Dusty Springfield - Reputation [Pink Italy Import]

Dusty Springfield's Reputation is the sound of a great soul voice walking confidently into synth-pop, and this limited Italian import presses it on pink vinyl.

Released in 1990, it was a proper comeback, built on the momentum of her late-1980s collaboration with the Pet Shop Boys. The record reached the UK top twenty, and it introduced a generation raised on drum machines to a singer their parents had treasured since the sixties.

The album splits neatly in two. Side one leans on producers Dan Hartman, Andy Richards and Paul Staveley O'Duffy, and the title track Reputation opens things with sleek, defiant pop. Side two belongs to Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, who produced every song with Julian Mendelsohn. In Private, a UK top twenty single, pairs Dusty's breathy phrasing with a shimmering dance groove, while Nothing Has Been Proved, written for the film Scandal, turns tabloid intrigue into chilly, cinematic melodrama. Occupy Your Mind closes with a long, hypnotic stretch.

What makes it work is the contrast between those glossy programmed rhythms and a voice that still sounds like smoke and velvet. Pet Shop Boys fans will find plenty to love here too, and the pink pressing makes a striking addition to any Dusty shelf.