for a new band.
Dusty in Memphis is a landmark album by Dusty Springfield, released in 1969. It was produced by Jerry Wexler and Arif Mardin and engineered by Tom Dowd. "So Much Love", "Son of a Preacher Man", "The Windmills Of Your Mind", "Breakfast in Bed", "Just One Smile", "I Don't Want to Hear It Anymore", and "Just a Little Lovin'" are some of the album's songs. Dusty in Memphis is frequently included in lists of the greatest albums of all time.
Background
Hoping to reinvigorate her career and boost her credibility, Dusty Springfield turned to the roots of soul music. She signed with Atlantic Records, home label of one of her soul music idols, Aretha Franklin. Although she had sung R&B songs before, she had never released an entire album solely of R&B songs. She began recording an album in Memphis, Tennessee, where some notable blues musicians had grown up. The Memphis sessions at the American Sound Studios were recorded by the A team of Atlantic Records. It included producers Jerry Wexler, Tom Dowd and Arif Mardin, the back-up singers Sweet Inspirations and the instrumental band Memphis Cats, led by guitarist Reggie Young and bassist Tommy Cogbill. The Memphis Cats had previously backed Wilson Pickett, King Curtis and Elvis Presley. Terry Manning (also a recording engineer, but in this case) a writer for the New Musical Express attended the recording sessions, and ended up assisting Tom Dowd. The songs were written by, among others, Gerry Goffin & Carole King, Randy Newman, and Barry Mann & Cynthia Weil.
Recording
The recording was a challenge for Wexler. He was not used to working with an artist who was in such habitual pursuit of perfection. In his book Rhythm and the Blues, Wexler wrote that out of all the songs that were initially recorded for the album, "she approved exactly zero." For her, he continued, "to say yes to one song was seen as a lifetime commitment."
Springfield disputed this, saying she did choose two: "Son of a Preacher Man" and "Just a Little Lovin'". He was surprised, given Dusty's talent, by her apparent insecurity. Springfield later attributed her initial unease to a very real anxiety about being compared with the soul greats who had recorded in the same studios. Eventually Dusty's final vocals were recorded in New York. Additionally, Springfield stated that she had never before worked with just a rhythm track, and that it was the first time she had worked with outside producers, having self-produced her previous recordings (although she never took credit for that).
"Son of a Preacher Man"
The standout track of the album is "Son of a Preacher Man". Released as a single, it reached #9 in the United Kingdom, #10 in the United States and charted internationally. The Billboard year end chart placed the single at #96. It was placed #77 among The 100 Best Singles of the Last 25 Years by the writers of the Rolling Stone magazine in 1987, and #43 of the Greatest Singles of All Time by the writers of New Musical Express in 2002. The song had originally been turned down by Aretha Franklin. When Franklin recorded it a year later, Dusty felt Franklin's version was superior and thereafter adopted some of Franklin's phrasing.
Samples from "Son of a Preacher Man" were used on Cypress Hill's cult-classic stoner-culture song "Hits from the Bong" on their album Black Sunday in 1993 and on Adil Omar's "Known to Kick It" in 2008. In 1994 the song was featured in a scene of the film Pulp Fiction. In the movie, the song was a background for Mia Wallace (Uma Thurman) and Vincent Vega (John Travolta) talking over an intercom. The soundtrack reached No. 21 on the Billboard 200, and at the time, went platinum in Canada (1,000,000 units). "Son of a Preacher Man" helped to sell over 2 million units of the album and to reach #6 of the world chart according to Nielsen SoundScan.
