Dusty Springfield: The Complete Atlantic Singles, 1968-1971 (Atlantic)

Dusty Springfield

The Complete Atlantic Singles, 1968-1971

Atlantic

Apr 07, 2021 Web Exclusive By Michael Watkins

It can often be difficult to know how to assess compilations like this, especially when they are about a fixed point in an artist’s career. If it, as it is with this release, is the case that some of the best work of an artist’s career either comes before or after the timescale that a release sets out for itself, it can begin to feel a little superfluous as an exercise.

It’s fair to say that any compilation that is unable to include such essential Dusty Springfield tracks as “Wishin’ and Hopin’,” “I Only Want to Be With You,” and the still-astonishing “You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me” can never truly be called “definitive,” but viewed perhaps through a more forgiving lens, The Complete Atlantic Singles 1968-1971 speaks to a particular time in this unique artist’s career where the hits may have been less forthcoming, but the quality never fully subsided.

Perhaps regarded as her definitive single, thanks to its inclusion on soundtracks for films like Pulp Fiction, “Son of a Preacher Man” opens things up here, and it is not long before the oft-overlooked cover of Noel Harrison’s “The Windmills of Your Mind” rears its head. What follows are a solid set of songs that offer glimpses of her past brilliance, without ever truly matching them. In many ways offering a poignant look at a point in Springfield’s career where her popularity was heading downwards, The Complete Atlantic Singles 1968-1971 serves as a timely reminder that she never gave up, even when the record-buying public was being distracted with more exciting emerging talents and trends elsewhere. (www.atlanticrecords.com)

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