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Just A Little Lovin' is a stark reminder of Lynne's empathetic skill as an interpreter.
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As for this being a Shelby Lynne record, its quality and confidence is unassailable.
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Lynne has crafted a disc that--while not exactly transcendent--still manages to go to emotional places that remain unattainable to your run-of-the-mill pop vocalists.
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Just a Little Lovin' achieves the unlikely: a tribute to an immortal artist which both glorifies its subject and elevates the worshipper kneeling at her altar.
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Instead of paying tribute as concept, Lynne owns these songs, taking inspiration from the renowned blue-eyed soul singer to create her own sober renditions of indelible melodies from the '60s and '70s.
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The strength of Just a Little Lovin' lies in its refusal to jump through hoops; the emphasis throughout is on an under-expressed sadness that owes far more to Lynne's interpretative gifts than to Dusty Springfield.
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If there’s something odd about an authentic Southern girl reworking a singer from Ealing who longed to emulate her American heroes, then it’s perhaps best to judge this record on its own merit. Which, as it turns out, is very high indeed.
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At heart Just a Little Lovin’ is one fine singer’s homage to another, but the album also serves as a lean platform for the material.
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MojoSuch a bad idea. Such a stunning result. [Mar 2008, p.114]
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BlenderVeteran producer Phil Ramone helps Lynne emphasize the loneliness of 'You Don't Have To Say You Love Me' and linger in the sensual transgressions of 'Breakfast In Bed' until this drastically rearranged but delicately rendered tribute feels like a candid self-portrait painted in watercolors and tears. [Apr 2008, p.81]
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Daring it's not, but it pays homage to a hero without getting indulgent or falling into rote imitation.
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If the result isn't a classic album like "Dusty in Memphis," it's at least a reminder of why Lynne merits those comparisons at all
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Lynne doesn't mimic though, taking nine tunes Springfield sang, along with one original in the spirit, and interprets them in a manner that's elegant, if not always satisfying.
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Her personality doesn't surface--and neither does a groove--until midway through the disc, on a bluesy trio of tunes: 'Breakfast in Bed,' 'Willie and Laura Mae Jones,' and 'I Don't Want to Hear It Anymore.'
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By stripping them down to their bones, Lynne gets the skeleton of these songs right, but in the end you can't help but miss the meat that made Springfield who she was.
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Phil Ramone’s austere production seems designed to let Lynne’s voice carry the album, and that’s a big mistake, since she has neither the emotional range nor the soulful finesse to convey the real hurt at the core of this material.
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Q MagazineIt doesn't work, such superior pop items as 'Just A little Lovin'' and 'The Look Of Love' being reduced to an uninspired yawn. [Mar 2008, p.107]