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Rating:
The '69 haunts me. Lately, I can't stop reviewing albums released in that year, and they're all masterpieces. The '69 may represent many things (!), but musically, a few events come to mind: Woodstock, the death of folk as a pure genre and cultural movement, etc.
Yet this album has nothing to do with the aforementioned events.
Dusty doesn’t play any instruments, doesn’t compose or write songs, doesn’t participate in any socio-political movement... Dusty is voice, not "the" voice like Frank Sinatra, but pain, joy, despair, sensuality, loneliness, power, melancholy in the form of voice.
Dusty was, but for those who continue to listen to her, she is and will always remain THE INTERPRETER; and yet she always reached a sort of visceral empathy with the songs she sang that the same songwriters who gave her their compositions were terrified by her interpretation (see Burt Bacharach, Carole King, Janis Ian, and many others, all expressed the same fear of not being able to sing that song anymore because Dusty had already performed it!). Any song she sang became hers.
Dusty is a myth, an idol, the last great white soul/pop diva, as she has been defined. Elton John, Paul McCartney, Annie Lennox, Cher, Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello, Alison Moyet, Sinead O’Connor, Pet Shop Boys, Oasis, and many others adored her.
Mmmmmm Dusty and soul... it reminds me of a series of episodes that culminated in this album "Dusty In Memphis". Dusty, even before the Beatles arrived in America, had launched the British Invasion in the early '60s with the sunny "I Only Want To Be With You". Back then, there was no music video, and radio was the major promotional vehicle for a single... All Americans believed she was black!
Dusty who duets with Martha and the Vandellas (all-black girl band, famous at the time for a series of hits including the standout "Dancing in the Street" under Phil Spector's banner) and who didn’t want to sing in front of an all-white audience in South Africa or who introduced the English to the great Philly sound during her BBC shows.
And finally Dusty in Memphis.
Dusty packs her bags and puppets and in '69 moves from London to the USA. Dusty and the capital of soul/blues. Her voice is a black voice, yet it cannot be whiter and more angelic than this. Dusty has always been a tribulation made into a person, a constant inner chaos. This miasma has always transferred to the recording studio: unbelievably perfectionist, insecure, and sometimes unmanageable, yet as soon as she opens her mouth, everything becomes heavenly.
"Dusty In Memphis" is an album perfect in every way, it is squaring a circle, the vastness in its impossibility. Dusty sang, recorded, arranged, and repeated it syllable by syllable (look, it's true... read interviews with anyone who had the (mis)fortune of entering the studio with her, and they'll tell you she would start singing and re-recording the songs syllable by syllable!).
Dusty who wanted to record an album like Aretha Franklin.
Dusty had an immense baggage behind her: from ballads like the worldwide hit "You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me" (an adaptation of the Italian "Io Che Non Vivo Più Di Un’Ora Senza Te"), to the super seductive "The Look Of Love" by Bacharach, and to suddenly switch to soul was considered at the time a suicide.
But Dusty in Memphis has no genre... and it’s indeed a suicide, but like those tragic acts that have their own inner power then become mythical... it's the result of a long and troubled labor that could only culminate in one of the masterpieces of any century (included in the list of the 100 greatest albums of all time by Rolling Stone), a superhuman and troubled effort by dozens of human beings who sweated, got angry, cried, overwhelmed by nervousness and happiness, and created an emotion called "Dusty in Memphis".
Very high-ranking producers from Atlantic (Jerry Wexler, Tom Dowd, and Arif Mardin) have woven, sewn, adorned, sculpted, and painted what not even perfection could have ever dreamed of creating; musicians among the best on the scene in Memphis at the time would never again be able to pick up their instrument the same way after this experience.
Listen to the harmony with which the orchestra and especially the strings intertwine with Dusty's voice, they chase each other, one cushions the other, none seeks to dominate like in previous records where the magnificence of the orchestra contrasted with the expressive power of Dusty's voice that didn’t take much to surpass it. But no, Dusty has changed and begins to use a modulation that from this moment on will mark the rest of her discography: sweet, gentle, sometimes whispered to reach towards the end of the song a ferocious emotional crescendo that leaves the listener naked in front of that explosion of emotion like only those words or phrases where Dusty, with just her voice, manages to place her entire soul.
Listen for example to "I Don’t Want To Hear It Anymore" when she pronounces "...and the walls are muuuuch tooooooo thin...", Jesus Christ and the 300 apostles!!! No one, and I would bet my hand on it, could ever have charged that phrase with such emotions; or the beginning of "Windmill Of Your Mind" (at the time the soundtrack of the film with Steve McQueen "The Thomas Crown Affair" and recently it was reused for another film - sorry but I can’t remember the title... something with Pluto) where she starts with "Round like a circle in a spiral/like a wheel within a wheel..." sublime!
