VA - Right Back Where We Started From, Female Pop And Soul In Seventies Britain [2020] (3 x CDs)

Pop

VA - Right Back Where We Started From, Female Pop And Soul In Seventies Britain [2020] (3 x CDs)

The first thing that settles in with Right Back Where We Started From Female Pop And Soul In Seventies Britain is the voice, or more accurately, how many different ways a voice can sit inside a similar frame. Issued by Grapefruit Records in 2020, the set brings together recordings that share a time and place, but not always the same intention.

A few tracks in, the pattern begins to show. The arrangements tend to stay measured, strings, rhythm section, light studio polish, but the delivery shifts from singer to singer. Some performances are direct and uncluttered, others lean into phrasing and texture, stretching the line slightly without breaking it. The changes are subtle, but they accumulate.

Names pass through naturally. Dusty Springfield brings a deeper tone that settles into the arrangement, while Cilla Black keeps things closer to a pop structure. Elsewhere, Dana delivers with a lighter touch, sitting neatly within the production rather than pushing against it.

The sequencing doesn’t force contrast. Instead, it lets similar tempos and styles sit side by side, which makes the differences easier to notice over time. A fuller arrangement might be followed by something more restrained, then return again without shifting the overall balance.

By the later stretch, the set feels less like a collection of individual tracks and more like a continuous run of recordings shaped by the same studio environment. The details change, the voices move in and out, but the atmosphere holds, steady, unhurried, and easy to return to when the mood fits. (B)

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Track lists

CD1

01 Maxine Nightingale - Right Back Where We Started From 3:14

02 Val McKenna - Love Feeling 2:42

03 Tina Harvey - Nowhere to Run 2:33

04 Notations - Need Your Love 2:58

05 Etta Thomas - Ninety Nine Ways 2:33

06 Playthings - Stop What You're Doing 2:39

07 Ruth Swann - Tainted Love 2:11

08 Helen Shapiro - That's The Reason I Love You 2:54

09 Linda Rothwell - Tell Me 4:12

10 Honeyend - Heartbreaker 2:29

11 Flirtations - Little Darling (I Need You) 2:55

12 Maria Morgan - Tell The World 2:54

13 Hazel Dean - Our Day Will Come 3:14

14 B.J. Arnau - I Want to Go Back There Again 2:45

15 Angelettes - I Surrender 3:00

16 Polly Niles - If I Let You 2:29

17 Birds of A Feather - Leaving The Ghetto 2:22

18 Diana Foster - I'm Gonna Share it With You 3:23

19 Mother Trucker - Explosion in My Soul 2:42

20 Paula Knight - It's The Same Old Song 3:03

21 Penny Lane - Rock Me in The Cradle (Of Your Lovin' Arms) 3:12

22 Romey Carr - These Things Will Keep Me Loving You 2:59

23 Salena Jones - Baby, Don't Ya Get Crazy 2:45

24 Diane Jones - My Man's A Sweet Man 2:37

25 Wilma Reading - Two Can Have A Party 2:11

26 Samantha Jones - Stop 2:38

27 Carol Woods - I Wonder What Will Happen 3:47

CD2

01 Madeline Bell - That's What Friends Are For 3:47

02 Linda Lewis - Rock A Doodle Doo 3:24

03 Doris Troy - Stretchin' Out 3:52

04 Big Spenders - Why Don't Cha Tend to Your Business 2:24

05 Doris Duke - A Little Bit of Lovin' 3:06

06 Tommi - Let Your Love Fall Down 2:41

07 Tina Charles - I Can't Dance to That Music You're Playin' 2:43

08 Chanter Sisters - Na Na Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye) 4:14

09 Barry St. John - My Man 3:24

10 Cissy Stone - Gone But Not Forgotten 3:56

11 Ann Christy - Secret Love 3:54

12 Eleanor Keenan - Born to Be Loved (By You) 3:16

13 Emmaline Jones - What Good is I Love You 2:46

14 Petula Clark - Right On 2:55

15 Billie Davis - I've Been Loving Someone Else 2:40

16 Chrissy Roberts - Something Good 2:19

17 Linda Cable - It's Gonna Happen to You 2:44

18 Lisa Collings - I'm Getting Hungry for Your Lovin' 2:20

19 Janine Dexter - I Love Making Love to You 2:56

20 Patti and The Patettes - Summer Heartbreak 3:12

21 Sweetcorn - Catch Me, Catch Me 3:17

22 Flirts - Give Him A Great Big Kiss 2:45

23 Jo Ann Love - Everything I Need 2:54

24 Lesley Duncan - The Magic's Fine 3:18

25 Milly Scott - Sunshine in My Rainy Day Mind 2:22

CD3

01 Margie Miller - Fever 3:07

02 Dusty Springfield - Spooky 2:45

03 Eartha Kitt - Hurdy Gurdy Man 2:37

04 Julie Rogers - Baby Don't You Leave Me 2:44

05 Linda Kendrick - Music Brings Us Joy 4:08

06 Carol Hunter - Dr. Pepper 1:09

07 Bridget St. John - Some Kind of Beautiful 3:13

08 Delsey McKay - Cast Your Spell on Me 3:18

09 Dana Gillespie - All Cut Up on You 4:20

10 Polly Perkins - The Bad Girl 2:46

11 Jackie and The Majestics - Can't Give it Up No More 3:54

12 Millicent Martin - Every Home Should Have One 2:30

13 Samantha Sinclair - On A 'Plane to Nowhere 2:51

14 Adrienne Posta - Express Yourself 2:57

15 Linda Thorson - You Will Want Me 2:41

16 Leonie Hawthorn - Everything I See 3:01

17 Katie Kissoon - If Not for Your Love 3:32

18 Grazina - It's My Party 2:56

19 Twinkle Ripley - Caroline 3:30

20 Surprise Sisters - Born to Move 2:28

21 Tiger Sue - When You Walked in The Room 2:45

22 Bee - Tired of Waiting 2:33

23 Yvonne Elliman - I Can't Explain 3:12

24 Blonde on Blonde - Whole Lotta Love 3:59

25 Julie Sullivan - Fly, Little White Dove, Fly 4:26

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Music weaves itself into the fabric of our emotions, dances through the corridors of memory, and whispers to the soul of who we are. Sharing these stories deepens the connection, turning the experience into something timeless and profound.

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