Dusty Springfield: Dusty In Memphis (silver vinyl) [ATLANTIC]

Why you'll love it

This limited Atlantic 75 edition, pressed in Germany, puts Dusty in Memphis on silver vinyl. The album is in the Grammy Hall of Fame and the Library of Congress National Recording Registry, and "Son of a Preacher Man" made the Top 10 on both sides of the Atlantic.

This edition

• Silver vinyl
• Limited edition
• Atlantic 75 series
• Pressed in Germany
• Stereo mix

About the album

Dusty Springfield signed with Atlantic on one condition: that she got to work with Jerry Wexler, the man behind Aretha Franklin's best records. Wexler sent her dozens of song demos, the pair picked eleven, and they headed south to American Sound Studio in Memphis.

The idea was to cut sophisticated Brill Building pop over the loose Southern soul feel of the Memphis Boys, with Reggie Young on guitar and Tommy Cogbill on bass, the Sweet Inspirations singing backup, and Arif Mardin and Tom Dowd at the desk. "Son of a Preacher Man" was first written with Aretha in mind, and Aretha later cut her own after Dusty's went Top 10. "Breakfast in Bed" smoulders, "Just a Little Lovin'" opens things in a whisper, "No Easy Way Down" aches, and Dusty fought Wexler over Michel Legrand's "The Windmills of Your Mind," then sang it beautifully anyway. Her final vocals and the strings were finished in New York.

Robert Christgau called it the all-time rock-era torch record. It's also proof that a singer can lose an argument with her producer and still win the song.

Also at Kops: more Dusty Springfield on vinyl · browse Classic Soul

Tracklist

Listen

On Atlantic / Rhino (cat# RCV1 8214), a reissue of the 1969 album.