Bacharach ("In The Land Of Make Believe"), Carole King ("So Much Love", "Don't Forget About Me", "No Easy Way Down" and "I Can't Make It Alone"), Randy Newman ("I Don’t Want To Hear It Anymore" and "Just One Smile") and many other songwriters are present in this album... but above all, the song that will always be remembered will be the now famous "Son of a Preacher Man" with that famous opening bass line (originally rejected by Aretha at the time, and brought to success by Dusty - number 10 on the Billboard chart) and reincarnated with new life in 1995 thanks to Quentin Tarantino who made it one of the standout tracks of the Pulp Fiction soundtrack.
Look, such miracles happen only once in a lifetime, that alchemy between Dusty and the musicians, Dusty and the backup singers (the so-called Sweet Inspirations, among which is Whitney Houston's mother), Dusty and the orchestra (no, you will never hear those strings again), Dusty and the lyrics (simple yet direct as the facts of life where feelings, emotions, and fears reign supreme).
The frenzy of those sessions that gave birth to such divinity brought to life many other compositions that ended up in the remastered versions of this album (I highly recommend the RHINO Warner Deluxe Edition, a digipack that offers over 14 bonus tracks resulting from those sessions, including standout "You've Got A Friend" by King and "I Found My Way" which will definitely be the song I’ll have played at my funeral... or rather, they will play, and also a splendid booklet!).
Simply amazing but tremendously incomparable.
Inimitable and immeasurable.
After almost 40 years, this peak has never been reached.
P.S. Once again, I apologize, I know my tendency to write lengthy reviews is inversely proportional to my desire to shorten them!
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
03 Son of a Preacher Man (02:26)
John Hurley; Ronnie Wilkins
Billy-Ray was a preacher's son
And when his daddy would visit he'd come along
When they gathered round and started talkin'
That's when Billy would take me walkin'
A-through the backyard we'd go walkin'
Then he'd look into my eyes
Lord knows to my surprise
The only one who could ever reach me
Was the son of a preacher man
The only boy who could ever teach me
Was the son of a preacher man
Yes he was, he was, oooh, yes he was
Being good isn't always easy
No matter how hard I try
'Cause when he started sweet-talkin' to me
He'd kiss and tell me everything is all right
He'd kiss and tell me everything is all right
Can I get away again tonight?
The only one who could ever reach me
Was the son of a preacher man
The only boy who could ever teach me
Was the son of a preacher man
Yes he was, he was, Lord knows he was
How well I remember
The look that was in his eyes
Stealin' kisses from me on the sly
Takin' time to make time
Tellin' me that he's all mine
Learnin' from each other's knowing
Lookin' to see how much we've grown
And the only one who could ever reach me
Was the son of a preacher man
The only boy who could ever teach me
Was the son of a preacher man
Yes he was, he was, oh, yes he was
He was the sweet-talking son of a preacher man
I kissed the son of a preacher man
The sweet-lovin' son of a preacher man
Ahh, ooh, ahh....
04 I Don't Want To Hear It Anymore (03:07)
(Randy Newman)
In my neighbourhood
We don't live so good
The rooms are small
And the buildings made of wood
I hear the neighbours talking 'bout you and me
I guess I heard it all
'Cause the talk is loud
And the walls are much too thin
He don't really love her
That's what I heard them say
He sure wasn't thinking of her today, oh no
(He wasn't thinking of her today)
I saw them in the front yard
Said the boy in room 149
He was talking to a girl I've never seen before
And standing there together, oh they looked so good
I don't want to hear it anymore
(I don't want to hear it)
I don't want to hear it anymore
(Anymore)
'Cause the talk just never ends
And the heartache soon begins
The talk is so loud
And the walls are much too thin
Ain't it sad, said the woman down the hall
That when a nice girl falls in love
Ain't it just too bad that she had to fall
For a boy who doesn't care for her at all?
(It's so sad)
I don't want to hear it anymore
(I don't want to hear it)
I just can't stand to hear it anymore
(Anymore)
'Cause the talk just never ends
And the heartache soon begins
The talk is so loud
And the walls are much too thin
I don't want to hear it anymore
(Can't stand to hear it)
(Don't want to hear it)
I just can't stand to hear it anymore
(Don't talk about it)
(Can't stand to hear it)
Oh, baby, baby
I just can't stand
05 Don't Forget About Me (02:49)
(gerry goffin / carole king)
Baby, I know you've got to go
And I have no right to tell you not to go
The road just isn't there for us
There never was a prayer for us
Someday our paths may cross again
And maybe we'll find the kind of love we lost again
But now, I'll set you free to choose again
It's your life to win or lose again
Hey, don't forget about me now, baby
Baby, please, don't forget about me now, baby
Today I cannot borrow a minute of your tomorrow
But don't let it cause you sorrow
Please, don't forget about me now, baby
Don't forget about me
Someday, our paths may cross again
And maybe we'll find the kind of love we lost again
But now, I've got to let you go
It's ourselves we got to get to know
Oh, hey, don't forget about me now, baby
Baby, please, don't forget about me now
Baby, please, please don't forget about me, baby
Ooh, baby, please, oh
Hey, don't forget about me now, baby
Baby, please, please don't forget about me
Ah-ha, yeah, ooh
06 Breakfast in Bed (02:55)
(Eddie Hinton / Donnie Fritts)
You've been cryin'
Your face is a mess
Come in baby
You can dry the tears on my dress
She's hurt you again
I can tell
Oh, I know that look so well
Don't be shy
You've been here before
Pull your shoes off, lie down
And I will lock the door
And no-one has to know
You've come here again
Darling it will be
Like it's always been before
Come on over here
Breakfast in bed
And a kiss or three
You don't have to say you love me
Breakfast in bed
Nothing need be said
Ain't no need
What's your hurry?
