Complete BBC Sessions * - Springfield, Dusty (CD)

I only started listening to Dusty Springfield about a year ago, but fell in love with her. I bought the 2 disc Dusty Springfield Gold, which I feel is her most comprehensive compilation with the exception of her boxset. I then tried to collect her CD releases of her UK albums, so I thought I had most of her songs.

If you're a casual fan, many of the tracks on the Complete BBC Sessions with be new tracks to you, and that makes this CD stand on it's own as part of any Dusty Collection. Sure, there are some well known songs such as Little By Little, Son of a Preacher Man, and I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself. However, many of the tracks are ones that I don't believe Dusty EVER made a studio recording of, such as Tossin' and Turnin' and (Your Love has Lifted Me) Higher and Higher. I might be wrong on that, but I have yet to see it. Some of these tracks are also never released on GH albums such as La Bamba (arranged by Dusty herself) and Chained to a Memory - you'd have to by album releases to get them. Also, it's an opportunity to get three tracks by the Springfields, which are some of my favorite, especially Swahili Papa.

I had read reviews that the sound quality of the BBC Sessions was poor. I'm not audiophile, but I do not find that to be the case. Some of these live tracks, specifically Little By Little, improve on the studio version. I had always thought that on Little By Little, Dusty's voice was lost in the music. The BBC version fixes that.

The sad part of this collection is that it is genuinely the COMPLETE BBC Sessions. Nothing else exists other than what is on this CD, as mentioned in the CD booklet.

As far as a song by song review, it's standard Dusty fare. Her voice drips with emotion and cannot help but affect you. She really brings emotion to the performance. That might be a key. Dusty was a known perfectionist and would rerecord individual notes on tracks until perfect. Here, you get a genuine performance of a whole track, and you can just feel Dusty losing herself in the lyrics and music. She proves herself, not that she needed to.

I highly recommend this CD. It is great for the fans that might only own a greatest hits album, and it's great for those that want everything Dusty - it is guaranteed that there is something new for everybody. The sound quality is great and it's a value with 22 tracks. I would note that on a few tracks, an announcer introduces the track, but I liked that, it made it feel authentic. My key favorites are You Don't Have to Say You Love Me, In the Middle of Nowhere, and Chained to a Memory.

This remains one of the albums I am so pleased that I obtained - I would buy it again and give to anyone I wanted to introduce to Dusty Springfield to. It's simply amazing.