Dusty's The Springfields: Proto Folk-Rock Ahead Of Their Time
Consider these two thoughts:
A) I hate pigeon-holing artists into one particular genre or another, yet I understand the need to boil it all down for the press and public to be able to digest it.
2) I love discovering new music, past present and future
That said, consider Dusty Springfield, a British pop singer from the 60s through the 80s who while initially under appreciated -- she never got massively successful like her peers Aretha and Cher -- has generally gone on to be considered one of the great singers of our times, leaving behind a legacy of stellar singles and some fabulous albums, interpreting songs by everyone from Burt Bacharach and Hal David to Elvis Costello to The Pet Shop Boys. However, Dusty's career started earlier in group with her brother Tom called The Springfields. They were labeled a FOLK group. Apart from the one track on "The Essential Dusty Springfield" CD collection, I never paid much attention to these early recordings. This was partially due to laziness on my part or simply the fact that I had not yet come across a copy of The Springfield's albums in used shops anywhere.
The other day I got a nice condition copy of The Springfield's first album "Silver Threads and Golden Needles" for $1 and after cleaning the disc, was stunned by what I heard upon playing it. This was not a FOLK record. This was a country-tinged ROCK and ROLL record. I checked my Goldmine record guide and confirmed that this came out in 1962, a year after Peter Paul & Mary and Bob Dylan were signed to recording contracts, at the dawn of the new folk music revival. The Beatles would not become a big sensation for another two years. And in fact, until that time many were seriously considering rock and roll to be a fad that had run its course. Elvis was in the Army. Buddy Holly was dead. Dion had left the Belmonts and while he had some solo hits, was soon to become lost in the flood of the British invasion. Chuck Berry was in prison.
Here is the opening paragraph of the liner notes on the back cover of the album:
"As folk singing groups multiply around the globe with the rapidity of hamsters, the listener is often hard pressed to maintain an objective equilibrium midst the eddys and currents of the ever changing folk stream. Unfortunately, the screeching, twangy troupes with pseudo material and very real adenoids seem to be thriving almost as well as their more talented confreres. It takes time, the ever-critical judge, to finally separate the finds from the frauds."
Pretty heady stuff, eh?
The liner notes go on about their inevitable success to come, but no where on this record is there any indication that this is anything but a folk record -- you know, two guitars, voices and that is it.
So imagine my surprise to put on this record featuring the Springfield's lush three part folk-inspired harmonies bubbling over a pre-swinging London pop rock Mersey-flavored drumbeat. Peter Paul and Mary didn't attempt merge rock sounds until 1966 or so and only after Simon & Garfunkel had a smash breakthrough when a studio engineer /producer added drums, bass and guitar to one of their acoustic duo recordings (The Sounds of Silence, 1965) after they had already split up. This isn't just the schmaltzy sweet sugary pop that was common to a lot of early 60s pop (Phil Spector aside).
No, some of this stuff really rocks. Tom and Dusty's harmonies remind me of not only The Jefferson Airplane's Grace Slick and Paul Kantner, but also John Doe and Exene Cervenka of LA punk new wave band "X." Really.
Check out this cover of the folk standard "Goodnight Irene" which rocks out with the kind of Merseybeat sound that (in fact) The Beatles were honing in Liverpool's Cavern Club and The Star Club in Hamburg, Germany .
I mean... this song rocks pretty hard for 1962!
Click to viewNow listen to the early Beatles playing Some Other Guy live at The Cavern in 1962 (which itself is similar to what Sir Cliff Richard was doing with The Shadows in 1962)
Someone had a vision for this group. But.... like so many things... inappropriate marketing was what ultimately kept them from becoming a big hit. Think about it... if you were a record executive and had this harmony group doing upbeat renditions of folk classics and had to get radio to play them, would you position it as a folk group (which was on the ascent) or a rock and roll harmony group (which to many was on the way out)? The Beatles were a regional phenomenon at this time still playing little clubs in parts of England and Germany. "Folk Rock" would not become a genre until 3 years later when The Byrds rearranged Bob Dylan's songs, soon followed by Simon and Garfunkel, The Turtles and many others. No, this was the classic case of a group ahead of its time.
Anyhow, today Dusty is gone. Tom went on to produce records and is in the history books for having co-written the Academy Award winning Best Song of 1966 : "Georgie Girl." But the music of The Springfields is fortunately still around for us to discover and enjoy. Check it out