Rating: 
Summary: Gifed Singer... Troubled Soul...
Review: "Dancing with Demons" is probably one of the most controversial accounts ever written on the late British songstress, Dusty Springfield. From her mediocre rise in Europe with "I Only Want To Be With You" to the tumultuous 70's, which saw her career evaporate and her songs disappear from the charts, and hitting an all-time low with drugs and alcohol. You will also read about Dusty's stormy, somewhat peculiar lesbian relationships, her struggles to get her career back on track, her moves from the UK to America and Toronto, then finally back to the UK. A truly heartwarming account of this dearly missed lady who ruled 60's pop charts. Although Dusty may be gone in a physical sense, those of us who remember her will always treasure her memory and celebrate the days when she was one of the most glorious and talented singers who ever graced the stage. The magic she could do with a song endures today, and very few singers can evoke the same type of emotion with a song like she could. In summary, "Dancing with Demons" is a must for any true Dusty fan, and although the book might seem a little "gossipy" at times, it still should be read as it paints Dusty as a gifted, caring, beautiful, albeit troubled woman who was in conflict with herself, her music, her sexuality and the world around her. We miss you Dusty! Rest in Peace.
Rating: 
Summary: A Fascinating Woman's Life Is Given An Okay Treatment
Review: Dusty Springfield was an amazing talent with dozens of hit songs but there was a lot more going on with the blue-eyed soul singer than eyeliner, sequins, and Bacharach. This bio is a frank but loving account of Miss Dusty's publicly hushed lesbianism (including a lesbian marriage), her vodka and barbituate diet (just to name 2 of her food groups), her food throwing, penchant for 'cutting', musical perfectionism, the rollercoaster ride of her fame and fortune, her vocal problems, cancer, etc. By the end of it all you would be singing 'What Have I Done to Deserve This?" with The Pet Shop Boys too. However, through every bit of it Dusty maintained a wacky and wonderful sense of humor. This is an intimate account of the troubled woman (musical genius?) behind the pop icon facade whose talent was every bit as big as her hair. Hers is a sad and fascinating story which is accurately rendered here, however this incredible life never really came alive for me in DANCING WITH DEMONS.
Rating:
Summary: Only because I love Dusty...
Review: Gorgeous singer, facinating personality, astonishingly awful biography. Facts are sparse, insight is altogeter absent. Fans will put up with a lot of garbage in order to get a little closer to the object of their adoration, but this is simply not worth the time. Save your money, buy "Simply Dusty" with French & Saunders, and have a laugh instead.
Rating: 
Summary: A POWERFULLY TALENTED ARTIST!
Review: If Dusty Springfield was alive today, the road to fame might have been a little smoother. Today, life style no longer holds the barriers it did back in the 60's when the words "gay" and "lesbian" were only mentioned behind closed doors, and sometimes not even then. Regardless of Springfield's sexual orientation, she was by far one of the greatest superstars in her day. Through the pages of this book, as written by her former manager and a close personal friend, the reader will come to understand this phenomenal artist in a way never before revealed. She did have many demons in her past to deal with, some imposed by others, many self-inflicted. For all the fame and glory she had in her "moment in the sun", the reader cannot help by feel that Springfield's life was such a tragedy filled with alcohol, drugs, self-mutiliation, insecurities and, finally, cancer which finally ended her tumultuous life. Springfield could belt out a song with such power and gusto, but how many fans really knew the tormented, insecure woman behind the voice. This is an excellent book written by two of the people who knew her best.
Rating:
Summary: Dancing with Demons
Review: If you are just recently discovering Dusty Springfield,
I do not recommend this book, as it concentrates mainly
on her troubled personal life and does not really
talk about her musical achievements. The content
on her musical career is almost non existant and
when anything is mentioned its usually erroneus and
innacurate. This however is an interesting book for hard core
fans that already know the musical genious of Dusty.
The book reveals what a trouble and horrific personal
life she had and how it obviously affected her
musical career.
Rating:
Summary: Tabloid Treatment Without Much Weight
Review: If you are looking for personal inside dish on the admittedly turbulent life of an overlooked artistic giant, you may enjoy this. However, the book is not very well written, skipping foward and backward chronologically in a very confusing manner. The authors also seem to prefer simply holding Dusty up as an object of pity rather than tackling the more difficult area of her very complex personality. To have put up with the burden of Dusty's problems they detailed, the authors must have loved her, but I would have liked for them to have more clearly shown just what it was about her that made her so magnetic to them and her fans.
Rating:
Summary: Dancing with Demons
Review: This book was informative, funny, and a great glimpse of what it must have been like to be a friend of Dusty Springfield. The revealing of what it might have been like to be Dusty herself. It is a well written, poignant look at Dusty's career. Everyone assumes being famous is wonderful, however, this portrait shows both of fame's sides. If you enjoy Dusty's music, and want to know more about her as a person, this is the book for you. Several of those she worked with spoke to the authors. The authors' themselves provide a backstage glance into the career, personal life, and heartbreak of Dusty's life with complete honesty.
Rating: 
Summary: A NEGATIVE AND POORLY WRITTEN BOOK
Review: THIS BOOK WAS SUCH A LETDOWN. FOR STARTERS THERE IS NO CONTINUITY - IT JUMPS FROM ONE CHAPTER TALKING ABOUT 1969 AND THEN TO A CHAPTER ON 1972 AND BACK TO 1969 AND SO ON AND SO ON- WHAT A MESS TO KEEP TRACK OF THINGS. FURTHERMORE, THIS BOOK ONLY FOCUSES ON THE NEGATIVE AND HORRIBLE THINGS THAT HAPPENED TO DUSTY - THERE IS VERY LITTLE ABOUT HER MUSICAL CAREER OR ANY HAPPY MOMENTS IN HER LIFE. PLEASE AVOID THIS BOOK.
Rating: 
Summary: Not very accurate...and defintely not "authorized".
Review: This so called "authorized" biography reads more like the musings of 2 friends and not as a serious biography of this woman, perhaps the greatest female pop vocalist of the 20th century. First of all, to this day it is unclear who exactly "authorized" this biography. Records show that Springfield left nothing in her will to indicate that Wickham and Valentine were in any way legally authorized to write it. Secondly, those who knew Dusty best, including her long time friend and back up singer Simon Bell (who was with her during her final moments) and her faithful lighting designer, Fred Perry, have argued the merits of this book and have pointed out several mistakes and inconsistencies. (Perry listed over 10 pages worth of mistakes with corrections in a recent issue of the fanzine, "Dusty Springfield Bulletin" put out by Paul Howes in England.) But you don't have to be a member of Springfield's intimate circle or even a longtime fan to spot the many glaring errors. Several songs are credited to the wrong albums and several pictures have the wrong captions. Events and names are created that never happened or existed and dates are all mixed up. This is shoddy work and no serious fan of Springfield's would be able to recommend it as anything more than just the vague recollections of 2 friends of the great singer. Perhaps the biggest diservice the book pays to Springfield is that it focuses on her personal life (which was certainly ripe for tabloid fodder) and misses out on accurately and seriously cataloguing her extensive contributions to the world of pop music as both a producer and performer.
Rating:
Summary: Does St. Martin's even staff copy editors?
Review: This terrible book, in addition to being disparaging and staggeringly less than exhaustive, appears to have been both written and edited by people with no more than a third-grade education. Ever heard of a comma? The authors of this book sure haven't. As much as I love Dusty (or more accurately, BECAUSE I love Dusty), I couldn't make it more than halfway through this trash. Wickham, Valentine and anyone involved in the editing and publishing of this book are obviously both superficial and illiterate.
|
