#26: Dusty Springfield - Dusty in Memphis

Wow, I'm out of my element here. This is pretty bizarre for me. I don't think I own anything in the ballpark of Dusty in Memphis, and I don't have anything to compare it to other than her male soul counterparts, like Marvin Gaye and Isaac Hayes.

In general, I find I'm biased against female vocalists. Sad, perhaps, but that's really the way it is - especially with rock music. I think the only album I love that I count as a 'rock' record and features a female vocalist is the first Elastica record. That's not to say I don't love Tori Amos' Boys for Pele or Massive Attack's "Teardrop," I just have a harder time getting attuned to female vocals.

So perhaps it's a good sign that the first track on Dusty in Memphis, "Just a Little Lovin'," reminds me a bit of the style of vocal that would either be sampled or revisited for a Massive Attack or Portishead record. This record is a pretty clear indication of what those band were going for when recruiting female vocalists for specific tracks. All of the slower tracks here, like "The Windmills of Your Mind," are just demanding the Bristol sound underneath them for a fascinating reinvention - but that time is not yet at hand.

So far, what really intrigues me about this record is the instrumentation. They don't make producer/engineer combos like this anymore - Arif Martin, Tom Dowd and Jerry Wexler. Good lord. I don't care if you have Dr. Dre, Timbaland, Rick Rubin, Pharrell and Scott Storch all working on one supertrack - besides Phil Spector and George Martin, there are no higher names than the list on this record. I love me some Jerry Wexler, in particular - that guy is old and nuts and awesome. He'll throw out phrases like "that'll put some grease in your grits" and other fantastic witticisms along those lines. Just for that alone, I feel compelled to get into this record. Sadly, he doesn't have long left in this world, it seems.

When I worked at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, my boss wrote an entire book about Dusty in Memphis. It was the first book of the popular 33 1/3 series. I read it the following year, mostly to try to get a line on this guy I had worked with and become mildly fascinated with, without caring much about his discussion of the record. But now I think it's finally time to give him a call to talk about some things. Maybe he'll steer me in the direction to unlock what's considered so tremendous about this record, because this far, it's so incredibly foreign - but appealing - to my ear, and I'm dying for a way in.

Help me, Warren Zanes. You're my only hope.

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