Bobby "Blue" BLAND - His California Album 1973

Bobby "Blue" BLAND - His California Album 1973
DSX 50163

Blues

A nice little record from Bobby -- quite different from his 60s sides for Duke/Peacock, and recorded in California (as you might guess from the title!) with a smoother more soulful approach. The style works well for Bobby -- and kind of gave him a new lease on life during the 70s, as he mixed his rougher bluesy vocals with some hipper arrangements -- still quite deep in soul, but with a compressed sound that creates a new mode of expression. Titles include "Goin Down Slow", "Up & Down World", "Help Me Through The Day", "Where My Baby Went", "Friday The 13th Child", "This Time I'm Gone For Good", and "I've Got To Use My Imagination". 
From Dusty Groove.
**
And his first for ABC-Dunhill in 1973 after more than two decades with Duke (Robey's still represented, though, under his songwriting alias of Deadric Malone on four cuts, including the album's biggest hit, "This Time I'm Gone for Good"). Producer Steve Barri contemporized Bland by having him cover Leon Russell's "Help Me Make It Through the Day," Luther Ingram's "(If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don't Want to Be Right," and Gladys Knight & the Pips' "I've Got to Use My Imagination."
By Bill Dahl, All Music Guide.
**
Bobby Blue Bland - Vocals
Ben Benay,David Cohen,Larry Carlton,Mel Brown,Dean Parks - Guitar
Chuck Findley,Paul Hubinon,Dick Hyde,Ernie Watts,Jack Kelson Jr. - Horns
Michael Omartian - Piano,organ
Wilton Felder,Max Bennett - Bass
Ed Greene - Drums
Ginger Blake,Julia Tillman,Maxine Willard - Background Vocals
**
A1 This Time I'm Gone for Good  3:33
A2 Up and Down World  3:29
A3 It's Not the Spotlight  3:52
A4 (If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don't Want to Be Right)  3:50
A5 Goin' Down Slow  5:35
B1 The Right Place at the Right Time  2:57
B2 Help Me Through the Day  3:50
B3 Where My Baby Went  3:19
B4 Friday the 13th Child  3:14
B5 I've Got to Use My Imagination  4:14
**
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Bobby "Blue" BLAND - Turn On Your Love Light 1994 (REPOST)

Bobby "Blue" BLAND - Turn On Your Love Light 1994

Blues

Picking up right where the first volume left off and continuing into 1964, this two-disc compilation (50 tracks!) showcases one of Bland's most appealing periods at Duke. Joe Scott was experimenting boldly with his protegé's repertoire, his brass-powered arrangements urging Bland to increased heights of incendiary energy on "Turn on Your Love Light" and "Yield Not to Temptation" (driven by future James Brown drummer Jabo Starks's funky traps) and advanced sophistication levels for the honey-smooth "Share Your Love with Me" and "That's the Way Love Is." Bennett's crackling blues licks invest "Stormy Monday Blues," "The Feeling Is Gone," and "Black Night" with T-Bone-derived tradition, while Bland handles Charlie Rich's "Who Will the Next Fool Be" with just the right amount of bluesy resignation.
By Bill Dahl, All Music Guide.
**
The early 90s was a great time for CD reissues of old material. In 1992 MCA released the first of 3 double CDs that provided a comprehensive retrospective of Bland's Duke years. That '92 release covered the years 1952-59, with this release covering what many believe to be Bland's salad days, from 1960 to 1966. It was released 2 years later, in 1994. Finally in 1996 came the last double disc installment covering the last three years of Bland's tenure at the Duke label.

If there is any criticism to be leveled at this career overview, it's that it might actually be too extensive. Particularly early, there is a lot of similarity between many of the cuts. Also, the '92 release has two things going against it: it is the earliest music and has the pretty rough audio quality of many of the songs. This is further exacerbated by a low output and thin remastering job. The problem was rectified with Volume 2. Certainly these tracks were much better recorded, but the remastering job is also far superior. In fact, the audio quality on most of these tracks is breathtaking, making even the weaker and derivitive tracks an interesting listen.

