A Brand New Me (Dusty Springfield album)

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A Brand New Me
DustySpringfield-ABrandNewMe.jpg
Cover of the American release of the album
Studio album by
Released15 January 1970 (1970-01-15)
RecordedSeptember–October 1969
Studio Sigma Sound, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Genre Pop, soul
Length25:52
Label Atlantic
Producer Kenneth Gamble, Leon Huff
Dusty Springfield chronology
Dusty in Memphis
(1969)
A Brand New Me
(1970)
See All Her Faces
(1972)
Singles from A Brand New Me
  1. "A Brand New Me"
    Released: 15 October 1969
  2. "Silly, Silly Fool"
    Released: 30 January 1970

A Brand New Me is the sixth studio album by English singer Dusty Springfield, released in 1970.

Contents

Writing and recording

The album was recorded in late 1969 at the Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia. It is Springfield's only album on which every song was produced by the same production team: Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff. Gamble also co-wrote every track on the album, and the Gamble and Huff duo went on to have success with many groups and singers in the 1970s, among them Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, The O'Jays, MFSB and The Three Degrees.

Release and promotion

The album was first released in the United States by Atlantic Records in January 1970. Its release in the United Kingdom followed three months later by Philips Records, under the title From Dusty with Love.

The title track was released as a single in the US in late 1969, peaking at No. 3 on the US Adult Contemporary chart and No. 24 on the Top 40 chart on 20 December 1969; Springfield would not earn another Top 40 hit for 17 years. From Dusty with Love was Springfield's last UK album to feature her name in the title; all but one of her previous five albums had done so. The album had moderate success in the UK, peaking at No. 35 on their album chart; the US release, however, stalled at No. 107.

In 1992, Atlantic Records/Warner Music Group's sublabel Rhino Entertainment re-released a digitally remastered edition of A Brand New Me in the US, featuring nine bonus tracks originally issued as A- and B-side singles in the US in the years following the A Brand New Me album's release, among them recordings made with both Jerry Wexler, Tom Dowd, Arif Mardin and Ellie Greenwich as well as tracks from a shelved second album with Gamble & Huff, and one track recorded for Philips Records, but never released by Atlantic (Springfield's contract with Atlantic allowed them to release Philips recordings). Some of these recordings were first issued in the UK on the 1972 album See All Her Faces (which had no US counterpart), others would remain unavailable in the UK for another ten years until PolyGram released an expanded edition of Dusty in Memphis as part of their mid-price series Reflections, entitled Dusty in Memphis Plus and released on the Mercury Records label in the UK and the rest of Europe in September 1980.

From Dusty with Love was first issued on CD by Philips Records/PolyGram and re-issued in Europe in the early 1990s. A digitally remastered CD edition of From Dusty with Love was released by Mercury/Universal Music Group in the UK/Europe in 2002, featuring alternate versions of recordings from the 1970 Gamble & Huff sessions as bonus tracks.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic (US Release)Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [1]
AllMusic (UK Release)Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [2]
Christgau's Record Guide B− [3]

Reviewing in Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981), Robert Christgau wrote: "Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff have bestowed upon Dusty—who as a singer of contemporary pop has only one peer, Dionne Warwick—the same cool-soul formula that's worked so successfully for Jerry Butler, but here it's wearing thin. The songs (every one written in part by Gamble) echo each other melodically and rhythmically, the instrumentation never varies, and neither does the vocal mood. If only Dusty could bring all her moods together—starting with her harder-driving stuff and working through the title cut here—she'd make a greater album than Dusty in Memphis . But that's a lot to ask." [3]

Track listing

Side A
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Lost" Kenneth Gamble, Leon Huff, Jerry Butler 2:26
2."Bad Case of the Blues"Roland Chambers, Kenny Gamble1:59
3."Never Love Again"Roland Chambers, Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff3:19
4."Let Me in Your Way (Let Me Get in Your Way [UK])"Roland Chambers, Kenny Gamble2:43
5."Let's Get Together Soon"Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff2:40
Side B
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Brand New Me" Thom Bell, Jerry Butler, Kenny Gamble2:26
2."Joe"Allan Felder, Kenny Gamble, Norman Harris 2:20
3."Silly, Silly Fool"Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff2:30
4."The Star of My Show"Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff2:27
5."Let's Talk It Over"Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff2:26

