It Will Never Be Over ... pt.1

It Will Never Be Over ... is the latest edition of YHO which can be downloaded free for all here. It is a riotous romp through the UK's soul undergrowth and pop flowerbeds of the late '60s and early '70s.

The cover star of this issue is Barry St. John who had the greatest voice of all the British girls in the '60s if not the best of luck. She could sound sophisticated and sultry, and she could come across fierce and ferocious. While she was perhaps too grrritty to be a success commercially some of her recordings went on to become Northern Soul favourites, such as Everything I Touch Turns To Tears and Hey Boy. Barry did at least have the benefit of working with some of the more adventurous arrangers and producers, such as Andrew Loog Oldham, David Whitaker, Mike Leander and Mickie Most.

The tie-in with this edition (as if any excuse were needed) was stumbling across an internet image of Barry's Cry Like A Baby and its astonishing 'country soul' b-side Long and Lonely Night with a picture sleeve for Vicki Wickham's Toast label. Further exploring revealed an old Billboard reporting that Barry was recording an LP for Toast with Emperor Rosko producing. The LP, According To St. John, actually came out on Major Minor, Toast's parent company, and is frustratingly still unavailable. We at least, have access to footage of Barry singing Cry Like A Baby ...