Customer Reviews

Dusty Springfield's Dusty in Memphis (Thirty Three and a Third series)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

As much as I can appreciate being original, and trying a fresh approach to writing, Warren Zanes spends about 20% of his time discussing the album and 80% discussing his childhood, his take on the South, Atlantic records, and other miscellaneous things that have very little if anything to do with "Dusty In Memphis" the famous LP the book is supposedly about.

I don't mind that Zanes has taken this different approach, and in a sort of roundabout way, he has covered some of the material necessary to understand this classic pop album, but eventually, even the most open-minded of readers will tire of his tangential musings.

There are a few interesting insights into his views on what made Dusty Springfield such a special singer, and what made the material, the arrangements and the musicians on the album so special, but definitely not enough.

If you want to really learn more about "Dusty In Memphis" the LP and what went on in the studio, skip this. It's a waste of time.

Instead, you can learn much more just by reading the chapter on Memphis in Lucy O'Brien's biography DUSTY or even on the various websites on Dusty Springfield.

This is the first time I have been moved to post a review on Amazon.com - I feel that Mr. Zanes's book needs defending, particularly from Linda Bowden's review below. I have read this book three times now. Perhaps, for a Dusty Springfield fanatic, there is not enough detail in this book about what Dusty was wearing when she sang her vocals in the studio, or which take ended up being used on the album. I can see the appeal of such minutiae - and I've read enough music books like that in my time. This, however, is something entirely different. And something vastly superior.

My main problem with Linda Bowden's review is that she compares the book to a "poorly written high school paper". On the contrary, it's one of the most beautifully written books about music I have ever had the pleasure of reading. (And something else: it's also very funny at times.) I hope that Mr. Zanes or his publishers won't mind me doing this, but here is the very first paragraph of the book:

"This is not a book about a record. Sorry. I hope no one has been misled. This is something else altogether. As I was writing it, I conceptualized my agenda in this way: as an attempt to understand why a particular long-playing phonograph, "Dusty in Memphis", pulled me into its world and what I did there. Which is to say, this book is about an experience with a record more than it is about a record. It's both a chronicle and an analysis of what happened when a particular person met up with a particular piece of vinyl at a particular time and the unfolding of that relationship."

I have a very bright daughter in high school, and I'm still waiting for the day when she is able to write something as clear and expressive as that!

As the book unfolds, we learn a lot (as several reviewers have pointed out) about Mr. Zanes and his relationship with this album. To me, this is perfectly acceptable behavior for the author of a book about pop music. Would it not be stranger for someone to write an appreciation of an album (or a work of visual art, or an opera) while remaining utterly detached and objective? Mr. Zanes is clearly deeply enamored of "Dusty in Memphis", and that love shines from every page of this book. To be sure, he digresses, he wanders, he rambles around the subject. But every single word of this book (OK, perhaps not the amusing aside about Nature's Miracle!) resonates around his theme - which is that the American South is a land of make-believe, and that this extraordinary album reflects that like no other.

Another point: Linda Bowden writes that "the author knows nothing about the work that went into the production of this great album". If that is the case, how does she explain the large presence of Jerry Wexler in the book? Mr. Zanes tracks down Wexler - the legendary producer and former head of Atlantic Records - in his retirement in Florida, and extracts some fascinating material from him, which is quoted at length here.

I do not wish to demean the opinions of some of the reviewers on here. Anybody looking for a strictly, traditionally written biography of a pop star and her greatest album would be advised to avoid this book. But for those of you with open minds and a taste for a more subjective style of writing, I cannot recommend this book highly enough. It is thoughtful, provocative, warm-hearted, and insightful - and, like the album itself, it will take you into another, more entrancing, world for a while.

What was so special about Memphis that producer Jerry Wexler took the diva of British pop there and created pop magic? Warren Zanes, 1980s teenage rock star in the Del Fuegos turned PhD (cultural studies) in the 1990s, has written a small book to find out, the first in a series on classic albums. Continuum offers its writers a lot more space than Greil Marcus did in Stranded - 32,000 words by my count - and Zanes uses it brilliantly.
His essay isn't academic deconstruction but a mix of personal passion, acute perceptions and old-fashioned journalistic leg work. Being a musician helps his analysis of what makes the album so special, but even more so is his understanding of Southern culture. He writes of the creatures inhabiting the album; when he hears the opening to `Breakfast in Bed' ("You've been crying, your face is a mess. Come in, baby, you can dry your tears on my dress") he pictures Cloris Leachman in The Last Picture Show. To understand these characters means grasping how the South serves as the backdrop to it all. Not just the South that's there, but the South that's in the popular imagination. "Sweating, carnal, obsessed with the past, violent, agrarian despite the times, natural, authentic, certainly unpredictable ... it sometimes seems that [the weed] kudzu is simply the plant form of a mythology that has already covered the region."
Zanes' ideas about the spirit of the South, how it connects with literature, with history, with civil rights and with trash culture - and how it shapes its music - are beautifully expressed and convey a deep understanding of the milieu. His book is unpretentious but profound, avoids hype and self-indulgence while going off on always-relevant tangents that take in Flannery O'Connor, Huck Finn, Alan Lomax, The Dukes of Hazzard and To Kill a Mockingbird. He talks to Wexler and co-producer Chips Moman and, best of all, tracks down Stanley Booth, recluse writer and professional Southerner, who wrote the original liner notes (and the sublime True Adventures of the Rolling Stones). He quotes the influence of a boys adventure book from his youth ("In the North, young men dream about the South. The more discriminating among them slide down the darkness and go straight to Memphis") and explains the magic of Memphis, and Springfield's uncanny way of capturing it. "Led by a singer in a mask, the team that made Dusty in Memphis went after beauty and came up with a little truth." Zanes' essay is the best extended think-piece I have read on music since "Mystery Train", or the contributors to "Stranded". The other writers in the first Continuum series (covering the Kinks' Village Green Preservation Society, Love's Forever Changes, the Smiths' Meat is Murder, Neil Young's Harvest and Pink Floyd's Piper at the Gates of Dawn) have a hard act to follow. (By the way, Linda Bowden's misunderstanding of what this book is about is typified by her connecting it to the Coltrane "Love Supreme" book: that is a completely different approach, a different series, and different publisher.)

