Play Dusty for Me

Play Dusty for Me was recorded in August 2001 in Kilkenny, Ireland. The album was produced by Cormac Moore.

This was Westlake’s first recording since The Servants’ second album, Small Time. Small Time was recorded in 1991 but was still unreleased in 2001. Cherry Red Records released it in 2012, following the inclusion of 1990’s Disinterest in Mojo’s 2011 list of the greatest British indie records of all time.[1]). Throughout this time – “quietly in the background, occasionally in public” – Westlake carried on writing and performing.[2]

Play Dusty for Me (Mahlerphone, 2002) was a self-pressed album released in a limited issue that quickly sold out.[3] Play Dusty for Me was reissued in 2010 and 2015.[4][5]

In 2008, Westlake gave “My Ice Queen”, an outtake from the album recording session, to a charity compilation for the benefit of Yorkhill Children’s Foundation, based at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Glasgow.[6]

The Big Takeover called Play Dusty for Me a “winsome, quiet” album, saying it had the “general unhurried nature of an LP put out for pure love rather than commercial gain”.[3] A Louder Than War review contrasted the “fierce and unexpected urgency” of Westlake’s My Beautiful England with the “dimly-lit beauty” of Play Dusty for Me.[7]

1. “Play Dusty for Me” – 3:30
2. “Song for John” – 2:02
3. “Back on Track” – 4:28
4. “An Ocean Away” – 3:50
5. “Say When” – 2:51
6. “Stupid Love” – 3:33
7. “The Lonely City” – 2:34
8. “I Can’t Give You the Life You Want” – 3:38
9. “Nowhere Days” – 3:03
10. “I Die for Love” – 3:40
11. “Patience” – 4:40
12. “Even If” – 4:22
13. “Life on the Edge” – 3:44
14. “Hi You” – 3:55
15. “Life Goes On” – 4:20

• David Westlake – vocals and guitar
• Dan Cross – guitar
• Cormac Moore – bass
• Willis Moore – drums