Dusty in Memphis

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, Barry Mann & Cynthia Weil, Michel Legrand, Randy Newman, and Burt Bacharach & Hal David.

Recording

The recording was a challenge for Wexler. 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 (something for which she never took credit).

During the Memphis sessions in November 1968, Springfield suggested to the heads of Atlantic Records that they should sign the newly formed Led Zeppelin group. 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. At the time, that was the biggest deal of its kind for a new band.

Release and reception

Dusty in Memphis was released by Atlantic Records on 31 March 1969 in the United States and 18 April in the United Kingdom. The album was a commercial failure in both countries, only reaching number 99 on the American album charts and failing to chart altogether on the British Top 40. According to music journalist Peter Robinson, its failure stalled Springfield's career rather than revive it, although the record eventually became "a popcultural milestone [and] timeless emotional reference point" for listeners who discovered it in second-hand shops or purchased one of its several reissues years later. Robert Christgau called it "a pop standard and classic", predicting in his 1973 column for Newsday it would be "the kind of record that will sell for years because its admirers need replacement copies, and it is the perfect instance of how a production team should work." Greil Marcus was less enthusiastic in Rolling Stone, deeming some of the songwriting inconsistent on what was "a real drifting, cool, smart, sexually distracted soul album".

Dusty in Memphis has frequently been named one of the greatest albums of all-time; according to Acclaimed Music, it is the 104th most ranked record on critics' all-time lists. NME named it the 54th greatest album ever in their 1993 list, and in 2003, Rolling Stone ranked the record 89th on its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. Richie Unterberger wrote in AllMusic that the album's reputation has improved significantly over time and felt it was "deserving of its classic status". Tony Scherman from Entertainment Weekly said Dusty in Memphis was a "pure gem", Springfield's greatest work, and perhaps one of the greatest pop records ever recorded, Q took note of its balance between "R&B and sensitive pop dramas", while Spin critic Chuck Eddy viewed it as one of the all-important blue-eyed soul records. In The A.V. Club, Keith Phipps wrote that Springfield and her team of musicians and producers for Dusty in Memphis developed an elegant and distinct fusion of pop and R&B that predated the Philadelphia soul sound of the 1970s. According to Eric Klinger from PopMatters, its sophisticated style of music influenced the sound of 1990s trip hop artists who sampled songs from the album and became a blueprint for British female singers of the 2000s, including Adele, Rumer, and Duffy.

Track listing

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

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

CD re-issues

Dusty in Memphis was first released on 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, and included three bonus tracks. A Deluxe Edition with 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.

Among the additional materials featured on these re-releases are recordings from the Atlantic Records archives; outtakes and alternate mixes from the Dusty in Memphis sessions, two tracks from a cancelled second album with Jerry Wexler recorded in 1969, tracks from a shelved second album with Gamble & Huff recorded in 1970 (following A Brand New Me/From Dusty...With Love) and the intended Faithful album produced by Jeff Barry in 1971, which came to be Springfield's final recordings for the Atlantic label. The completed Faithful album was however left unreleased when its pilot singles "Haunted" and "I Believe in You" failed to perform. With the exception of a mono mix of the title track "I'll Be Faithful" all master tapes for this album were later destroyed in a fire – along with Springfield's unreleased recording of The Bee Gees' "To Love Somebody" from the follow-up sessions with Wexler – but Jeff Barry had kept reference copies of the intended final mixes and these were digitally remastered and first released as part of Rhino's Deluxe Edition of Dusty in Memphis in 1999.

Bonus tracks 1992 re-issue, Rhino Records US

12. "What Do You Do When Love Dies" (without orchestral overdubs) (Mary Unobsky, Donna Weiss) – 2:43
13. Outtake from the Dusty in Memphis sessions. Recording date: September 1968. First release (with orchestral overdubs): US Atlantic single #2771 (B-side of "What Good Is I Love You?"), 12 January 1971. First UK release: album Dusty in Memphis Plus, 1980.
14. "Willie & Laura Mae Jones" (Tony Joe White) – 2:45
15. From cancelled second album with Jerry Wexler. First release: US Atlantic single #2647 (A-side), 5 June 1969. First UK release: album See All Her Faces, 1972.
16. "That Old Sweet Roll (Hi-De-Ho)" (Gerry Goffin, Carole King) – 2:55
17. From cancelled second album with Jerry Wexler. First release: US Atlantic single #2647 (B-side of "Willie & Laura Mae Jones"). First UK release: album See All Her Faces, 1972.

Bonus tracks 1999 Deluxe Edition, Rhino Records US

12. "What Do You Do When Love Dies" (without 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
17. First UK release: compilation Classics And Collectables, 2007
18. "Make It with You" (David Gates) – 3:12
19. First UK release: 4 CD boxed set Simply Dusty, 2000
20. "Love Shine Down" (Neil Brian Goldberg, Gilbert Slavin [not credited]) – 2:22
21. First UK release: compilation Classics And Collectables, 2007
22. "Live Here With You" (Gilbert Slavin, Michael F. Soles) – 2:44
23. First UK release: 4 CD boxed set Simply Dusty, 2000
24. "Natchez Trace" (Neil Brian Goldberg, Gilbert Slavin) – 2:58
25. First UK release: compilation Classics And Collectables, 2007
26. "All the King's Horses" (Neil Brian Goldberg, Joe Renzetti [not credited]) – 3:10
27. "I'll Be Faithful" (Stereo) (Ned W. Albright, Michael F. Soles, Steven Soles) – 3:01
28. First release (mono): Rhino's 1992 re-issue of A Brand New Me. First UK release: compilation Classics And Collectables, 2007
29. "Have a Good Life Baby" (Neil Brian Goldberg, Joe Renzetti [not credited]) – 3:09
30. First UK release: 2002 re-issue of See All Her Faces
31. "You've Got a Friend" (Carole King) – 5:28
32. First UK release: 4 CD boxed set Simply Dusty, 2000
33. "I Found My Way" a.k.a. "I Found My Way Through The Darkness" (Gilbert Slavin, Michael F. Soles) – 3:12
34. First UK release: compilation Classics And Collectables, 2007

Bonus tracks 2002 re-issue, Mercury Records UK

12. "Son of a Preacher Man" (Hurley, Wilkins) – 2:29
13. "Just a Little Lovin'" (Mann, Weil) – 2:18
14. "Don't Forget About Me" (Goffin, King) – 2:50
15. "Breakfast in Bed" (Fritts, Hinton) – 2:56
16. "I Don't Want to Hear It Anymore" (Newman) – 3:10
17. "The Windmills of Your Mind" (Bergman, Bergman, Legrand) – 3:52
18. "In the Land of Make Believe" (Bacharach, David) – 2:31
19. "So Much Love" (Goffin, King) – 3:32

Charts

Album – Billboard (North America)

Singles – Billboard (North America)