Tonight I watched my Dusty Springfield Live at the BBC dvd. This is made up of the two TV series she did for the Beeb in 1966 and 67, plus some guest appearances on other shows. Unfortunately half of the 1966 series was wiped and lost, leaving only three episodes. But what’s there is fabulous. Dusty is so confident and versatile, and looks so great in a series of outfits and hairstyles (wigs?). I especially liked the mini skirt on the final night (nice pair of legs). She sings show tunes, soul tunes, folk songs, some of her singles, and a bunch of classics and obscurities. The show featured a guest performer, but these segments were cut out. It’s just Dusty all the way, with the occasional appearance by her amazing backing singers. Madeline Bell, Leslie Duncan and Maggie Stredder.
Some highlights were I’ll Try Anything, Two Brothers (an old Springfields number), My Lagan Love (Sitting down with a guitar whilst wearing that mini – a tricky move. Kate Bush did this much later!) and Losing You. This last one was introduced as a song that sounds very Italian but written by an Englishman; which I think was code for it’s a You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me knockoff, which it is. But a very good one. The last song she does in fact is You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me. The extras were also great. Dusty in 1970 on Morecombe and Wise, in 1973 on The Tom Jones Show (doing I Am Woman), and 1978 on Saturday Night At the Mill for her It Begins Again comeback – all showing how she changed over the years. This last included a strange interview where she talked about cats and L.A. and the fact her present tour wasn’t going well. To this point she was wearing a black veil as if in mourning. At one point she said, ‘The people who didn’t buy tickets can sit on it’. Her hair had an ugly perm and she’d had a nose job, but it was still Dusty. She still sang and performed beautifully the song I’m Coming Home Again. I think I fell in love with her again watching those Sixties segments. The voice, the eye makeup, the hair, the outfits, the dance moves, the hand gestures. The dvd comes with a wonderfully informative booklet written by Paul Howes. He mentions there was a third BBC series in 1969, but it was also wiped and never recovered. Maybe these lost tapes will show up one day? I hope so.