Consumer Guide Album

Dusty Springfield: A Brand New Me [Atlantic, 1970]
Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff have bestowed upon Dusty--who as a singer of contemporary pop has only one peer, Dionne Warwick--the same cool-soul formula that's worked so successfully for Jerry Butler, but here it's wearing thin. The songs (every one written in part by Gamble) echo each other melodically and rhythmically, the instrumentation never varies, and neither does the vocal mood. If only Dusty could bring all her moods together--starting with her harder-driving stuff and working through the title cut here--she'd make a greater album than Dusty in Memphis. But that's a lot to ask. B-