In his excellent book, The Complete Dusty Springfield, Paul Howes notes the following of Dusty’s 1964 recording of “Can I Get a Witness?”:
Having tackled a Supremes number (“When the Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes”] for her first album [1964’s A Girl Called Dusty], Dusty took a second crack at recording a Motown song with another Holland/Dozier/Holland outing, Marvin Gaye’s 1963 US hit “Can I Get a Witness?”. Dusty’s rasping vocals provide the call to [background vocal group] the Breakaway’s response and, from the pounding piano intro through to the fade, the song just never lets up. It’s a performance that other British female singers could only dream of.
. . . In the 1960s, the track was only ever mixed to mono. However in the 1990s, stereo mixes were produced in both the UK and the States. The US mix has the edge as it captures and even enhances the excitement of the original mono release and is probably nearer to the Motown sound than Dusty would ever have imagined possible.
See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
Classic Dusty
Remembering a Great Soul Singer
Yeah, Baby, Yeah!
Shelby Lynn Celebrates Dusty Springfield
Time and the River
Soul Deep
Recommended Off-site Link:
Dusty Springfield - Woman of Repute
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