Search - Dusty Springfield :: It Begins Again

An exciting new beginning for Britain's finest female voice

Chris | Sydney, Australia | 10/07/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"It's near impossible to rate any of Dusty's back catalogue below three stars because anything she manipulated with that incredible voice became gold. In her native country Britain, five years of hit single after hit single (1964-1969) had well and truly established Dusty as an icon. However, after an ill-fated move to Los Angeles in the early seventies her career began back-peddling at a rapid rate of knots. It was not until the intervention of then-hot duo the Pet Shop Boys in 1988 that she would reclaim mainstream popularity, but her attempts in the late seventies (of which 'It Begins Again' is an artefact) were admirable if not particularly successful.



It's interesting to note that this release marked the first time a photograph of Dusty had appeared on a studio album of hers for almost a decade. Her self-loathing and bouts of depression are well documented in other resources, but all things considered it's obvious Dusty threw herself into this 1978 comeback - albeit an airbrushing effort that would even make Beyonce gawk. Along with the flattering photography, the rest of 'It Begins Again' reeked of professionalism. The credits read like a 'who's who' of soft rock / easy listening music from the seventies: writing credits include Barry Manilow, Nona Hendryx (of Labelle), Lesley Gore, the Motown hitmakers Holland/Dozier/Holland, whilst the production responsibilites went to Roy Thomas Baker who had recently workd with Queen. Even the most stubborn critic would have to agree this was a pretty impressive line-up.



The album yields a handful of highlights good enough to rival Dusty's seemingly infallable sixties catalogue. Her reading of the Peter Allen / Carole Bayer Sager co-write 'I'd Rather Leave While I'm In Love' rises above the cliche of the lyric to become unambiguously poignant, whilst 'Hollywood Movie Girls' is an all-too-knowing look at the less glamorous reality of Hollywood. 'Turn Me Around' melds a capable vocal from Dusty with a memorable hook and 'Love Me By Name' is classic 'theatre de Dusty' a la her sixties recordings, but as always it is Dusty's more experimental selections which prove most satisfying. 'Sandra', the sweeping melodrama about a depressed housewife who drinks her sorrows away and eventually commits suicide, becomes a stunning piece of work with Dusty's vulnerable and soaring vocals respectively capturing the character's desperation and yearning. The fact that lyrically it runs close parallels with her private life a few years earlier doesn't exactly hurt the integrity of the performance, either. The final cut (despite being hideously out of place musically) is a futuristic Latin-disco tune (!) called 'That's The Kind Of Love I Got For You', with Dusty's treated vocal writhing in pure ecstasy over the infectious melody. Bizarre, but that was increasingly becoming Dusty's specialty.



The entire album is technically superb and every cut is an enjoyable one, however I can't help but feel that Roy Thomas Baker's suffocating production hinders the project rather than enhancing it. That said, no level of production can hide the strength of Dusty's performances here. Nona Hendryx's 'Checkmate' is a rocking track with a curious lyric whilst the Motown-influenced cuts 'A Love Like Yours' (a baffling first single choice) and 'I Found Love With You' become are inoffensive but joyful efforts. On the upside, the overall feel of the production manages to offset the fact that 'It Begins Again' is quite schizophrenic; starting with midtempo pop moving to soft rock to balladry to Motown to disco, the record could be quite disjointed but Baker's 'sound' manages to ground it.



The album didn't perform as well as had been expected and as such never reached the status of a 'classic' Dusty record. This is a shame, because 'It Begins Again' is a solid effort - one of the best post-sixties releases - ultimately worth hearing for some incredible vocals (by now Dust had completely mastered the breathy subtlety which would characterise her work around this period) and some truly excellent songs.



[The CD reissue adds the attraction 12" remix of 'That's The Kind Of Love I Got For You', but I wonder why Mercury didn't add some of the other recordings from this period such as 'Let Me Love You Once Before You Go', 'I Am Your Child' and 'Give Me The Night'?]"

