B. L. Night ... Cont'd

... she had a #01 r&b hit, something which, to name but a few, Tina Turner (with and without Ike), Carla Thomas, Laura Lee or Maxine Brown didn't manage.
    She's one of the few r&b female singers to play an instrument, and she wrote many of her songs.
    She was 70 last January, and she's still active.
    Her first LP, from October 1962, is a landmark album of the 60's.
    No need even to name her, because you know whom I am speaking about.

    Here are several nice photographs of her, some of which are only rarely seen on the net:

And she recorded some, well, quirky songs, so let's not forget about those ...

Barbara Lynn: »Dina And Petrina« / »Second Fiddle Girl« from the Jamie LP # 3023 (1962):

B.L. Night

Today, I was greeted with the cover of Barbara Lynn's fabulous Jamie LP over at BB's Blues All Kinds who is playing »I'm Sorry I Met You« -- I only hope that that doesn't reflect any recent personal experience of his!!? But such unhappy thoughts apart ... this really made my day! So I thought nothing better for today than make it a Barbara Lynn night. And you know what? The stereo version he's playing really has the horn section featuring prominently whereas in my mono version of the Jamie LP (which is happily residing in a LP sleeve adorned with the word STEREO written in multi-colored capital letters ...!) the horn section is more or less buried in the recording. The contrast is really elucidating, so I'll play my LP version below and you can compare it with the stereo version over at Blues All Kinds. For good measure, I added a dash of groove with Barbara Lynn's version of Jimmy Reed's »You Don't Have To Go«. My copy of the LP is not exactly in mint condition, but it still plays well ... and maybe you've noticed that Divshare wasn't working properly lately, the songs loading very slowly and kind of stuttering ... let's hope they fix it soon. Listen here:

Barbara Lynn: »I'm Sorry I Met You« / »You Don't Have To Go« from the Jamie LP # JLP-3023 (1962):

* * *

Barbara Lynn, Live '64

In early summer 1964, Barbara Lynn's infectious »Oh! Baby (We Got A Good Thing Goin')« was released. Now, some of you may not have heard the live version of that song recorded in the Uptown Theatre of Philadelphia on July 24, 1964 (from Atlantic LP # 8101). In fact, Barbara's live version is much rawer than the single version which was put out on Jamie ... without horn section the tune comes across in a considerably less polished way than the 45 version. Btw, Barbara is introduced by Jimmy Bishop.

Just the right track for a Monday night. Enjoy!

Barbara Lynn: »We Got A Good Thing Goin'«
from the Atlantic LP # 8101 (1964) (live):

Postscript
That night in Philadelphia Barbara Lynn performed two more songs which were recorded but unfortunately never released.
   There is a nice summary of her career, by Michael Corcoran, here: True Heroes of Texas Music, Part II (you have to scroll down a bit).
   And, why not, just let's have a photo of Barbara Lynn here, together with her guitar ... it is taken from the cover of Atlantic LP # 8101 and shows her, presum- ably, during the concert at the Uptown: