Dusty Heard Them Here First - Dusty Heard Them Here First Dusty Heard Them Here First

Dusty Springfield had exceptional taste. Her song choices were always consistently high in quality, and she wasn’t afraid to look to long-forgotten B-sides, demos and album tracks for material. Given her reputation for perfection, it’s no surprise there were so few duds in her catalogue. That so much of it was culled from American soul and R&B artists may be news to many. As Malcolm Baumgart writes in the booklet, “Dusty’s expertise as an interpretive singer prevented her from being viewed as a cover artist,” and it’s hard to believe songs such as ‘Am I the Same Girl?’ and ‘Now That You’re My Baby’ were not written exclusively for the British icon. Britain had a history of pulling from America’s R&B, soul and pop stashes, but whereas groups such as the Beatles, Herman’s Hermits and the Moody Blues gave their American covers a very British slant, Dusty’s interpretations sounded neither overtly British nor American. It all just sounded like Dusty. It’s hard to think of another singer able to so effortlessly and convincingly claim so many top-notch covers as their own.