Dusty Springfield - The Complete BBC Sessions

Bygone wireless wonders

Some releases in this ongoing series of recordings from the radio vaults are worthy of little fanfare, neither adding to nor detracting from the legacy of the players involved. Pleasingly, the Springfield selection effortlessly glides its way to the shelf marked ‘essential’, shining fresh light on an already formidable talent.

The cod calypso of the opening three tracks of Dusty’s pre-solo work with The Springfields folk group may lead you to the skip button, but from then on it’s pure archival gold, complete with occasional intros from Saturday Club DJ Brian Matthew. Budget and time constraints actually work in favour of some of the material here, with the Beeb rendition of Little By Little much looser and more relaxed than its single release. Also, notably, strings are used more sparingly on the likes of Losing You and I Just Don’t Know What To Do With Myself, something which affords the vocal a more vulnerability.

Dusty’s intuitive understanding of the material shines throughout, especially on a 1970 cover of The Bee Gees’ To Love Somebody and a whoop-it-up whirl through Jackie Wilson’s Higher & Higher.�Conclusive proof that she was, and remains, the best female singer this country has ever produced.

Universal | cat no tbc

Reviewed by Terry Staunton
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