SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: DUSTY SPRINGFIELD – LONGING

DUSTY SPRINGFIELD
LONGING
REAL GONE MUSIC

By 1974, Dusty Springfield had proven herself as a singer, performer, pop star, blues singer or whatever she wanted to do. She had had numerous hits, but like a lot of the 1960s artists, she struggled during the 1970s, trying to figure out where she fit in and how she could best put her singing abilities to work and find an audience. Longing was to have been her second album for the Dunhill record label and her ninth album in her career. Employing Brook Arthur (best known as Phil Spector’s engineer) as the producer, Springfield decided to tackle many contemporary writer’s songs, and in some cases work with them. However, citing professional exhaustion, Springfield abandoned the album, and it, for the most part, sat on the shelf for many years.

Since 1978, some of the material has appeared on B-sides, or compilations. The album, however, has been lovingly restored by the fine folks at Real Gone Music. After 50 years, Longing is seeing the light of day as it was intended. And it is a great thing. Although producer Arthur is noted as picking the material for Springfield, it comes across as a deeply personal album for her. And the material is not all that obvious. Colin Blunstone’s “Exclusively For Me” (originally from his 1972 album Ennismore), sounds like it was written for Springfield.

Elsewhere, Springfield tackles songs by Melissa Manchester (“Home To Myself”, written with Carole Bayer Sager), who was just beginning to make a name for herself, Broadway’s Stephen Schwartz (“Corner Of The Sky”), Janis Ian (“In The Winter”) and even a couple of Barry Manilow songs. Again, the songs fit Springfield beautifully. “In The Winter” is simply heartbreaking and beautifully produced and arranged. Springfield’s vocals are exceptionally emotional. “Coner Of The Sky” from Broadway’s Pippin appears as a solo track for the first time. It had been released as a duet with Petula Clark in the past, but here, it is Springfield on her own. It is an impressive cover of the Broadway tune.

The songs that have been released in the past have been remixed and remastered in order to present the album as it should/would have sounded in 1974. In this regard they succeed. The album may sound a little out of date, it was recorded 50 years ago, and some of the arrangements, especially for “I Am Your Child” are a little overproduced, but Springfield’s voice comes through every time.

Although Longing is an album that Springfield did not finish, the restoration here would indicate the opposite. It does sound like a completed album, and it is a chance to hear where Springfield was taking her music in the mid-1970s. It would not be until the 1980s until Springfield gained back her popularity, through The Pet Shop Boys, but she never stopped creating music. Her albums of the 1970s are very distinctive and sadly overlooked. Here is a chance to give an album its due. Longing is a great album.

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