151. Dusty Springfield — Dusty in Memphis (1969)

1. Last time we heard from Dusty Springfield, way back in 1964, she was the fresh face of blue-eyed soul, and I loved her debut “A Girl Called Dusty.” Between then and 1969 she released three more albums and her star had dulled a bit (editor’s note: five years is nothing in today’s world but man, it changed entire careers back then). So she took matters into her own hands and sought out Atlantic Records (Aretha’s label) and its chief producer in an effort to revitalize her career. Commercially, it didn’t do the trick; creatively, it’s fantastic.
2. Dusty went down to Memphis and the result is a wonderful pop soul album. Her voice is sultry and smooth, playing off of the classic Memphis horns beautifully. Dusty was evidently quite picky with the songs she chose to record, selecting only two of the initial batch she was provided — those two tracks are album opener “Just A Little Lovin’” and album centerpiece “Son Of A Preacher Man.” Racked with anxiety over her career and sound, it’s easy to understand the pickiness; listening to the two tracks, it’s even easier to understand why they made the cut. “Lovin’” is sexy as all hell and remarkably risque for the time; “Preacher Man” is an unbridled classic, the kind of song you could play for a three year old and they’d act like they’d known it for a hundred years.
3. Elsewhere Dusty plays with various tempos and sounds, including Bossa Nova guitars on “The Windmills Of Your Mind.” The production across the board is fantastic; maybe it’s because I just saw No Time To Die, but it’s remarkable she never recorded a James Bond theme song.
4. In all, I don’t think the album quite holds up to A Girl Called Dusty for me; perhaps that’s simply the result of hearing one before the other, but it’s not a knock on Dusty in Memphis. This is an utterly enjoyable, quintessentially listenable album, a great example of late 60s soul. One can’t go wrong giving it a spin.

Next up: we hang around Memphis some more with Elvis

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