Very Fine Love

Dusty Springfield | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 20, 1995)
• Original Release Date: June 20, 1995
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B000002B2N
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #193,950 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Roll Away

2. Fine, Fine, Very Fine Love

3. Wherever Would I Be?

4. Go Easy on Me

5. You Are the Storm

6. I Can't Help the Way I Don't Feel

7. All I Have to Offer You Is Love

8. Lovin' Proof

9. Old Habits Die Hard

10. Where Is a Woman to Go

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars At the heart of the matter, March 7, 2006

By 

T. Norton "still learning..." (key west) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Very Fine Love (Audio CD)

It's easy at first blush to be quite disappointed with this effort. After all, it came as the follow up to the just-hip-enough "Reputation" album.

Dusty was sitting pretty, even after EMI had opted-out for another album. Colombia's Kip Krones took the bull by the horns and saw to it that Dusty was signed and a project was undertaken to reveal the other side of Nashville songwriters and musicians. This is an interpretive project undertaken by perhaps the finest interpretive singer of the Rock era.

Problem is, it's focus isn't quite understood by it's producer. Where we should be getting no-nonsense jam-sessions and minimalist beer-hall renditions of some of Nashville's finest, we get bloated "jazz-light" arrangements oversweetened with extra helpings of "acoustic processing". I suspect they were trying to make the album "shimmer". I'm left with a bad metallic taste in my mouth...

At the heart of the project are some of the finest musicians to ever grace albums cut in Nashville OR LA. Chief example is Dann Huff, axeman extraordinaire. You may not know his name by heart, but start looking through your album collections for the session players and he'll become familiar enough. Huff's work truly shines and, if one is blessed with intense powers of concentration, a sort of dialogue between Dusty's phrasings and Huff's riffs and solos starts to become clear. Too bad it gets muddied with some truly aweful keyboard parts. Ironically, the one part on the album I should really despise (a Kenny G. inspired sax solo in "Go Easy on Me")is actually a moment i treasure on the album. It's cheesy at first blush, but it's played with just enough sensitivity to carry the bridge of the song and elevate a world-weary Dusty's plea for minimum nonsense and maximum TLC. Someone once said that "sometimes cheese is Brie" and I guess that's how I feel about that sax solo. I feel strongly that "Go Easy on Me" is really the heart of the album, it's honest, simple and yet requires quite a bit of talent (and hard-earned wisdom) to sing convincingly. Luckily, that's right up Dusty's alley and she delivers.

The other high points for me were the kick-off track "Roll Away" (I was so glad when Simon Bell confirmed it as her favorite, it's mine too), "You are the Storm", and "All I Have to Offer You is Love". "Roll Away" has become a sort of unofficial swan song for Dusty (helped along by the "Full Circle" video, where it closes the documentary). It's a song of spiritual resignation: the kind one might have at the end of a life, but also the kind one might find at a new beginning. There's no doubt Dusty sang it as a joyful song, and to these ears it will always be that and that alone. I find the well-lived-in "You are the Storm" to be just the kind of observation Dusty might make at her age and with many battlesome relationships(personal, professional, and likely within her own psyche as well) behind her. I have no doubt whatsoever that she was singing it from both sides of the story. I certainly hear both sides when I listen to her version, and it's got a righteousness that is just undeniable - and the tenderness that comes through in Dust's reading is something we don't find in our run of the mill country numbers these days.

Much is made of Dusty's aging instrument and the fact that she was perhaps too ill to have been recording. All I can say is, even with hoarser than expected pipes, Dusty's phrasing alone would carry any project artistically: in some ways I think she was the Billie Holiday of Rock. If Colombia would get an edgier producer to strip down these arrangements and let that earthy vocal be the moving force it truly is, perhaps others would start to see such comparisons as well.

Not every song here is worthy of attention, but I promise at least four that you will find yourself growing into as you get older. If one has limited energy, one starts spending less of it trying to be hip and more of it trying to be eloquent.

Eloquence in song is Dusty Springfield's eternal legacy. I think songs, songwriters, and singing were her most profound love. A Very Fine Love indeed!

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dusty shows that she is still the best female UK vocalist!, August 29, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Very Fine Love (Audio CD)

A VERY FINE LOVE is the first album that Dusty recorded after her album REPUTATION in 1990. Dusty moves away from the camp arena that was REPUTATION and here produces an album that is more suited to the emotional literacy that she seems to be almost unique in delivering.

The album opens with ROLL AWAY, a classic song that is majestic in nature and reflective in content. Dusty's voice is in fine form, smoky and full of depth.

GO EASY ON ME is another track that stands out, and is a gentle ballad that Dusty's unique vocal makes a haunting and disarming experience to listen too.

I CAN'T THE WAY I DON'T FEEL is a track that turns the table on previous love songs, with Dusty singing that she is unable to return the love that she is being presented with. A laid back number that again is so suited to her voice.

ALL I HAVE TO OFFER YOU IS LOVE is Dusty in fine form, displaying the wonderful lower timbre of her voice, with a smoky, gravelly edge. This song is a pure delight!

WHERE IS A WOMAN TO GO closes the album, and this track is fast becoming another Dusty classic, being featured on many recent compliation albums. Dusty in the bar, drowning her sorrows and listening to heartbreak songs on the juke box.

This album shows the versatility and and pure brilliance that is DUSTY SPRINGFIELD. Dusty confounds everyone with this album, showing that she is prepared to go into new territory and experiement with a voice that is, quite simple, unique.

This album is a pleasure and a delight.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very fine Dusty, October 29, 2004

By 

Jake Z "holden84" (Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Very Fine Love (Audio CD)

Dusty's last album is well worth looking out for, if you haven't already. It features some really nice songs. Dusty recorded the album in Nashville. Some of the songs are a little weaker, and the production isn't always great, but the cd is still pretty good. Her voice is very warm and strong as usual. "Roll Away" is an excellent album opener. "You are The Storm" and "Go Easy On Me" are great ballads. "Wherever Would I Be" is a great duet with Daryl Hall, although I like the solo version better (found on her HEART AND SOUL compilation of rarities and live tracks). The album closer "Where Is A Woman To Go" is a great bluesy track and a good way to close off the album. A few tracks I don't care for much are "Old Habits Die Hard", the Diane Warren song "Lovin Proof". Otherwise it's a fairly good album of songs from Dusty, which would be her last album of new material.