DUSTY DUSTS OFF AT THE GREEK

Long overdue for a stateside performance, the once-reigning queen of blue-eyed soul, Dusty Springfield, took to the stage Friday evening at the Greek Theater as opening act for dithyrambic singer/composer Peter Allen. She has not performed in the United States in eight years, and never in L.A.; after the encores and flurry she generated, her decidedly low profile is more of a mystery than ever. For Springfield, almost as seminal a '60s rock force as Aretha Franklin, was in fine form as she ripped 'n roared through an enthusiastically received 15-song set.

It wasn't until the singer plunged into her grab bag of hits ("The Look of Love," "Son of a Preacher Man" etc.) that much of the less-than-capacity audience comprehended the magnitude and pervasiveness of Springfield's contribution to pop music over the past decade-and-a-half; but as if to dispel charges of antiquanarianism the singer chose to open her presentation with a recent hit (not hers), "At Midnight." Though there were already many Springfield aficionados at the Greek, clearly a great many others were won over to her Ben Webster-ish scoop-de-doop vibrato. Utilizing a 14-piece back-up crew, she sveltely strutted and karate-chopped her way through this one in a manner totally unlike the way she might've during the good old days when she was the No. 1 female British pop/rocker.

Dusty launched a consciousness-raising hit medley which included, among others, "Wishin' and Hopin'" and "You Don't Have To Say You Love Me." Also offered up were a few items from the widely acclaimed 1969 album, Dusty in Memphis -- her last effort before an inexplicable mid-career recording sales slump began to plague her in a manner somewhat akin to soul man Al Green's fall from public favor. But Dusty is definitely of the moment, and so the real crowd pleaser was her last (but one) encore, a heavily de-saccharinized re-tooling of the top-billed Allen's, "Quiet Please, There's A Lady On Stage."

If headliner Peter Allen is your cup of musical meat, he too woulda' knocked your socks off Friday; but his real contribution was the smashing welcome-back Dusty party thrown that night.

Bill Reed
Los Angeles Herald Examiner, August 25, 1980


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