Have you ever thought about how hard it has to be to craft a great pop music song? Catchy melody, lyrics that resonate, a memorable hook, all in less than three minutes – if it were all that easy, anyone could do it.
Here’s one of my all time favorites: Dusty Springfield’s “Don’t Forget About Me”, from her classic Dusty in Memphis.
My crappy computer speakers don’t really do this baby justice. It’s impeccably recorded. There’s so much great going on here, from the propulsive bass line and the slinky guitar work to the way the horns and back up singers lift the chorus. And of course topping off the whole thing are Dusty’s incomparable, throaty vocals. Really, the whole thing is just perfect.
See what I mean?
Whenever I hear her on ” I Only Want to be With You”, I break into a big smile. Elton John said she was the greatest white singer ever, he may be right.
Then he never heard Janis Joplin.
Or Julie Andrews. Yes Julie Andrews with the three octave range.
Or Tammy Wynette.
I’m not saying better. There’s just a lot of superlatives.
One of my all time favorite albums. Every song is so good!
Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O’Brien. You gotta love that.
Dusty’s good, but I prefer Dionne Warwick any day. Dionne’s one of the best of all time. Listen to “Walk on By”, and tell me I’m wrong. The king of pop was Burt Bacharach.
I see your “Walk on By” and raise you “The Look of Love”.😉
I’ve always had a thing for Dusty’s version of “The Windmills of Your Mind”. Hard to find anything bad from her, IMO.
Check out “Don’t Doubt Yourself, Babe” by Jackie DeShannon. You might have heard that song by the Byrds, but she wrote it, and her version is a slower, more acoustic, more sultry reading.
Some great stuff posted here..but here’s the winning entry..Roy Orbinson and K.D. Lang duet of “Crying”.
K.D. has a helluva set of pipes, no doubt.
Doesn’t she like it written “k.d. lang”?
It’s Aretha Franklin and then everybody else. As for the most beautiful voice, I’ll go with Karen Carpenter.
I’m not going to compare singers. I’m going to compare years. 1966/67 is the greatest period ever for pop music.