"Stay Awhile/I Only Want To Be With You" is such a great title, even though it is really two separate songs - but Philips Records in their wisdom put the titles together because both were hits by Dusty Springfield. So as I mentioned, the title works for me as a Burroughs/Tzara cut-up. But once you get inside the album, it's girl-pop mania.
Mono really suits this album, because its a big production and works when you are in front of the speaker(s) and it hits you in the face. Ivor Raymonde, the producer of choice (or really, one had no choice then) knows how to build up a small emotion into a large black & white sonic affair. And I say black and white because it makes dreams that are gritty and soiled - like a love affair that ends up no where.
Dusty knows how to express the genius songwriting team Hal David and Burt Bacharach's mood of despair, but it is the Raymonde technique of putting as much sound he can into the groove, that makes it special. And one can gather that there is a Phil Spector influence, but there is also bits of Motown as well. The album holds well, which is not that surprising because basically its bits and pieces from the British releases. I sit in front of the speaker with a glass of wine and I am totally thrown into another world. Dusty World, a planet full of sweet sounds.
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