Dusty Springfield - A Very Fine Lov (1995)

The one-time queen of swinging Britain left her current home in a tiny village near where she grew up outside of London to come to Nashville to record 1995's A Very Fine Love, her first album since 1990. It's a recording that fends off expectations from various segments of her devoted fans. Despite its Music City setting and the credentials of the players and producer Tom Shapiro, it's not a country album. The Pet Shop Boys helped put her back on the charts in the late '80s with their designed-to-dazzle productions, but A Very Fine Love doesn't cater to the diva camp. Nor does it hearken back to Dusty in Memphis, her 1969 masterpiece, though its best song, a cover of K.T. Oslin's "Where is a Woman to Go" (with Oslin and Mary Chapin Carpenter chipping in background vocals) recalls the nurturing soul of that landmark record. It's "heartland" music, and though it doesn't match her best work, no one sings like Springfield. --Steven Stolder