Dusty Springfield – How can I be sure?/Spooky (Philips)

Released: 04/09/1970

Dusty Springfield is easily one of the best British soul singers of all time, and her work from the 60s and 70s should be a part of any good soul collection. For me, her cover version of “Spooky“, which was released on the b-side of her “How can I be sure” single that stands out. It was originally an instrumental song by saxophonist Mike Sharpe (Shapiro) which first charted in 1967 hitting #57 on the US pop charts. The most famous version is by Classics IV, when guitarist James Cobb and producer Buddy Buie added lyrics (Harry Middlebrooks, Jr. is also credited as a writer).

For me, it is Dusty Springfield’s cover version that is the best one. She adds that soulful, sexy vibe packed with fragile emotion and class. Amazingly, Dusty’s version only reached the mid 30′s of the charts in the UK, while David Cassidy had a big hit with it only 3 years later, it was nowhere near as good as Dusty’s.

Apparently, has always demanded the impossible from herself. Among the producers and songwriters and musicians she’s worked with, her mixture of perfectionism and insecurity is legendary. Jerry Wexler, who produced nearly all of Aretha Franklin’s great work at Atlantic as well as the seminal 1969 album “Dusty in Memphis”, called her the most insecure person he’d ever worked with. For a year after it was released, Dusty couldn’t bear to listen to it – she later attributed this to her deep insecurity and her very real anxiety about being compared with the soul greats who had recorded in that studio. I find it quite amazing when you listen to the album, which is among the best of that decade.

The song was released in 1970 on UK label Philips, but the recording date was originally 24 January 1968 and included on the “Dusty…definitely” album.

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