Wednesday, August 08, 2007

Dusty DVD

This DVD of Dusty Springfield's TV series is something to get excited about. Of course, if it included the Motown Special she hosted for Ready Steady Go, it would be incredibly exciting.

The press release tells you all. Well, not quite all. I mean saying "scoring her first number one in 1966 with ‘You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me’" would suggest there were other number ones when there weren't. And saying "Bacharach & David, arguably the most successful songwriting duo ever" is a bit rich, as there's no argument to be made, only facts to be stated (B&D are not the most successful songwriting duo ever).

The press release also suggests that Jerry Wexler and Tom Dowd produced Dusty In Memphis, when it was Wexler and Arif Mardin; Tom Dowd was the engineer. You can bet there'll be magazines recycling that mistake in the coming months.

Anyway, that press release:

Dusty Springfield
Legendary BBC series released for the first time ever. Live At The BBC DVD – October 8th 2007.

In a career spanning five decades, Dusty Springfield was the finest white soul singer of her era, her consistency and purity unmatched by any of her contemporaries.

October 8th 2007 sees the release, for the first time ever, on DVD of her legendary BBC TV series from the sixties on Universal. This superb collection compiles the surviving shows into one powerful collection of 9 shows and 61 songs.

As well as featuring over 2 hours of lovingly restored footage from her TV series, Dusty Springfield – Live At The BBC also contains extra footage from the Morecambe & Wise Show, Tom Jones Show, an interview on Saturday Night At The Mill, as well as an audio jukebox and a photo gallery. There will also be a limited collector’s edition containing 4 exclusive picture postcards. This is the first time the series have
been available since they were first aired over 40 years ago.

Without doubt one of the UK’s most acclaimed and successful female singers, she proved a huge success on both sides of the Atlantic.

The early part of the 1960s saw her team up with her brother to form The Springfields who enjoyed a moderate degree of success. By 1963, and inspired by the new sound of Motown, Dusty embarked on her solo career. Her first single, ‘I Only Want To Be With You’ entered both the US and UK charts and by the mid-sixties she had become one of the country’s biggest stars scoring her first number one in 1966 with ‘You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me’. She was also the first artist to appear on the iconic TV series Ready Steady Go.

Her two BBC TV series in 1966 & 1967 were followed in 1969 by what many see as her finest album, ‘Dusty In Memphis’. Having already worked with Bacharach & David, arguably the most successful songwriting duo ever, Dusty, inspired by her love of classic American soul, de-camped to Memphis to make an album with renowned soul producers Tom Dowd & Jerry Wexler. Featuring the likes of ‘Son Of A Preacher Man’, ‘Dusty In Memphis’ remains one of the most acclaimed records of all time.

The 1970s saw her work with the likes of Gamble & Huff and in 1987 she again tasted success when she teamed up with the Pet Shop Boys on the single ‘What Have I Done To Deserve This?’

The full tracklisting of the DVDs is as follows:

Dusty BBC TV Show

Series 1

1st September 1966
The Real Thing
Some Of Your Lovin’
Bring Him Back
Poor Wayfaring Stranger
The Mood I’m In
Twenty-Four Hours From Tulsa
Packin’ Up

8th September 1966
Call Me Irresponsible
Tell The World About You
I Don’t Want To Go On Without You
Won’t Be Long
I’ll Never Stop Loving You
The Real Thing


22nd September 1966
You Lost The Sweetest Boy
To Love and Be Loved
Anna (El Baion)
Gonna Build A Mountain
Losing You
Won’t Be Long

Series 2

15th August 1967
Live It Up
I’ll Try Anything
The Water Is Wide
I Only Wanna Laugh
If You Go Away
Everybody Needs Somebody

22nd August 1967
Get Ready
The Beautiful Land
All I See Is You
Medley: Do Re Mi, Soulville

29th August 1967
Come Back To Me
Don’t Let Me Lose This Dream
Peel Me A Grape
If You Go Away
You Can Have Him

5th September 1967
By Myself
Sunny
Two Brothers
Time After Time
You'd Better Run

12th September 1967
Let The Good Times Roll
If My Friends Could See Me Now
I Wish You Love
It Was Easier To Hurt Him
Heatwave

19th September 1967
Nowhere To Run
Sweet Lover No More
My Lagan Love
The Mood I'm In
It Ain't All Honey
You Don't Have To Say You Love Me
Extras
26 August 1970: THE MORECAMBE & WISE SHOW (BBC2)
How Can I Be Sure

28 December 1972: TOM JONES SHOW (BBC1)
I Am Woman
Since I Fell For You

7 April 1979: SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE MILL (BBC1)
Interview/I'm Coming Home Again

Photo Gallery

Audio Jukebox of tracks plus hit singles:
I Only Want To Be With You
Son Of A Preacher Man
I Just Don’t Know What To Do With Myself
You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me
I Close My Eyes & Count To Ten

Collector’s Edition contains:
4 Unique Picture Postcards from the TV Series
Limited edition numbering

Format
DVD
5.1 surround sound

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey man, there are measures of success other than sales, you know...

Fire Escape said...

There are, I know, but other than sales the main criterion would be chart placings. However, I wouldn't, for example, say Westlife are more successful than Abba because they've had 14 number ones to Abba's 9 (I bet, though, Abba have sold more records).
Similarly, Oasis have had twice as many (8) number ones than The Jam and sold loads more records, so I think we'll have to say Oasis are more successful. No, it's not fair but there must be some objective measurements in pop success.

Anonymous said...

I remain convinced that whichever aethete wrote this press release had artistic success in mind...

This also explains their creative approach to The Facts.

Anonymous said...

I said aesthete, yes I did.

harveyw said...

Yeah, but as we all know, press releases are all about bending the truth; making things sound more impressive than they actually are.

What they should have said was, "Dusty's late 60s tv series are among the pinnacles of television broadcasting, and -even more remarkably- they're mostly still in the BBC's archive."

What does worry me is that the special guest sequences seem to be missing (they're not in the track listings here, at least). Which is all very well, but when her guests were of the calibre of Scott Walker, Jose Feliciano, Peter Cook, Woody Allen etc it seems a little remiss to leave 'em out.

Fire Escape said...

Aesthete?! You who know not of press officers has spoken. Tonight, between rounds at the pop quiz, I will introduce you to The Ways and The Workings of the Music Biz (Press Officer chapter).

Fire Escape said...

Thanks for that, Harvey (there was a cross-posting issue going on). Perhaps you could have a word with your BBC bosses and liberate the extra footage for us?

ally. said...

i'm more excited than a really excited person who's got really really excited...
seen bits here and there of these - mainly at dusty days and they're ace. it'd be a rotten shame if they can't sort out the guest bits - the whole shows unspoilt would be magic