Dusty Springfield

This vinyl collector’s edition presents 18 studio tracks from Dusty’s early years, consisting of a variety of the recordings she made with The Lana Sisters and The Springfields for different labels such as Philips, Mercury and Fontana, between 1958 and 1962. While The Springfields were often compared to popular American folk acts such as The Kingston Trio and Peter, Paul & Mary, ultimately they had more in common with The New Christy Minstrels or The Limelighters – performers who combined nightclub-friendly arrangements and showmanship with a repertoire drawn from the popular folk idiom. Beginning in 1960, The Springfields made records that were as slick as anything to come out of a British recording studio in the days before The Beatles, with their guitars and bongos accompanied by a big studio band (and sometimes a string section). They jazzed up numbers like “Allentown Jail,” and “They Took John Away,” in a way their more serious American contemporaries would never have imagined.

Although Dusty Springfield eventually went on to greater commercial success in the mid- and late ‘60s, all of these wonderful songs form the building blocks of her legendary musical legacy.

PERSONNEL:

SIDE 1 [1-8] / SIDE 2 [2-5]: THE SPRINGFIELDS:
Dusty Springfield (vocals),Tom Springfield (vocals and guitar),
Mick Hurst (vocals and guitar). Unidentified orchestra.
Recorded in England, 1962.

SIDE 1 [9] / SIDE 2 [1]: THE SPRINGFIELDS:
Dusty Springfield (vocals), Tom Springfield (vocals and guitar),
Tim Feild (vocals and guitar). Unidentified orchestra.
Recorded in England, 1960-1961.

SIDE 2 [6-9]: THE LANA SISTERS:
Dusty Springfield, Riss Chantelle, & Lynne Abrams (vocals).
Unidentified rhythm section. Recorded in England, 1958-1960.

SIDE 1

01. SAY I WON’T BE THERE
02. ALLENTOWN JAIL
03. COTTONFIELDS
04. ISLAND OF DREAMS
05. SETTLE DOWN
06. WIMOWEH MAMBO
07. THEY TOOK JOHN AWAY
08. THE GREEN LEAVES OF SUMMER
09. GOTTA TRAVEL ON

SIDE 2

01. BREAKAWAY
02. TWO BROTHERS
03. MIDNIGHT SPECIAL
04. THERE’S A BIG WHEEL
05. DEAR HEARTS AND GENTLE PEOPLE
06. BUZZIN’
07. TWO-SOME
08. DOWN SOUTH
09. YOU’VE GOT WHAT IT TAKES