The Very Best of Dusty Springfield

by Dusty Springfield

Overview

Mercury records, which controls the Phillips records catalog, has compiled this Dusty Springfield set by referring to Springfield's U.K. and U.S. chart successes from 1964 to 1967, then licensing her two biggest hits for Atlantic records, "Son of a Preacher Man" and "A Brand New Me." The result, in terms of song selection, is an excellent 20-song, 57-minute disc that includes most of her best-known material. (The major omission is "The Windmills of Your Mind," a U.S. Top 40 hit, which was on Atlantic.) The more questionable elements on the album are the sequencing and the choice of mono and stereo takes. These problems are interrelated: if the compilation producer had opted for a chronological sequencing, the drastic aural differences between the early mono tracks and the later gimmicky, extreme (and, in at least one case, apparently fake) stereo tracks would not have been such a constant distraction to the listener. (So many tracks, even from as late as 1967, are in mono, that you wonder why they didn't just make the whole album mono.) And Springfield's stylistic evolution would have been more coherent, too. Why, for example, put the 1968 "Son of a Preacher Man" its full stereo, American R&B-style glory, as the fifth track, then follow it with the 1964 "I Just Don't Know What to Do With Myself," in boxy mono with orchestral accompaniment? Of course, you can re-sequence the album on your CD player, but you shouldn't have to. ~ William Ruhlmann

Product Details

Release Date:	04/21/1998
Label:	Chronicles / Mercury
UPC:	0731455820829
Rank:	67652

Tracks

1. I Only Want to Be With You
2. Wishin' and Hopin'
3. You Don't Have to Say You Love Me
4. Stay Awhile
5. Son of a Preacher Man
6. I Just Don't Know What to Do With Myself
7. What's It Gonna Be
8. All Cried Out
9. In the Middle of Nowhere
10. All I See Is You
11. The Look of Love
12. Little by Little
13. I Close My Eyes and Count to Ten
14. Some of Your Lovin'
15. I'll Try Anything
16. Losing You
17. Guess Who?
18. A Brand New Me
19. Give Me Time
20. Goin' Back

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Dusty Springfield   Primary Artist,Vocals
Ray Stevens   Guest Artist,Conductor
Terry Noonan   Director
Herb Bernstein   Director
Ivor Raymonde   Director
Peter Knight   Conductor
Wally Stott   Conductor
Reg Guest   Conductor
Keith Mansfield   Director

Technical Credits

Herb Bernstein   Audio Production,Producer
Tom Dowd   Audio Production,Producer
Jerry Wexler   Audio Production,Producer
Arif Mardin   Audio Production,Producer
John Franz   Audio Production
Bill Levenson   Executive Producer
Philip Springer   Composer
Hal David   Composer
Beatrice Verdi   Composer
Vicki Wickham   Composer
Gary Klein   Composer
Juliet Brightmore   Photography
Terri Tierney   Project Coordinator
Catherine Ladis   Associate Producer
Giuseppe Donaggio   Composer
Ugene Dozier   Producer
Vic Millrose   Composer
Eileen Cleary   Project Coordinator
Mike Hawker   Composer
Alberto Morina   Composer
Bea Verdi   Composer
Burton Lane   Composer
Pino Donaggio   Composer
Ivor Raymonde   Composer
Pietro Melfa   Composer
Victor Millrose   Composer
Arthur 'Artie' Lawrence Kornfeld   Composer
Amedeo Tommasi   Composer
Shelby Singleton   Producer
Simon Napier-Bell   Composer
Kenny Gamble   Composer
Bas Hartong   Compilation Producer
Clive Westlake   Composer
Ben Weisman   Composer
Carole King   Composer
John Hurley   Composer
Vito Pallavicini   Composer
Mark Barkan   Composer
Roland Chambers   Producer
Peter Callander   Composer
Jerry Butler   Composer
Ronnie Wilkins   Composer
Jerry Ragovoy   Composer,Producer
Ray Stevens   Arranger
Michael Hawker   Composer
Artie Kornfeld   Composer
Buddy Kaye   Composer
Theresa Bell   Composer
Mort Shuman   Composer
Tom Springfield   Composer
Burt Bacharach   Composer
Gerry Goffin   Composer