Overproduced but features gorgeous vocals from Dusty

Jake Z | 08/17/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

""It Begins Again (IBA)" was Dusty's comeback album after a long hiatus in 1978. It was launched on the back of heavy record company promotion and elaborate media fanfare in England but rather quietly in America. In neither market did the album catch fire, though obviously it made more of an impression in England where she always had a more intense and loyal following. In America, she was well respected but lacked a mass audience and so earned a reputation for being something of a critical favourite. To this day, fans and music critics are deeply divided about IBA. There are those - mostly in the UK (eg, Record Collector) - who think the world of it and even consider it to be some of the best music she ever made in her post-60s career. Detractors from this view range from the indifferent (mostly in the US) to those who feel that the album suffers from generally weak material and overproduction at the hands of Roy Thomas Baker, the man most remembered for the pomp and grand overstatement of the music of 70s super group Queen. There was consensus however that Dusty's vocal performances were superlative throughout the album. She decided wisely not to overstrain herself vocally for her comeback effort but used her breathy feather light voice to such steamy effect that Robert Christgau, writing for Village Voice, said he could listen to her breathe and sing tracking charts all day in that voice. All things considered, I love everything Dusty does but IBA isn't one of her best. To my ears, Dusty and her producer spent too much time polishing the sound to a high gloss they allowed her performances to be buried underneath it. Take Nona Hendryx's "Checkmate" for instance. It's an obscure number but one I love. Minus the strings and over busy backing track and you'll find Dusty delivering a knock out performance recalling her best with soul ravers in the 60s, but you'd have to listen hard to discern it. "Turn Me Around", the opening cut, is an ultra smooth, ultra polished remake of an earlier version recorded in 1974 under Brooks Arthur's direction for the abandoned "Longing" album. Less heartfelt perhaps, but overall a more professional take that should please most listeners. "I'd Rather Leave While I'm In Love", the Carole Bayer Sager song that gave Rita Coolidge a hit, is arguably the most radio friendly choice for single release that never was. A pity 'cos it's light and breezy and perfect for the airwaves. The piece de resistance of the set must however be "Sandra", a rather low key ballad from Barry Manilow's songbook, which Dusty dramatically yet touchingly transforms into an anthem for the secret alcoholic American housewife. I would rank it among her career highlights. It is that good. Lesley Gore's "Love Me By Name" is the other tortured ballad that is remarkable for Dusty's high wattage performance that borders on the overwrought. How she must love doing this number.The other cuts on the album range from indifferent late 70s Hollywood MOR ("Hollywood Movie Girls") to charming fillers ("I Found Love with You"). Her cover of Martha & the Vandellas' "A Love Like Yours" is disappointing, marred by a stilted and leaden production. The closing number, "That's The Kind Of Love I Got From You", is Dusty's half successful experiment with disco. The exotic Latin influences add to the excitement of the song but the strange distortions they used on Dusty's voice take some of the immediacy away. The 12" remix by Tony Moulton is great though. It should have been released at the time as a single. It could have given her a hit.IBA may not have been Dusty's best but the highlights are worth buying the album for."

Starting over

Jake Z | Canada | 01/27/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This 1978 release was Dusty Springfield's first album since 1973's CAMEO, or if you count it, the unreleased 1974 (intended) album "Longing", which they believed would have killed her career. She went through some personal problems between those albums, but she came back in top form with this release.The album opens with the wonderful "Turn Me Around", which was intended for the LONGING album. She does a great job on Nona Hendryx's "Checkmate". Another notable cover song on here is her cover of Barry Manilow's "Sandra", which sounds better from a woman's perspective, with Dusty's warm vocals. The album is a bit overproduced, but has some fine vocals from Dusty. The album was produced by Roy Thomas Baker. I enjoy the ballads a lot on this disc, such as "Love Me By Name", "I'd Rather Leave While I'm In Love", and "Hollywood Movie Girls".There's some nice album filler like "I Found Love With You". I don't particularily like her version of "A Love Like Yours", which was originally done by Martha and the Vandellas. The album closes with a disco ditty called "That's The Kind of Love I Got For You", in it's original form and a 12" extended mix. It's a nice song, a bit obscure on here but memorable. Overall a fine album, probably the best of her 70's work."