Skip to main content

Stay Awhile, etc.

The clumsily-titled Stay Awhile / I Only Want to be With You was Dusty Springfield's debut US album release. As often seemed to happen, the track-listing differed from that on her first UK 12" A Girl Called Dusty, issued a couple of months beforehand. Gone are the tracks 'Do Re Mi', 'My Colouring Book', 'Nothing' and 'Don't You Know'. In their places are - as the album title suggests - her first two 7" A-sides 'I Only Want To Be With You' and 'Stay Awhile'; along with 'Something Special' (B-side to 'Stay Awhile') and 'Everyday I Have to Cry' (which, in the UK, had been one of the four tracks on the 'I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself' EP).

A Girl Called Dusty peaked at no. 6 in the UK, but Stay Awhile... despite its higher hit-content, only made it to no. 62 in the US. As with the British original, Springfield is pictured on the cover resplendent in double denim & iconic bouffant hairdo against a blue background - while it's not the same shot it must surely have been from the same photo session. On the rear of the sleeve is a short interview between the singer and one Don Mass, in which we learn she didn't much enjoy school; that she loved to travel (with Rome her favourite destination: "Rome is a girl's city. Lots of good-looking men."); and that she'd been interested in music for as long as she could remember.

To the question "Do you like writing songs?" she responded "I do, but I am not one of those people who can write to order. I only write occasionally and very slowly." Nevertheless, one of her own compositions 'Something Special' is included. Of the other tracks, those mentioned in the album title were written for her by Ivor Raymonde and Mike Hawker; with the remainder being cover versions, written by the likes of Bacharach & David ('Anyone Who Ever Had A Heart', 'Wishin' And Hopin''); Holland / Dozier / Holland ('When the Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes'); and Goffin & King ('Will You Love Me Tomorrow').

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

All Wrapped Up

Here's another of the compilation cassettes I bought this summer, having taken home a Denon twin-deck hi-fi cassette player from the local charity shop. All Wrapped Up is a 1983 compilation of singles by The Undertones, with Side One filled with A-sides, and B-sides on Side Two. A cassette must be the least desirable medium for such an arrangement, with a long rewind required if one just wants to hear the hits repeatedly. The Undertones were unapologetically provincial and anti-fashionable, with their songs sharply-written slices of life that pointedly avoided any mention of politics, or of the then-continuing violence in their native Derry. My favourite tracks are the obvious choices: 'Teenage Kicks', 'Jimmy Jimmy', 'Here Comes the Summer', 'My Perfect Cousin' & 'Wednesday Week'. Their later singles showed increased sophistication but lack the some of the straightforward charm of their earlier work. The B-sides, not unexpectedly, are mo...
Post a Comment
Read more

In Heat

Having acquired the soubriquet "the walrus of love", Barry White thereafter became something of a figure of fun, something that misled me (and presumably others) into disregarding his music. Only within the last few years have I begun to pay it more attention. After picking up a copy of his '74 album Can't Get Enough last summer, which I loved, I sought out some of the music by his protegés Love Unlimited. From a Discogs seller I ordered well-used copies of Under the Influence of... ('73) and In Heat ('74) for only £6.25. The only unappealing thing about In Heat is its awful title. The songs and the singing are strong; the arrangements rich & warmly enveloping. As one would expect from White, the thematic focus is firmly fixed on amatory matters. The opening number 'Move Me No Mountain' (the only one on the record not written by White) offers a refreshing rebuttal to the kind of lyrical hyperbole in songs like 'Ain't No Mountain High E...
Post a Comment
Read more

Bananas Are Not Created Equal

I knew Jay Berliner's name from his contributions to Van Morrison's Astral Weeks and Charles Mingus' The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady , so when I saw this curiously-titled LP at the local charity shop I was intrigued, and bought it even though I had no idea what kind of music it might contain. This was after the days when one could still buy records there for a pound apiece, but I don't think I paid more than a fiver for it. The music turned out to be an all-instrumental blend of funk, soul & jazz. Berliner's virtuoso lead guitar is only one of many attractions here. The band of first-rate session musicians behind him are all uniformly excellent too, and, crucially, sound like they're having a blast. Cornell Dupree's supporting guitar work, while less showy than Berliner's, is beautifully-judged, and the rhythm section is terrific. Arranger/conductor Wade Marcus was no slouch either, judging from the way everything comes together. Two of the funk...
Post a Comment
Read more