Customer Reviews

See All Her Faces

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The concept behind "See All Her Faces" was flawed from the start. It could have been a cogently packaged product and the genuine follow up to "Dusty Definitely" (1968) had Philips stuck to using only tracks recorded by Dusty for its own UK sessions in 1970/71. There was no dearth of completed material in the can to draw upon. Instead Philips was distracted by the ready availability of material from America and decided to blend in an assortment of Stateside-only singles sides (5) for variety. The outcome was a hotchpotch of tracks that may have been great individually but didn't quite jell in the overall context of the album. Released in November 1972 in the UK to coincide with Dusty's comeback season at London's Talk Of The Town, it was to have been Dusty's first domestic release for Philips since "Dusty Definitely" in 1968 and a crowd pleaser for her local fans. The two intervening albums - "Dusty In Memphis" (1969) and "From Dusty With Love" (1970) - were

American products licenced for UK release and didn't count with British fans who were starved of genuine local product. The timing of its release was also two years too late. By 1972, Ziggy Stardust had taken the UK by storm, so the choice of "Yesterday When I Was Young" as the lead single could only seem strangely passe, wonderfully resonant though Dusty's rendition turned out to be.

SAHF would have matched if not surpassed the high standards attained by her original 60s UK albums. The choice of material may have seemed oddly conservative for 1972 but Dusty was simply doing what she did best. As a pop stylist and interpreter, she was peerless. Her soul covers of "Crumbs Off The Table", "Girls Can't Do What Guys Do" and "Girls It Ain't Easy" bettered the originals by Glass House, Betty Wright and Hone Cone. Hard to believe but true. The big ballads - always her forte - were powerful and heartbreaking ("Yesterday When I Was Young"). She even dabbled with bossa nova ("Come For A Dream" and "See All Her Faces") and the results were inspired. On the opening track, Jimmy Webb's "Mixed Up Girl" originally recorded by Thelma Houston, she showed just what transforming powers inspired phrasing can have on a song. Listen to her tender yet soulful reading of "Let Me Down Easy" and you wouldn't recognise it as the song Cher murdered on her "Half Breed" album. The American tracks are great - especially Ellie Greenwich's "What Good Is I Love You" - but they belong elsewhere. "Willie & Laura Mae Jones" and "That Old Sweet Roll" - from Dusty's later sessions with Jerry Wexler - should have remained as potential bonus cuts for subsequent reissues of "Dusty In Memphis". "Someone Who Cares" and "Nothing Is Forever" were from the Jeff Barry sessions for Dusty's third Atlantic album that never was. It should have remained as US-only singles sides and been tagged on together with the other cuts from the same session in the recent Deluxe CD reissue of "Dusty In Memphis" by Rhino.

SAHF has often been unfairly dismissed by music critics and fans alike for its lack of coherence. Blame it on Philips if you must, but don't make the mistake of ignoring its content 'cos there's loads of wonderful stuff in there to enjoy. A must for Dusty fans.

This is truly a unique collection of material from Dusty. It was to be her first album for Phillips since DEFINATELY DUSTY. She released two albums in the US before the release of this one in 1972, which included FROM DUSTY WITH LOVE and DUSTY IN MEMPHIS, which were widely accepted by fans. Phillips hoped to draw the same interest in this album. The album includes material recorded solely for this session, as well as material from her US counterparts. Seems an odd choice but there is truly some select material to be found here. Ballads were always Dusty's forte, and there are many here to please listeners. The one standout that springs to mind is "Yesterday When I Was Young" which is powerful, dramatic and endearing. The album opens with "Mixed Up Girl", which was originally recorded by Themla Houston, in fact there are many covers here as usual on a Dusty Springfield album. A few she even betters the originals. Listen to the stunning "Let Me Down EasY", which was done by Cher on her HALF BREED album, not nearly as good as Dusty provides here. Other covers include "Crumbs Off The Table" (Glass House), "Girls It Ain't Easy" (Hone Cone), "What Good Is I Love You" (Ellie Greenwich), "Girls Can't Do What The Guys Do" (Betty Wright) and more. Many of the bonus tracks, and American cut tracks, appeared later on reissues, such as Rhino's reissue of DUSTY IN MEMPHIS, and while they are great songs, should have been left solely for the reissues. They seem a little out of place here, but still nice songs overall. Overall a mixed bag but still worth it for the avid Dusty fans.

