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Colin Hodgson Reviews The Togetherness Weekender
Saturday was fantastic at Cala Gran. No sign of Suzanne but there'll be other events. In the afternoon I was sitting in the Northern room and could see there was no queue
for The In Crowd with Dave Godin signing copies so I went to buy a copy. Dave was just writing the inscription in my book (to Colin from Stoke) when he looked up and stopped writing, I turned to see what was wrong and
just behind me was Barbara Lynn. Dave shook her hand and I thought "That's it, my copy won't get signed now" but I was wrong, Dave kindly finished the inscription and signed it, and Barbara Lynn did too, so
many thanks to both of them. Barbara spent some time signing more copies of the book, and signing "Barbara Lynn" tee-shirts, after her fantastic late night / early morning performance. Later in the afternoon I spent some time in the modern room. Now I'm not really a
modern person and part of my reason for going in was to see what this "modern" thing was all about. I heard some jazz and some jazz funk and I thought "Very nice but when's the modern soul going to
start?" But then came a number that I really could get into, it struck me as a duet with some lovely vocals but what really got me was the sax, which I thought was very Jnr. Walker-like, so for someone of my era,
that helped me to appreciate it more, but even without the sax, it was a great number. I had to ask what it was called and I need a bit of help from you here Bernie, I can't remember whether it was called "No one
can hear us" or was it "So nobody can hear us" by Jimmy Cobb, anyway, its another one on the wants list now. (It's "So
Nobody Else Can Hear" and yes it's Jimmy Cobb, although it's not Jimmy singing, I do know who is singing but can't remember, anyway it's tucked away on a Jazz album and worth a few quid now.) At 01:00am the atmosphere had really built up in the packed venue, especially after a good warm up from Snake Davies and his Suspicions and an emotive introduction
from Dave Godin (who denied that he was older than God!). It was about 01:20 when Barbara came on and all I can say is "Why isn't she as big as Tina Turner?". I haven't thought of it before but her voice
struck me as being half way between Tina Turner and Gladys Knight (now there's a comment that could stir up some controversy - "No it isn't, nothing like it, more like ..."). She gave a fantastic, lively and vibrant performance and, even though she apologised about her lack of familiarity with her older songs (which wasn't necessary at
all) she was just so professional, building up a good report with the audience with her sincerity and her voice was amazingly gutsy and soulful.
I was just overawed by her performance and couldn't believe it was happening. I am in total agreement with Dave Godin about the
greatness of "You'll lose a good thing", its one of those records that, when I've played it, I'm singing it for days after - if I can get the lump out of my throat. Everyone was treated to a memorable
performance which stands on own merits but one which I think we will all appreciate even more in the knowledge that we saw a real star who just doesn't get true recognition from mainstream music, we were so lucky to
have been there. Click here for a pic of Barbara Lynn |
