BLO by BLO

The female soul singer is a wonderful thing in my book. For example my love of Candi Staton is well documented hereabouts. I was very late to the Barbara Lynn party but she is now becoming a new obsession. Barbara and Candi were born little more than a year apart in the early Forties and are both still very actively touring and wowing new fans. I have written about Ms Ozen before (over three years ago now), and a number of things have prompted this latest post.

First there was Audrey’s charming cover of Barbara’s 1962 hit “You’ll Lose A Good Thing” that I posted last time.

Then there is the fact that recently I have finally secured a copy of one of her late Sixties Atlantic singles – the fantastic double header “This Is The Thanks I Get/Ring Telephone Ring” - for a VERY reasonable price (OK, so it does have a slight pressing flaw at the beginning).

Finally there is the fact that Barbara Lynn has just appeared at the Brooklyn Soul Festival. It’s funny, when I wrote about her back in 2006, I noted that she was billed as a Blues artist. Barbara can play a mean guitar and much of her recent output has a Blues bias, but equally I suggested that it was indicative of the fact that Soul as a genre had all but disappeared. Now here we are in 2009 and Barbara has just appeared at a “Soul Festival”, and it seems with new artists on the scene such as Eli ‘Paperboy’ Reed and Mayer Hawthorne Soul is very much back on the musical map. I’ll drink to that.

From a 2000 CD on Antone’s “Hot Night Tonight” here is Barbara’s gender switch take on a Syl Johnson number:

Barbara Lynn – I Let A Good Man Go 2000

(buy “Hot Night Tonight”)

Here is that single I bought recently:


Barbara Lynn – This Is The Thanks I Get 1967

And here is Barbara from a few years ago performing the wonderful “You’re Losing Me” – the song that started my love affair with Barbara Lynn.



(Is the room in the video the same one that appears on the front cover of her “Hot Night Tonight” CD?)