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Elly Roberts reviews
Universal Pictures
- Cat.no: 8234170
- Released: March 2006
- Format: DVD 5
- Rating: 6/10
- Running time: 60 minutes
- Region: 2, PAL
- Fullscreen: 4:3
- Sound: Dolby Stereo 2.0
- Classification: E (Exempt)
- Languages: English
- Retail price: £9.99
- Extras: None
- Songs included: Son Of A Preacher Man, I Only Want To Be With You, InPrivate, Nowhere To Run, Dancing In The Streets, Some Of Your Lovin’, TheLook Of Love, I Just Don’t Know What To Do With Myself and more.
From frumpy folkie to panda-eyed pop star, Mary Isabel Catherine Bernadette O’Brien(aka Dusty Springfield) became one of Britain’s leading vocalistsand best musical exports.
In her formative years she was exposed to aneclectic ‘songbook’ by her parents, even though her dad was a “Beethovennut”. On leaving folk trio The Springfields (with brother Tom and Tim Field)in 1963, she scored several trans-Atlantic hits, regularly being voted theUK’s top female singer. Between November 1963 and November 1995 she charted26 singles, with only one chart topper – You Don’t Have To Say You Love Mein March ’66. She also registered 12 albums, the highest being Golden Hits,a number one, in the same year.
This light-hearted 1994 documentary, with guest appearances by French andSaunders as spoof interviewers and the lady herself, we get an easy strollthrough her highly successful career. She openly explains the crucialmusical directions and decisions that expanded her repertoire and fame.
Featuring many of her best known songs, there’s some scary hair,eye-make-up, dresses and even scarier TV studio sets from the 60s and 70s.Ranging from the NME Poll Winners show (circa early ’60s) to her own’Dusty’ shows, which includes a ‘flickering’ duet with Jimi Hendrix on Inezand Charlie Foxx’s Mockingbird (the only known existing footage) to asublime duet with Burt Bacharach.
She doesn’t reveal much of her privatelife, but relishes the opportunity to explain her eclectic choice of songsthat served her well. Key to her success, as you’ll see, was herfearlessness in tackling ballads to powerhouse Motown classics like Nowhereto Run, Heatwave and Dancing In The Street, which brought her the tag of ‘white ladyof Soul’. Following considerable chart absence in the ’80s (she lived inHolland from ’73 -’89), she re-emerged in a blaze of glory on the Pet ShopBoys’ hit What Have I Done To Deserve This in ’87.
Snippets include duets with emerging Soul legend Marvin Gaye, Tom Jones, andDame Edna.
After a lengthy battle with cancer, she died in 1999 in England, just beforeher induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and two months afterreceiving an OBE.
Elly Roberts passed away in 2011, but he was a man who was so passionate about all types of music and loved meeting his musical heroes, such as Mick Hucknall at a book signing at the Trafford Centre, Manchester in 2007.
A former teacher and also a music journalist, DJ and radio presenter on local community station Calon FM, plus appearances on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru and BBC Radio 2, Elly started doing reviews for DVDfever.co.uk in 2004 and he did the majority of the CD and concerts reviews on the website.
I know also that he loved getting away for the summer to Spain and I hope that wherever he is now he is enjoying the hot sunshine and, as one of his friends has said on his Facebook page, that he is interviewing his musical heroes.