26×26 – An Apology

There were no female artists in my 26×26 selection, so, to right that wrong:

Mary Isabel Catherine Bernadette O’Brien and Marie McDonald McLaughlin Lawrie had tremendous success in British light entertainment in the 60s. Dusty Springfield was a masterful interpreter of American pop written by the best – Goffin/King, Bacharach & David – and Lulu was the sprightly young pop poppet of the charts and the Eurovision Song Contest.

Dusty’s renditions of the classics gave her the leverage she needed to take a step up in class and record with the best. Though it had been very successful, Lulu simply hated what she was singing (though glimpses of the direction she was to take can be seen in her TV show, which also gave us one of most edgy television moments of the decade). Contract at an end, she signed up with Atco and got a chance to show what she could do with classier material. They both went to America.

Dusty worked with Aretha Franklin’s production team of Jerry Wexler, Tom Dowd and Arif Mardin in Tennessee, backed by the legendary Memphis Cats (well known for providing a sterling musical service to Elvis, Wilson Pickett and more). Dusty In Memphis isn’t quite the gritty downhome album it might have been, but it is an incredible meeting of pop and soul, complete with superb funky arrangements.

Lulu headed for Alabama and the same production team as Dusty. The musicians were the awesome Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, who were responsible for more than a few landmark recordings (Aretha’s Respect and Wilson Pickett’s Mustang Sally to name just two). Add legendary guitar slinger Duane Allman to the mix and you can see that Lulu was in the very best company in making New Routes.

Both these records made the lower reaches of the American top 100. The late 60s and early 70s were more about Woodstock, Led Zeppelin and Janis Joplin, so these exemplary recordings were somewhat overlooked, but they represent the artistic high point of two remarkable British singers.

You’ll have heard Son Of A Preacher Man before, but maybe not seen this clip of Dusty. You might not have heard Lulu’s Oh Me Oh My, but Aretha knows how great a performance it is, since she recorded her own version on Young, Gifted and Black in 1972.

Ladies and  gentlemen, Dusty and Lulu.

P.S. Here’s a little extra Dusty – singing the blues. Following New Routes, Lulu went and did it all over again on an album called Melody Fair. The backing band on that record? The Dixie Flyers plus the Memphis Horns, augmented by Elvis’s backing singers The Sweet Inspirations, no less! Both albums are collected on The Atco Sessions 1969-1972.

Thanks to fellow bloggers ElTele and Talcy for spurring me on with their own excellent 26×26 selections. What’s next, chaps?