Bonus tracks CD re-issues

Bonus tracks A Brand New Me, Rhino Records 1992
No.TitleWriter(s)Release HistoryLength
11."I Wanna Be a Free Girl"Thom Bell, Linda Creed, Kenneth Gamble, Leon HuffFirst release: Atlantic US single #2729 (A-side), 16 April 1970 (1970-04-16)
First UK release: Dusty in Memphis Plus, 1980
2:57
12."What Good Is I Love You?" Ellie Greenwich, Mike Rashkow First release: Atlantic US single #2771 (A-side), 12 January 1971 (1971-01-12)
First UK release: See All Her Faces , 1972
2:57
13."What Do You Do When Love Dies"Mary Unobsky, Donna Weiss First release: Atlantic US single #2771 (B-side of "What Good Is I Love You")
First UK release: Dusty in Memphis Plus, 1980
2:42
14."Haunted" Jeff Barry, Bobby Bloom First release: Atlantic US single #2825 (A-side), 4 August 1971 (1971-08-04)
First UK release: Dusty in Memphis Plus, 1980
2:27
15."Nothing Is Forever"Jeff Barry, Bobby BloomFirst release: Atlantic US single #2825 (B-side of "Haunted")
First UK release: See All Her Faces , 1972
2:35
16."Someone Who Cares"Alex HarveyFirst release: Atlantic US single #2841 (B-side of "I Believe in You"), 14 November 1971 (1971-11-14)
First UK release: See All Her Faces , 1972
2:57
17."I Believe in You"Jeff BarryFirst release: Atlantic US single #2841 (A-side), 14 November 1971 (1971-11-14)
First UK release: Dusty in Memphis Plus, 1980
3:29
18."I'll Be Faithful" (Mono mix)Ned W. Albright, Michael F. Soles, Steve SolesOriginally unissued3:00
19."I Can't Give Back the Love I Feel for You" (Alternate mix) Nickolas Ashford, Brian Holland, Valerie Simpson Originally unissued mix. First release original mix: Dusty... Definitely , 19682:32
Bonus tracks From Dusty with Love, Mercury Records 2002
No.TitleWriter(s)Release HistoryLength
11."The Richest Girl Alive [UK recording]"Kenny Gamble, Leon HuffOriginally unissued
(although a different recording of the song was first released on the US compilation Love Songs, Rhino/Atlantic 2001)
2:43
12."Summer Love [UK recording]"Kenny Gamble, Leon HuffOriginally unissued
(although a different recording of the song was first released on the US compilation Love Songs, Rhino/Atlantic 2001)
2:47
13."I Wanna Be a Free Girl"Thom Bell, Linda Creed, Kenny Gamble, Leon HuffFirst release: Atlantic US single #2729 (A-side), 16 April 1970 (1970-04-16)
First UK release: Dusty in Memphis Plus, 1980 = 2:55
 

Other tracks

Recorded February 1970 at Sigma Sound Studios, Philadelphia. Producers: Gamble & Huff Productions.

"Sweet Charlie" was originally thought to have been titled "Sweet Charlie Babe". Singer Jackie Moore released a song with the latter title a few years later, and due to the similarity of the titles, it was thought that Moore had used a backing track for what had been assumed to be Springfield's version, and simply recorded over Springfield's vocals. However, it was discovered in the late 2010s that Springfield had, in fact, recorded the track "Sweet Charlie" instead, a completely different song to Moore's. Due to the mistaken assumption that Moore had recorded over Springfield's vocals, the track remained unmixed and unreleased until the mistake was discovered and the song finally released 47 years after its recording, in 2017, on the compilation "A Brand New Me: The Complete Philadelphia Sessions".

Personnel

Charts

Album Billboard (United States)

YearChartPosition
1970Pop Albums US Billboard '200'107
1970UK Albums Chart35

Singles – Billboard (United States)

YearSingleChartPosition
1969"A Brand New Me"Pop Singles24
1969"A Brand New Me"Adult Contemporary3
1970"Silly, Silly Fool"Pop Singles76
1970"Silly, Silly Fool"Adult Contemporary25
1970"I Wanna Be a Free Girl"Pop Singles105
1970"I Wanna Be a Free Girl"Adult Contemporary25

Sources

  1. "AllMusic A Brand New Me review" . Retrieved 22 February 2011.
  2. "AllMusic From Dusty with Love review" . Retrieved 22 February 2011.
  3. 1 2 Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: S". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies . Ticknor & Fields. ISBN   089919026X . Retrieved 13 March 2019 via robertchristgau.com.

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