| Cameo | |
| Type: | Album |
| Artist: | Dusty Springfield |
| Cover: | CameoLP.jpg |
| Released: | 10 February 1973 in (US), 11 May 1973 in (UK) |
| Recorded: | July–October 1972 |
| Studio: | ABC, Los Angeles, California |
| Genre: | Pop |
| Length: | 35:12 |
| Label: | ABC Dunhill Records |
| Producer: | Steve Barri, Brian Potter, Dennis Lambert |
| Prev Title: | See All Her Faces |
| Prev Year: | 1972 |
| Next Title: | Longing |
| Next Year: | 1974 |
Cameo is the eighth studio album released by singer Dusty Springfield, released in 1973.
The album was recorded in the United States between July and October 1972. Cameo was produced by Steve Barri, Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter who later went on to write and produce major hits for among others Glen Campbell, The Four Tops and The Tavares. The album also included material written by Alan O'Day, David Gates, Nickolas Ashford, Valerie Simpson and Van Morrison and among the all-star line up of musicians contributing were Hal Blaine, Paul Humphrey, Larry Carlton, Wilton Felder, Carol Kaye, Victor Feldman, Michael Omartian, Venetta Fields and Clydie King.
Cameo is Springfield's first LP for the ABC Dunhill Records label, which released it in the United States first in February 1973. It was released in the UK (by Philips Records) three months later in May.
The album was a commercial failure in 1973 – charting neither in the UK nor the US. A planned second album on the ABC Dunhill label with the working title of Elements (eventually re-titled Longing), was started, but never finished, due to Springfield's personal problems at the time. Most of the uncompleted album Longing can also be found on the Hip-O Records compilation Beautiful Soul, released in the United States in 2001.
Cameo was digitally remastered and released on CD for the first time in Europe by Mercury/Universal Music in 2002, though not containing any bonus tracks. Due to its relative obscurity upon the LP's initial release in 1973, Cameo is considered to be one of the rarer titles of Springfield's official catalogue/discography, and hard to find on any format, though its increased popularity in recent years due to the CD release and digital music file sharing has alleviated that difficulty to a good degree.
Prior to its release in May 1973 in the UK Springfield made a brief public appearance in the UK doing dates in the Provinces up in the North, doing a TV appearance on They Sold a Million and also doing two live shows at The London Palladium that January to make up for the Talk of the Town fiasco. This live appearance would be her last tour or live show she would do for another 6 years and her last public appearance in the UK until 5 years later in February 1978 for a promotional trip for her new album It Begins Again. During the years between Cameo and It Begins Again, Springfield remained very much off the radar and was in a period of what many describe as her "wilderness years".
In the US Springfield made a few television appearances but only performed two songs from Cameo. The first being "Of All the Things" on The Bobby Darin Show and the second being "Mama's Little Girl" on The Tonight Show - With Johnny Carson.
Reviewing in (1981), Robert Christgau highlighted the songs "Of All the Things" and "The Other Side of Life", while writing of Springfield: "Simultaneously gushy and ladylike, she sings like the beautiful maidservant of men's vainest and most shameful fantasies--always the supplicant, always in love. Yet at the same time she manages to elicit sisterly sympathy from other women. Lambert and Potter have mixed the orchestra way too high on this record, but for these guys, who usually write banal melodies that stick so stubbornly you hate them for it, the tunes are complex and likable. Maybe that's because L&P adjusted them for a tough human being who convinced them mid-session that she wasn't just some backup chick doing a solo spot."
All tracks composed by Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter; except where indicated
Side one
Side two
Album – Billboard (United States)
| Year | Chart | Position | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1973 | Pop Albums Billboard '200' | Did not chart^ | |
| 1973 | Bubbling Under US Billboard '200' | 5 |
Singles – Billboard (United States)
| Year | Single | Chart | Position | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1973 | "Who Gets Your Love" | Pop Singles | 121 | |
| 1973 | "Who Gets Your Love" | US Cashbox | 93 | |
| 1973 | "Mama's Little Girl" | Pop Singles | 118 | |
| 1973 | "Mama's Little Girl" | Adult Contemporary | 33 | |
| 1973 | "Learn to Say Goodbye"^^ | Adult Contemporary | 33 |
^At the time of the album's release, Billboard Magazine maintained a "Bubbling Under" Album chart, for albums that had not yet entered the Billboard Top 200 Album chart. Cameo peaked at #5 on this chart.
^^"Learn to Say Goodbye" was initially the B side of "Mama's Little Girl". The single was later flipped, with "Learn to Say Goodbye" becoming the A side.