Whenever I hear the title of this album mentioned amongst reviewers or Dusty's fans, it usually is not rated high on their lists; due to the fact that there was too much shuffle change between moods of the songs. But, in fact... the eclecticism is what makes this album something special.

When I first moved to Seattle, I happend upon this CD at Easy Street Records, and really grew to love it. I think the fact that there are so many songs on this album that many thought Dusty didn't have the potential of doing, and that of which she proved them wrong makes this album so inspiring. I think my favourite songs are 'Let Me Down Easy,' 'Come For a Dream,' 'I Start Counting,' 'What Good Is I Love You?,' 'See All Her Faces,' 'Haunted,' and 'What Are You Doing The Rest of Your Life?'

Also... this album had so much diversity, there was not room for all the tracks they cut for it upon its release, and 5 songs remained outtakes and in the vaults for over 15 years. Four of them were eventually issued on the "Dusty in London" Rhino CD compilation back in 1999. However, one track 'O-o-h Child' only remained finished in the form of demo completion, and was finally released on Dusty's 'Love Songs' CD back in 2001. What puzzles me is why they didn't release this CD with the 5 outtakes on it. Huh... oh, well. It would be fantastic if they would.

Still... if you want diversity and some form of eclecticism, get this CD.

Dusty Springfield's 1972 album 'See All Her Faces' drew a lot of criticism at the time of its release; fans said it lacked cohesion, whilst various others complained that it was too much of a mish-mash. Without doubt it is a pot-pouri, but, we can hardly blame Dusty for the way in which the tracks are laid out sequentially on the final product. Once you can get used to the fact that she can be rocking one minute, crooning the next, slipping and sliding you over a range of terrains throughout the entire album, then even the title, when applied from a musical point of view, becomes highly appropriate.
"Mixed Up Girl", written by Jimmy Webb, has a superb jumbly rolling beat, the wispy fade on this reminds me of the old saying about the month of March; 'comes in like a lion, goes out like a lamb'. But, if you're expecting the lion....or lioness in this case, to slope off quietly, take cover, because she is about to pounce on you with "Crumbs Off The Table". Whatever you may think about this album having eight different producers, including Dusty, or a record deal that for various reasons did'nt come to fruition, she has proved one thousand per cent that she is still versatile, on this track Dusty rocks, rocks, rocks!
"Let Me Down Easy" with its excellent slow trumpets and piano, has a hypnotic feel to it, as does "Come For A Dream" with its combination of pipes, silky vocals and romantic lyrics (written in part by Dusty's talented close friend Norma Taneger) this leaves me spellbound...dreamlike indeed.
On "Girls Can't Do What The Guys Do" she makes easy work of what must have been a difficult lyric. Dusty seems to be the only vocalist i have ever heard who could deliver such songs as "I Start Counting"/"Nothing Is Forever" and "What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life?", with such smooth and tender lyrics.
Those of you who have the Rhino edition of 'Dusty In Memphis' with its bumper collection of bonus tracks, will instantly recognise the lusciously delicate "Have A Good Life Baby", as well as two others from the Memphis bonuses; "Willie And Laura Mae Jones" and "That Old Sweet Roll (Hi-De Ho)".
As well as the ethereal beginning on "Someone Who Cares" with its sudden launch into stomping drums in the chorus, we also have the catchy "Girls It Ain't Easy" and "What Good Is I Love You", not forgetting the terrifically twangy strings on "Haunted".
As if all this is not enough, we have the superb latin rhythm of the title track "See All Her Faces". One of my favourite tracks is Charles Aznavour's "Yesterday When I Was Young", an absolutely beautiful song with lyrics drenched in sorrow and regret, the way in which Dusty interprets this is utterly amazing.
On 'See All Her Faces' we are treated to seeing...and hearing, seventeen of them, and i suspect that the rather rambling track listing is deliberate, but that does not make this a bad album at all, it's sad that it is over looked because of that, but, we have to remember that Dusty didn't have much, if any, say on the final product. This is a lovely album, don't miss out, see for yourself.

I JUST RECEIVED THIS IN THE MAIL AND I HAVE TO SAY IT IS A DUSTY CLASSIC. IN FACT, I LIKE IT MUCH BETTER THAN 'DUSTY IN MEMPHIS". THIS ALBUM IS MORE DIVERSE AND UPBEAT THAN MEMPHIS - I GET BORED HALF-WAY THROUGH MEMPHIS, BUT THIS ALBUM HAD ME LISTENING TO IT OVER AND OVER - A RARE FEAT IN THIS IPOD AGE. LOL. A MUST.