Sydney Youngblood 'If Only I Could'

Chart Peak: 3

YouTube

Sydney comes from Texas originally, but has lived in Germany for some years... 'If Only I Could', a call for peace that he wrote himself, was his frst hit reaching No.3 for 2 weeks in October 1989.

Well, he didn't write it all by himself - there are three other writers listed, presumably because this track is heavily based on 'Break 4 Love' by Raze. However Youngblood's (or Ford's, as he originally was) contribution is not to be dismissed. He does have a rather rich, warm voice and his lyric has a charming utopianism about it, although the argumentative might suggest that not being able to make the world perfect doesn't mean he can't improve it. Others might counter that making this record is a significant contribution in itself.

Also appearing on: Now 17
Available on: 101 80s Anthems

Sydney Youngblood 'I'd Rather Go Blind'

Chart Peak: 44

YouTube

Looking through the list of tracks, I wondered how an almost entirely dance-oriented second disc would run into a version of this famous ballad standard. Hearing it for the first time on YouTube, I got my answer: Mr Youngblood (not his real name, you know) had in fact squared the circle somewhat by dancifying the song a bit, recalling the style of his first two hits 'If Only I Could' and 'Sit And Wait'.

Unfortuntely, this is a song I've never been fond of in any form, which protects me from hearing this as any sort of sacrilege, but also would demand a brilliant version to impress me. And that's not what we have here, although it's passable I suppose. The record-buying public weren't impressed either (or if they were, they'd already bought this album, which was released before the single) and his Top 40 career was over.

Also appearing on: Now 16
Available on: Feeling Free