Dusty in Memphis was my first dip into the 33 1/3 series, and it's set the bar high. Zanes has the ability to write seriously, think seriously and create an enjoyable, often funny read along the way. His meditation on the American South gives the Dusty fan fresh perspective on her music and a new understanding of American music and culture as a whole.

Thoroughly entertaining (see the story on his exotic childhood neighbor) and highly recommended.

Much more interesting than those dry, allegedly objective accountings of albums, this one takes into consideration the personality and experiences of person who is doing the observing and is therefore, at heart, a much more serious exploration of the transformative powers of art . Zanes' lively approach illuminates not just our understanding of a particular work but also delves into the fascinatingly complex relationship between myth and reality; his own, Dusty's, and maybe even yours, too. The insights in this surprising little jewel of a book will rattle around in you head long after you've put it down.

Given the range of ways we respond to music, it's odd that we have so few ways to write about music.  This isn't the case with the visual arts, so why must it be the case with the aural arts?  In the visual arts, criticism often goes beyond straightforward history and evaluation.  If I've often wished that the same could happen in relation to music writing, Warren Zanes has answered my wish.  Zanes digs deep to understand how, in his words,  a seminal album, Dusty in Memphis, got under his skin.  In the process, he goes to some unlikely places.  But, most importantly, he reminds us that our experience of music is not simple--we make bizarre, even if unconscious, connections as we listen.  Music takes us to strange places, otherwise it would not be as important to us as it is.  If you want dry facts, perhaps this is not for you.  But if you want to see music writing expand its possibilities, then this is a book you should read.  I returned to my Dusty in Memphis CD with a new capacity to listen, really listen.

I've read about a dozen books in this series and, after having finally read the first, I can say that Dusty in Memphis does set the overall tone for the series. Some books are fascinating, anecdotal-packed breakdowns of the album in question, while others are unrestrained musings that are best saved for a book NOT titled and themed about an album. This book is a little of both. The most interesting thing about the album Dusty in Memphis seems to be that is wasn't all that interesting to make, if you're looking at it with Zanes. It may be beautiful to listen to, but it's simply a group of top-notch producers and songwriters getting together with a British soul singer who desired to make an album in emulation of her idol, Aretha Franklin. Sound OK so far? Well, it is, and the book does a fine job of enhancing and supplementing the story up to this point. About half way, through, though, it goes off the rails. There are plenty of musings about Alan Lomax, the South, racial lynchings and Zanes' first brush with sexuality, among many, many other detours. The problem is, the book is titled "Dusty in Memphis", and if someone is going to plunk down $9-10 for a book called "Dusty in Memphis", it should predominantly be about "Dusty in Memphis" or Dusty Springfield or, heck, even Aretha Franklin if you'd like. Where Zanes really failed, for me, is in this way: When I read a 33 1/3 book, at the very least, whatever the author's approach, I should come away with a renewed admiration for the album in question. The book Dusty in Memphis failed to light that spark for me, thus I can't recommend it.

Warren Zanes' book "Dusty in Memphis" is part travel guide, part detective story about the making of the album and the making of the persona of Dusty Springfield. It's also a witty and informative expression of the love Zanes has for American culture, American song and lore, and how he got there - starting with his mom's record collection to his life in a great punk rock band, the Del Fuegos. The book includes priceless interviews with Jerry Wexler, Stanley Booth, and other greats of American soul who were integral to the making of this record, giving the reader real backstory on how the album came together. Zanes acknowledges that Mary O'Brien (Ms. Springfield's real name) remains an enigma, but I highly appreciate his tactic of discussing American/Southern history, art, culture - mixed with personal tangents - as a context for what was happening in Chips Moman's American Studios recording booth. It's great to read the gossip, too, like sitting in on the "cool" conversations going on behind-the-scenes, only Zanes did the legwork and earned the access for the reader. (Thanks!) Zanes' book has real enthusiasm, love, and awe of his muse, which is not just Dusty and her record but Memphis - the city, the immortal center of soul and rock'n'roll.
I put this book on the shelf with my Barney Hoskyns, Ben Fong-Torres,Peter Guralnick, and Joan Didion favorites...and think about a road trip myself...

Warren Zanes readily admits that the book is not specifically about the album, "Dusty in Memphis", but I never did figure out what it was supposed to be about. It seems to be a rambling dissertation about what a non-Southerner thinks the South is or what it should be or what it could be if it wasn't what it is or, oh, I don't know. Whatever it is, it's just not all that interesting. There is hardly any mention of Dusty Springfield, and little more about any of the music, the production, or the players. If that's what you looking for, don't bother with this book.

The first substantive lines about Dusty don't appear until page 80 of this 121p. book. They're short-lived, disappearing after a page or two, and it's Dust in the wind from there.

I can appreciate an alternative form in the 33.3 series; "Big Pink", for example. Not every reader wants to know the intricacies of the Dorian scale ("Aja"), but this title virtually ignores the album. Zanes confession on page 1, "This is not a book about a record", should go on the back cover, so that unsuspecting customers have an opportunity to put it back.