Bland was at the peak of his powers in the early to late sixties, and he had Joe Scott's exciting arrangements, Wayne Bennet's crackling blues riffs and future James Brown drummer Jabo Starks' driving rhythms to provide ample power to throw him into overdrive. This was the epitime of jazzy blues. Everything was just right and blended together seamlessly. When the original material was excellent or the cover well-chosen, it was as good as it gets. Period.

It's sad that this series has been discontinued. One look at what this set is going for on the used market and you know it was a mistake to discontinue it. This is classic stuff; the time, the singer and the style came together in glorius synchronicity. It will not be repeated, so MCA should do the right thing and reissue this wonderful series. Six discs is not too much Bobby "Blue" Bland. Meanwhile, I'm sorry if you don't have this. If you have the money, volume 2 is worth every penny you will have to part with to find it and own it.
By  Gordon Pfannenstiel.
**
Bobby "Blue" Bland- (Vocals),
Clifford Scott- (Sax Alto),
Jimmy Beck- (Sax Alto,Tenor),
Wayne Bennett- (Guitar),
Johnny Board- (Sax Alto, Tenor),
Skippy Brooks- (Piano),
Rayfield Davers- (Sax Baritone),
Pluma Davis- (Trombone),
Bobby Forte- (Sax Tenor),
Hamp Simmons- (Bass),
L.A. Hill- (Sax Tenor),
John "Jabo" Starks- (Drums),
Teddy Reynolds- (Piano).
**
Disc 1:
01. How Does a Cheatin' Woman Feel 2:39 
02. St. James Infirmary 2:25 
03. I've Just Got To Forget You 2:32 
04. Jelly Jelly Blues 3:22 
05. Ain't That Lovin' You 2:31 
06. You're The One (That I Adore) 2:32
07. Who Will The Next Fool Be? 2:25
08. Blue Moon 2:13
09. Blues In The Night 3:34
10. Twistin' Up The Road 2:29
11. Stormy Monday Blues 4:07 
12. Turn On Your Love Light 2:38 
13. Your Friends 2:29
14. Yield Not To Temptation 2:35 
15. You're Worth It All 2:22
16. No Sweeter Girl 2:36  
17. The Feeling Is Gone 2:30  
18. 36-22-36 2:50  
19. Call On Me 2:32  
20. That's The Way Love Is 2:37 
21. Ain't It A Good Thing 3:17  
22. Cry Lover Cry 2:48  
23. Honky Tonk 2:22 
24. Queen For A Day 2:54  
25. I Can't Stop Singing 2:34
*
Disc 2:
01. Sometimes You Gotta Cry A Little 2:16 
02. Honey Child 2:29  
03. I'll Call You Tomorrow 3:01
04. Dust Got In Daddy's Eyes 2:33
05. If I Hadn't Called You Back 2:34   
06. Ain't Nothing You Can Do 2:38 
07. Share Your Love With Me 2:42 
08. Care For Me 2:36
09. After It's Too Late 2:27   
10. Today 2:58   
11. Black Night 2:50   
12. For Men Only 2:40   
13. The Greatest 2:46   
14. Black Night (Single Version) 2:46  
15. Blind Man 3:35  
16. Steal Away 2:37  
17. If You Could Read My Mind 2:18   
18. Ain't Doin' Too Bad, Part 1 2:40   
19. Ain't Doin' Too Bad, Part 2 2:35   
20. I Won't Forget 2:34   
21. Loneliness Hurts 2:44   
22. When You Put Me Down 2:31   
23. I'm Gonna Cry 2:42   
24. Reconsider Baby 2:51  
25. Ain't No Telling 2:28
**
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Bobby "Blue" BLAND and BB KING - I Like To Live The Love 1974