Reviews and rankings
* Rolling Stone (1969): "Most white female singers in today's music are still searching for music they can call their own. Dusty is not searchingshe just shows up, and she, and we, are better for it."[6] * Rolling Stone (12/11/03, p. 146): Ranked #89 in Rolling Stone's "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" "...the result was blazing soul and sexual honesty...that transcended both race and geography." * Rolling Stone (4/11/02, p. 106): Ranked #9 in Rolling Stone's "50 Coolest Records". "...London's fabbest pop starlet takes her big voice and fire-hazard bouffant to Memphis and becomes a born-again soul diva..." * Rolling Stone (10/31/02, p. 135): Ranked #3 in Rolling Stone's "Women In Rock: The 50 Essential Albums" "...[A] British soul masterpiece..." * VH1: Ranked #58 in VH1's "100 Greatest Albums of Rock & Roll": "...Not only is this Dusty's finest work, it is unanimously acknowledged as one of the great soul albums...a faultless record on which we have, thankfully, now recognized she was far too ahead of her time for her own good..." * Entertainment Weekly (3/12/99, p. 71): "...It's her shining moment and just might be one of the all-time great pop albums." - Rating: A * New Musical Express (10/2/93, p. 29): Ranked #54 in its list of the "Greatest Albums Of All Time." * Dusty In Memphis was ranked 87th in a 2005 survey held by British television's Channel 4 to determine the 100 greatest albums of all time. * The album appears in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
Dusty in Memphis was FIRST transferred from vinyl to CD by Philips Records/PolyGram and re-released in the UK/Europe in 1988. The first digitally remastered re-issue was released by Warner Music's sublabel Rhino Entertainment in the US in 1992, then including three bonus tracks. A Deluxe Edition with no less than fourteen bonus tracks, again released by Rhino, followed in 1999. A fourth 24-bit digitally remastered CD edition with a third set of bonus tracks was issued by Mercury Records/Universal Music in the UK/Europe in 2002.
Get the deluxe edition, Rhino Records!
Side A
1. "Just a Little Lovin'" (Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil) 2:18 2. "So Much Love" (Gerry Goffin, Carole King) 3:31 3. "Son of a Preacher Man" (John Hurley, Ronnie Wilkins) 2:29 4. "I Don't Want to Hear It Anymore" (Randy Newman) 3:11 5. "Don't Forget About Me" (Goffin, King) 2:52 6. "Breakfast in Bed" (Eddie Hinton, Donnie Fritts) 2:57
Side B
1. "Just One Smile" (Randy Newman) 2:42 2. "The Windmills of Your Mind" (Alan Bergman, Marilyn Bergman, Michel Legrand) 3:51 3. "In the Land of Make Believe" (Burt Bacharach, Hal David) 2:32 4. "No Easy Way Down" (Goffin, King) 3:11 5. "I Can't Make It Alone" (Goffin, King) 3:57
Bonus tracks 1999 Deluxe Edition, Rhino Records US
12. "What Do You Do When Love Dies" (with orchestral overdubs) (Mary Unobsky, Donna Weiss) 2:42 13. "Willie & Laura Mae Jones" (Tony Joe White) 2:49 14. "That Old Sweet Roll (Hi-De-Ho)" (Gerry Goffin, Carole King) 2:59 15. "Cherished" (Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff) 2:38 16. "Goodbye" (Roland Chambers, Leonard Pakula) 2:33 * First UK release: compilation Classics And Collectables, 2007 17. "Make It With You" (David Gates) 3:12 * First UK release: 4 CD boxed set Simply Dusty, 2000 18. "Love Shine Down" (not credited) 2:22 * First UK release: compilation Classics And Collectables, 2007 19. "Live Here With You" (Gilbert Slavin, Michael F. Soles) 2:44 * First UK release: 4 CD boxed set Simply Dusty, 2000 20. "Natchez Trace" (Neil Brian Goldberg, Gilbert Slavin) 2:58 * First UK release: compilation Classics And Collectables, 2007 21. "All the King's Horses" (not credited) 3:10 22. "I'll Be Faithful" (Stereo) (Ned W. Albright, Michael F. Soles, Steven Soles) 3:01 * First release (mono): Rhino's 1992 re-issue of A Brand New Me. First UK release: compilation Classics And Collectables, 2007 23. "Have a Good Life Baby" (not credited) 3:09 * First UK release: 2002 re-issue of See All Her Faces 24. "You've Got a Friend" (Carole King) 5:28 * First UK release: 4 CD boxed set Simply Dusty, 2000 25. "I Found My Way" a.k.a. "I Found My Way Through The Darkness" (Gilbert Slavin, Michael F. Soles) 3:12 -wiki
