‘Dusty in Memphis’ Is Bigger, Not Necessarily Better, as CD

Is more always better in a CD reissue?

It’s a question raised by Rhino Records’ recent deluxe edition of Dusty Springfield’s highly acclaimed “Dusty in Memphis.”

The original 1969 collection was a splendid work that captured the soulful edge of Springfield’s music so perfectly that it was a key reason the English singer--who died in March at age 59--was elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The album, highlighted by a sultry, affecting version of “Son of a Preacher Man,” is described in the New Rolling Stone Record Guide as a pop classic.

The problem, in terms of CD reissues, comes from the fact that the original vinyl version only ran about 30 minutes--which was about average at the time for albums, but is woefully short in the age of 50-minute-plus CDs.

So it may have seemed like a great idea for Rhino to reissue the original “Dusty” on a single disc with 14 bonus tracks, pushing the collection’s musical output to around 75 minutes.

And some buyers may agree.

For one thing, the album is a bargain because Rhino did keep it to a single disc, rather than adding 15 or 20 minutes just to force fans to pay for a two-disc set. But others may raise the question of artistic tampering.

In expanding the album (and rejecting the option of reissuing the original “Dusty” at a budget price), Rhino changes what was a near-perfect work into one that comes across as massively uneven--and even arbitrary.

While you can preserve the integrity of the original album by turning it off after the first 11 tracks, it’s hard to imagine anyone not listening to the remaining 14 tracks--and most of that additional music shatters the original mood of “Dusty,” especially for someone sampling the material for the first time.

In putting together the original album, Jerry Wexler and co-producers Tom Dowd and Arif Mardin not only chose the musicians for the session but also painstakingly selected material for Springfield--and she generously shared the credit with them for what was by far her most acclaimed and satisfying work.

In the original liner notes, she said, “For five years, since I started recording, I had been coming into studios and finding everything all done beforehand--the arrangements worked out, and nothing to do but bounce off of what was written.

“In Memphis, I was a little intimidated at first because I’d never worked the way they do--making head arrangements, sorting things out. We’d listen to a demo record of a song and then might sit down and mess around with it for two hours, sometimes more, sometimes less, trying out different approaches until we eventually came to some agreement between everybody, myself included.

“Being used to working in a different way, I felt very tight about it, almost entirely on my own and exposed all of a sudden. But I sort of grew up as the album progressed. I became less inhibited. . . . Working this way forces you to be creative, to try to do something really good, because it’s like laying down a foundation. It has to be very strong.”

Some of the bonus tracks on the new deluxe edition work well with the “Dusty” material. “What Do You Do When Love Dies” was recorded during the “Dusty” sessions and fits the tone of the album. Two other tracks, recorded later in New York with the same producers, also fit the “Dusty” feel.

But nine tunes don’t. They were recorded in 1971 with producer Jeff Barry for an album that was never released. The material is sometimes interesting, including a version of Carole King’s “You’ve Got a Friend” that was recorded before James Taylor’s hit rendition. Mostly, however, it is marginal. It undercuts the magical qualities of “Dusty in Memphis” and leaves the album’s content as open to debate as to celebration.