Living Without Your Love [Original recording remastered]

"Living Without Your Love (LWYF") could rate among UK fans and critics as their least favourite Dusty album of all time. When it was released in April 1979 to stunning indifference, I recall it was panned by the music press for its schlocky MOR blandness with just a hint of concession to disco (reference to the title track and "Save Me, Save Me"). The public and media were used to a stronger Dusty and LWYL was just too low key for their liking. So, it's become conventional wisdom in the UK that LWYL is a pretty colourless album unworthy of Dusty's talent. On the other side of the pond, the album suffered from gross underpromotion when UA was swallowed up by another record company at the time of its release but the US critics there were much, much kinder and certainly more positive in their reaction to it. Stephen Holden, then writing for the Rolling Stone, said it was a substantial triumph for Dusty and head and shoulders above the competition. Robert Christgau, writing for New York's Village Voice and himself an admirer, said LWYL gave her better songs than she's had in a decade (ie, since "Memphis") and gave it the best rating (B+) among Dusty's 70s albums ("A Brand New Me" was rated B-, while "Cameo" and "It Begins Again" were rated B). So, why were opinions so polarised between the two markets ? I have to say it's all down to taste as well as our own expectation of what a Dusty album ought to sound like. Dusty always had a stronger image and a more distinctive persona in her home market, so the album may have had to battle some firmly held preconceived notions in England. In my opinion and I know this is a contrarian view, the material on LWYL was better than that on "It Begins Again". Dusty's vocal performances - her phrasing in particular - on the soft soul ballads "Be Somebody", "You Can Do It", "Closet Man", "Get Yourself To Love", "I Just Fall In Love Again", "Dream On" and "I'm Coming Home Again" are magical and as good as some of the best things she's done, only that producer David Wolfert's bland production values didn't quite do justice to or showcase it to its best advantage. The two disco flavoured tracks are also fine for music of its kind. Only on "You Really Got A Hold On Me" does Wolfert really cramp Dusty's style with a horribly mechanical and leaden production, rendering it among the least inspired songs she's cut in her entire career. So, to Dusty fans who aren't familiar with LWYL and are discouraged by memories of negative reviews, I'd say please buy yourself a copy and make up your own mind. There are some wonderful things in there. It may not be among Dusty's best work but it's to my mind still of great enduring quality and far from her worst.

This is the first seventies album by Dusty that I have bought. I read the reviews after making the purchase and thought I must have made a big mistake. I was very pleasantly surprised....it's certainly head and shoulders above the average CD in the pop charts today. Dusty's great voice is often superior to the songs she is singing, but it is all very listenable. Sometimes you don't need to be totally blown away by an album, sometimes something lighter fits the mood better....this is that kind of cd. The production, musicians and remastering are all top quality."I'm Coming Home Again" should have been a big hit in 1979.

It can't have been easy being Dusty Springfield in the seventies. After all the accolades of World Female Singer, and Best British Female Singer awards during the sixties, perhaps the record buying public of the day were expecting more of the same kind of excitement of her early days. Dusty herself, it seems, was under no illusions, there is a nice little interview (from 1979), in which she appeared on Saturday Night Live At The Mill (on the Dusty Live At The BBC, DVD), the interviewer grilled her for several minutes about her comeback, Dusty replied;"I don't expect to come back at the same level, i expect to come back in a different space, and that takes some time to achieve".
Released, possibly to coincide with concert dates, many of which had to be cancelled due to poor ticket sales, 'Living Without Your Love' was slated for being dull and boring. As i've said before on reviews, it's always a mistake to compare Dusty albums, without doubt this is not her best album, but it's a pretty good effort.
First up is an old Smokey Robinson song "You've Really Got A Hold On Me", it's a good track but it tends to drag along in places, a slightly faster arrangement might have complimented Dusty's vocals on this.
We get a touch of disco' with "Save Me, Save Me", written by Barry Gibb/Andy Galuten, this one was criticised because better was expected of a Bee Gee, nevertheless it has a sexy disco' beat that makes me want to get up and dance. Another with a disco' flavour "You Can Do It" has a touch of jazz thrown in to spice things up a bit, very tasty! "Closet Man" starts with a whirly, jazzy intro', and turns into quite a catchy song, while "Get Yourself To Love" has groovy guitars and piano with wonderful gospel type backings.
Two tracks that didn't quite do anything for me are; "Be Somebody", which, while having good vocals from Dusty is all very nice as long as there is a good melody, this track is just a little too gentle, could do with something extra, also "Dream On" is surprisingly dull, considering it's written by Carole Bayer Sager (along with Frannie Golde/Dennis Mayoff), again, lacking something.
Dusty recorded another Carole Bayer Sager song on this album "I'm Coming Home Again" (co-writer Bruce Roberts). Critics went to town on this track saying it was too much of a sob story especially as the lyrics were highly appropriate in relation to Dusty's own circumstances. Whether or not it was written deliberately with Dusty in mind, i'm not entirely sure, but it remains a beautiful ballad that is impossible to ignore. One song on this album that is especially spine tingling is "I Just Fall In Love Again", a warm, big ballad, with wonderful piano....i just fall in love again with this track every time i hear it!
The producer for this album was David Wolfert who, along with Steve Nelson, wrote the title track "Living Without Your Love", a highly infectious number with a great rhythm, the catchiest track on the album, perhaps if Dusty had asked him to write another couple of songs for the album, it could have been a completely different story.
All the same, just a couple of glitches out of the ten tracks, i'm happy to give this five stars because the rest of the album is a pretty good effort, and poor Dusty was trying so hard to please everyone. My advice is, give it a chance, you won't be completely disappointed, and you might even love all the tracks!