Charting Springfield’s Prime

Today’s Top 40 crowd may know Dusty Springfield best for her 1987 recording of “What Have I Done to Deserve This” with the Pet Shop Boys.

But the singer has a string of hits dating back to (gulp) the pre-Beatles days--and her “Dusty in Memphis” album is evidence enough that she is the greatest soul-flavored female pop singer ever to come from England. Sorry, Lisa Stansfield.

The “Dusty in Memphis” album, originally released in 1969, is one of two Springfield collections just issued in CD by Rhino Records as part of the company’s new association with Atlantic Records.

As a member of the folk-flavored Springfields trio, Springfield broke into the U.S. charts in 1962 with the bouncy “Silver Threads and Golden Needles.”

But it wasn’t until a solo career in the mid-’60s that Springfield began to truly showcase her sultry, expressive voice. Among her Top 20 U.S. hits on Phillips Records: “Wishin’ and Hopin’ ” and “You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me.”

Unfortunately, her Phillips work hasn’t been released on CD in this country.

However, “Dusty in Memphis,” Springfield’s first album for Atlantic Records, may well be her most rewarding collection.

According to Jim Feldman’s liner notes for the new CD package, Atlantic founder Ahmet Ertegun was so impressed by the soulfulness of Springfield’s vocals that he urged her to record an entire album in Memphis under the supervision of the production team that had earlier worked with Aretha Franklin.

Instead of making “Dusty” an all-out soul album, however, producers Jerry Wexler, Tom Dowd and Arif Mardin simply gave a Memphis R&B; flavor to a wide range of material.

The standout track, however, was Springfield’s exquisite interpretation of John Hurley and Ronnie Wilkins’ “Son of a Preacher Man,” a song that had reportedly been turned down by Franklin. When Franklin heard Springfield’s rendition, however, she gained new respect for the song and eventually recorded it.

The album also includes three bonus tracks, including a version of Tony Joe White’s “Willie and Laura Mae Jones” that was released as a single in 1969 and a previously unreleased version of “What Do You Do When Love Dies.”

Besides the “Memphis” album, Rhino has also released Springfield’s follow-up collection, “A Brand New Me,” which was recorded in Philadelphia in 1970 under the guidance of songwriters-producers Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff. The CD contains nine bonus tracks, including the version of “What Do You Do When Love Dies” that was released as a single in 1971.