Tami Lynn

Listen/Download – Tami Lynn – Love Affair Suite MP3

Greetings all.

I hope the new week finds you all well.

The music I bring you today is unusual in that it comprises not a single song but a side-long medley.

Tami Lynn is a particularly interesting singer.

She came up in New Orleans, singing on a number of local sessions, many for the AFO label, making one single with Bert Berns in 1965 (that went on to become a bog Northern Soul fave, and oddly enough appears on this 1971 album) and then the album you see before you today, and that – as they say – (aside from backgriound singing for others, especially Dr John) is that (though there appears to be another album from 1992 under the name Tamiya Lynn).

I have no idea why she stopped recording under her own name, but the album she left behind, is, while imperfect, possessed of perfection.

When you dig into the recording of ‘Love Is Here And Now Your Gone’ you begin to realize that it was kind of a piecemeal effort, with recording sessions in multiple locations, with multiple producers, and, as I mentioned earlier, the inclusion of that 1965 45.

I have no idea what the history was behind this, whether there wasn’t funding, or some kind of tug of war about what the label was going to do with Tami and her recordings, but at the end of the day, the record will stand as a (lost) classic for side one.

The ‘Love Affair Suite’ (that’s my name for it, since it doesn’t have a collective name on the record) is a sidelong, narrative (the songs are interspersed with monologues) about the birth and death of a love affair.

The medley is composed of songs originally done by Loretta Lynn (Wings Upon Your Horn), the Supremes (Love Is Here And Now You’re Gone), Betty Harris (Can’t Last Much Longer) and one song that originates here (though it was recorded the same year by the Patterson Singers), Dave Crawford and Willie Martin’s ‘That’s Understanding’.

Taken individually, the performances are uniformly wonderful, especially the slowed down, mournful take on ‘Love Is Here…’, but taken as a whole, they constitute a piece of work that ought to be much better known than it is.

Perhaps the overall obscurity of the record contributes to this, or the fact that the entire medley is almost 21 minutes and would never get airplay (though ‘That’s Understanding’ would get a UK 45 release on Mojo), but I assure you that once you pull down the ones and zeroes and let this bit of magic work its way into your ears, you will feel compelled to push it one someone else enthiusiatically.

The production by New Orleans giant Wardell Quezerque is outstanding, and he really lays back and lets the subtle majesty of Lynn’s performance come through.

So dig it, and I’ll see you all next week.

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Keep the faith

Larry

 

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2 Responses to “Tami Lynn – Love Affair Suite”

1. Raggedy says:

   April 10, 2019 at 4:27 pm

   Soultaker brought this post of yours to my attention. Thanks for sharing such a rarity with us! I loved listening to it each and every second of it.

2. giorgio laghi says:

   April 14, 2019 at 5:36 am

   hi. i m looking for sheet funky music. someone can help me? thanks in advance