Please don't eat and run
You can let her wait, my darling
It's been so long
Since I've had you here
You will come again
Darling it will be
Like it's always been before
Hey child
Breakfast in bed
And a kiss or three
You don't have to say you love me
Breakfast in bed
Nothing need be said
Breakfast in bed
And a kiss or three
You don't have to say you love me
Breakfast in bed
Nothing need be said, yeah
You don't have to
07 Just One Smile (02:39)
(Randy Newman)
Can't I cry a little bit?
There's nobody to notice it
Can't I cry if I want to?
No-one cares
Why can't I pretend
That you'll love me again?
All I had has been taken from me
Now I cry tears that never become me
Just one smile means forgiving
Just one kiss, the hurt's all gone
Just one smile to make my life worth living
A little dream to build my world upon
How I wish I could say
All the things I want to say
If some way, you could see what's in my heart
Oh, baby
I don't ask for much
A look, a smile, a touch
Try to forget
Lord knows, I'm trying
It's so hard to forget
When your whole world you know is dying
Just one smile means forgiving
Just one kiss, the hurt's all gone
Just one smile to make my life worth living
A little dream to build my world upon
Just one smile please forgiving
Just one kiss, hurt's all gone
Just one smile to make my life worth living
A little dream to build my world upon
Just one smile
08 The Windmills of Your Mind (03:49)
Round
like a circle in a spiral
like a wheel within a wheel
never ending or beginning
on an ever spinning reel
like a snowball down a mountain
or a carnival balloon
like a carousel that’s turning
running rings around the moon
like a clock whose hands are sweeping
past the minutes of its face
and the world is like an apple
whirling silently in space
like the circles that you find
in the windmills of your mind !
like a tunnel that you follow
to a tunnel of its own
down a hollow to a cavern
where the sun has never shone,
like a door that keeps revolving
in a half forgotten dream,
or the ripples from a pebble
someone tosses in a stream
like a clock whose hands are sweeping ....
keys that jingle in your pocket
words that jangle in your head
why did summer go so quickly ?
was it something that you said ?
lovers walk along a shore
and leave their footprints in the sand
is the sound of distant drumming
just the fingers of your hand ?
pictures hanging in a hallway
and the fragment of this song
half remembered names and faces
but to whom do they belong ?
he: when you knew
that it was over
you were suddenly aware
that the autumn leaves were turning
to the color
of her hair !
she: when you knew
that it was over
in the autumn of goodbyes
for a moment
you could not recall the color
of his eyes !
like a circle in a spiral
like a wheel within a wheel
never ending or beginning
on an ever spinning reel
as the images unwind
like the circles
that you find
in the windmills of your mind !
09 In the Land of Make Believe (02:30)
(Burt Bacharach / Hal David)
In the land of make believe
You're mine tonight
Although you are far away
In the land of make believe
I'm holding you tight
The silver moon is shining above
And there's love in your eyes
And I'm kissing you
Like I used to do
Yesterday in paradise
I've been living in the land of make believe
Since you've been gone
I need you so much
That without your love
I must deceive myself
To go on
Your loving hand caresses my face
We embrace tenderly
Never will we part
Deep down in my heart
You are always here with me
You are always here with me
In the land of make believe
In the land of make believe
In the land of make believe
Your loving hand caresses my face
We embrace tenderly
Never will we part
Deep down in my heart
You are always here with me
You are always here with me
In the land of make believe
In the land of make believe
In the land of make believe
In the land of make believe
11 I Can't Make It Alone (03:58)
(Gerry Goffin / Carole King)
Now you know me
You know how proud I am
And what I'm gonna tell you now
Won't be easy to say
Before I left your side
Ooh, I was so happy then
But I've been so lonely
Since I've been away
Oh, baby
I've tried and I know I can't make it alone
It's such a hard way to go
I just can't make it alone
There's something in my soul
That will always
Lead me back to you
What can I say now?
Sorry is just not good enough
I couldn't blame you if you hurt me now
The way I hurt you then
But who else can I turn to?
Oh, baby, I'm begging you
Won't you reach out for my dying soul?
And make me live again
Oh, baby, it's so hard
I've tried and I know I can't make it alone
It's such a hard way to go
I just can't make it alone
There's something in my soul
That will always
Lead me back to you
Baby, help me
I've tried and I know I can't make it alone
It's such a hard way to go
And I can't make it alone
There's something in my soul
That will always
Lead me back to you
Oh, help me
(Please help me)
You know I need you
(I need you)
I'm saying that I need you
I just can't make it by myself
(I just can't make it by myself)
I just can't make it all alone
(I just can't make it all alone)
I just can't make it by myself
(I just can't make it by myself)
Come on baby
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