All the King's Horses???

[mnmcv1]

who wrote this song!?

One of my favorites from the aborted Jeff Barry sessions...everywhere I've looked online I can find lyrics, but no songwriter credits.

[daydreamer]

According to the Complete DS, it's someone called Neil Goldberg.

[humboldt]

It's a bit long winded but interesting. Dusty is on page 3 (ooh err). Click on 'more' at the foot of each page.

http://lpintop.tripod.com/oldiesconnection/id69.html

[daydreamer]

Nice find John, very interesting. I thought I'd remove Dusty from Page 3 I hadn't even realised that Neil Goldberg had written 4 songs for the album, call myself a fan?!

It's Up To The Woman

Neil was thrilled when Jeff Barry arranged to produce an album with legendary British pop star Dusty Springfield. Dusty was his all-time favorite female vocalist. Naturally, he was tapped to write original material for the project; except for covers of songs by David Gates and Carole King, plus an obscure showtune, the album was to consist of brand new material. Co-writing alternately with Gil Slavin and Joe Renzetti, Neil managed to get four songs into the track lineup, all with a distinctly different feel to them. "All The King's Horses" was a light, swinging tune whose bouncy melody belied its heartbreak lyric. "Natchez Trace" was a kick-ass blues rocker in the Janis Joplin style. "Have A Good Life, Baby" was a delicate bossa nova ballad dealing with the end of a relationship; and "Love, Shine Down On Me" was a torrid gospel number that tore a wrenching, almost suicidal vocal from Dusty. This latter tune definitely had the Neil Goldberg magic, but it might not have made it onto the album without some extra effort on his part. "I was so sure that 'Love Shine Down' would be a hit," he laughs. "It was played for her, but there was no decision. (So) that same afternoon, I wound up in the same Chinese restaurant as Dusty and Jeff Barry." Neil whipped out a pen and scribbled a quick message. "I called over a waiter and had him deliver a fortune cookie to their table with a little strip of a note in it. It read, 'Love Shine Down' is a smash hit!" He stayed long enough to see the amused reaction from Barry and Dusty. It was enough. Dusty Springfield did include the song on her album, and her performance of it was arguably her best ever. Hearing the reconstructed album for the first time three decades later, Neil was properly dazzled. "Jeff Barry honored Dusty's true style and great voice," he declares. Regrettably, the LP's release got canceled, but tracks from it began filtering out in the 1990s. A stand-alone CD release may not be too far off. Recent biographies have tended to portray the woman born Mary Catherine O'Brien as something of a shrew, but Neil recalls her as "sweet and kind," with a gentle, unassuming personality.

[Clive]

thanks John, I hadn't spotted this, really interesting.
That Jeff Barry site is really hard on the eyes though, I wish they would give it a new modern look.

[ErgoFergo]

Thanks, John. You did well find that. It *is* tough on the eyes, so thanks to Carole for copying and pasting.

[humboldt]

Yes, the site is really good but finding things is like looking for a needle in a haystack

[mnmcv1]

thanks Carole. That also answers who wrote the other tracks that are missing songwriter credits as well.

I do love those songs, for the most part- they fit pretty comfortably between A Brand New Me and Cameo. To think, they spent decades without seeing the light of day...

[tcowanatc]

Apart from "Natchez Trace" which I skip every time I play through these Jeff Barry produced tracks, I quite like these songs as an episode in Dusty's progress - pity they never were released at the time. Am I right in thinking that they were never properly completed with regard to the orchestral backing or is that me just wishful thinking??!! Some of them do sound unfinished. Does anyone know what the proposed running order of tracks should have been or what the artwork for the LP cover might have been?

Henry

[mnmcv1]

I have to admit loving "Natchez Trace"- Dusty's vocal is a bit over the top, but I love the wild abandon she seems to have on it. It fits the song perfectly.

there is one song i confess to usually skipping when I listen to those tracks...and it's "You've Got a Friend". I don't know if it's overkill from the countless other covers of that song or what, but it just doesn't grab me.

"Love Shine Down" is probably my favorite out of all of them.

[humboldt]

I too love 'Natchez Trace' which I think is a 'lost' classic. Shame it's not on YT

[MissDustyFanatic]

I can only hope a standalone CD release isn't far off. I mean, I've got all the tracks, but it'd be nice to have an "official" CD.

[mnmcv1]

Natchez Trace is now online:




and All the King's Horses:
(I think this could've been SOOO much better...a little more punch in the chorus, perhaps?
some backup vocals and horns, maybe? Oh well...maybe the day will come where I can remix it...



and another lost gem from the album:

[Starlight]

Awww I haven't heard these before. Are they not relesed or am I just missing them?

[Clive]

Helen the tracks are available as bonus tracks on the deluxe edition of Dusty In Memphis

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dusty-Memphis-S ... 463&sr=8-1

[Starlight]

Ooh thank you.

[mnmcv1]

hope you get to hear these, Helen.

After From Dusty With Love/A Brand New Me, Dusty did a third album for Atlantic Records with producer Jeff Barry (who in the 60's made his name collaborating with Ellie Greenwich), with the working title of Faithful. The album was pretty much finished, but the first two singles (one of which, "Haunted", is a favorite among many now) failed to chart- she ended up parting ways with the label, and the album was shelved. Everyone thought it was lost in a fire that Atlantic had in the 70's and was gone forever, but then Jeff Barry revealed in the 90's he had kept copies of the masters. The majority of the tracks were finally released on CD in 1999 on the Deluxe edition of Dusty in Memphis.

Far from perfect, but like any Dusty collection, there's a few gems.