Dusty Springfield - See All Her Faces

About "See All Her Faces"

See All Her Faces is the seventh studio album by singer Dusty Springfield, originally released on the Philips Records label in 1972. It contains a mixture of tracks from different recording sessions; some tracks were recorded with Jeff Barry for an aborted third album for Atlantic Records, other tracks were recorded for Philips in the UK between April and July 1970 – these came to be Springfield's final recordings with longtime producer and arranger Johnny Franz. Some, such as "Willie and Laura Mae Jones", recorded with Jerry Wexler, Tom Dowd and Arif Mardin, had been previously released as singles in the US. See All Her Faces collects many of those tracks, recorded from 1969 to 1971, placing seven of the British recordings on Side A, while Side B comprises tracks recorded both in the UK and the US. As a result, the album has no cohesive sound, but offers many different styles of music. The album boasts eight producers, including Springfield herself. It has been suggested that See All Her Faces is best appreciated track by track, rather than as a whole stylistic statement, as her album Dusty in Memphis is often praised to be.

The See All Her Faces album was never released in the US, and as a consequence the majority of the tracks recorded in the UK would remain unavailable in the States until the release of the Rhino Entertainment compilations Dusty in London and Love Songs – some thirty years later.

In 2002, Mercury Records/Universal Music UK released See All Her Faces in its entirety on CD for the first time, then also including three bonus tracks; two further recordings from the shelved Faithful album with Jeff Barry and also Springfield's interpretation of "What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?", written by Alan & Marilyn Bergman and Michel Legrand for the 1969 film The Happy Ending. Springfield recorded her version of the song during the See All Her Faces sessions in London in the summer of 1970, but it was left unheard in the Philips Records archives until 1994.

In 2016, 'RealGoneMusic' released 'Come For A Dream - The UK Sessions 1970-71' which were all the sessions Springfield recorded for 'See All Her Faces'. On this release it contained Seventeen tracks in total. Upon the original album release there were only nine of these tracks released for the album back in 1972. The tracks that were now added were 'A Song For You', 'Wasn't Born To Follow', 'Sweet Inspiration', 'What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life' 'Goodbye (Is All That's Left To Say), 'Go My Love', 'O-O-H Child'.

This collection also includes 'How Can I Be Sure?' which was recorded during those particular sessions but not intended for 'See All Her Faces'.

In April 2022, 'See All Her Faces' was re-released for its 50th anniversary as a limited edition for Record Store Day. It was released as a double LP vinyl album. One disc containing fourteen tracks from the original 1972 release, and the second disc containing nine bonus tracks. Three of the bonus tracks 'Haunted', 'Have A Good Life Baby' and 'What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life?' were already included on the 2002 CD-RE-ISSUE as bonus tracks. On the 2022 LP re-issue an extra six were included which are outtakes from the original sessions from 'See All Her Faces'. The new addition of bonus tracks include 'Go My Love', 'A Song For You', 'Wasn't Born To Follow', 'Sweet Inspiration', 'O-O-H Child' and 'Goodbye (Is All That's Left To Say)'.