Bobby "Blue" BLAND and BB KING - I Like To Live The Love 1974

Blues

This CD, "I Like to Live the Love", is a compendium of cuts from two previous collaborations between the venerable B.B. King and masterful blues vocalist, Bobby Bland. Those earlier efforts, "Together for the First Time" and "Together Again" have become blues classics. The music is live. Most of it is terrifically good. King's guitar mastery and operatic blues shouting blends well, often wonderfully well, with Bland's subtler vocals. The side men do a solid job and the audience response, often distracting on concert CD's, usually enhances the music. It is apparent that the performers are enjoying themselves. Bland is in top form on these cuts -- and that's saying a lot.
Those who have never heard Bobby Bland have missed out on one of the best reasons for living of which I am aware. His voice is impossible to describe without lapsing into seeming contradictions. For example, it's both smooth as silk and rough as sandpaper. It must be heard. Equally impressive, Bland always seem to have a deeply intuitive understanding of the songs he sings. He employs his remarkable voice with an all-too-rare intelligence. (In a sane world, everyone would know Bobby Bland and his work.) This CD is a good vehicle for hearing him.

I have a quibble about the selections made for this CD. Certainly, "3-O'clock Blues" and "Driftin' Blues" are about as good as it gets. I like both of these live versions better than any others I know. All of the cuts on this collection are worthy. Yet two cuts from the original source collections, Bland's best-ever rendition of "I'll Take Care of You" (which drives his audience crazy!)and an incomparably high-spirited rendition of King's blues anthem, "The Thrill Is Gone", are not included. As good as this CD is, it would have been better if they had been.

For someone who has never heard the original Bland/King "Together" collections, this CD should prove to be be a good purchase. It has most of the best material from those efforts and leaves out the few cuts which don't quite work. Serious blues enthusiasts might do better to purchase the earlier works. Still, "I Like to Live the Love" should enhance the collection of occasional blues fans, or those with more eclectic tastes, with a low-cost, high-quality CD that will bring much in the way of enjoyment.
By William J. Deangelis.
**
Bobby "Blue" Bland and B.B. King worked together repeatedly over the years, some of their band members regularly performing with both stars. This live set has a vividly spontaneous feel to it; King introduces the second song by saying, "Ladies ...    Full Descriptionand gentlemen, nothing is planned tonight, so what I'm thinkin' is we're just gonna pull somethin' out of the hat and get right into it."
While Bland and King doubtless had a game plan for the night's possible contents, the set benefits from the edginess of a band and two front men responding in the moment to each other. Both men have honed their skills by performing continually over the decades, and their ease and grace on the stage is inspiring. The accompanying players possess a rough and tumble vigor--one listen to the horns on "That's the Way Love Is" and you'll be hooked by the excitement of it all. The album is warmly recorded, retaining the feel of the live show with depth and clarity.
From CD Universe.
**
01. Three O'Clock Blues
02. It's My Own Fault
03. That's the Way Love Is 
04. I'm Sorry
05. Don't Cry No More 
06. Don't Answer the Door
07. Goin' Down Slow
08. I Like to Live the Love
09. Driftin' Blues - (bonus track)
10. Let the Good Times Roll - (bonus track)
**
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Bobby "Blue" BLAND - First Class Blues 1987

Bobby "Blue" BLAND - First Class Blues 1987
Label: Malaco
Recorded at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, Sheffield, Alabama; Malaco Studios, Jackson, Mississippi.

Blues

Although it isn't billed as such, this is a compilation of some of the best tracks from Bland's first two '80s albums for Malaco fleshed out with remakes of some of his most famous late-'50s and early-'60s hits. Of the latter, the standouts are probably "Two Steps From the Blues" and "St. James Infirmary." Bland can't quite hit the high notes the way he once did, but his voice is still attractive and his phrasing is, if anything, even better. The more recent material ranges from "Members Only," with its great retro-60s soul groove, to the straight-ahead blues of "Straight From the Shoulder."
From CD Universe.
**
Bobby "Blue" Bland- (Vocals),
Thomisene Anderson- (Vocals Background),
Vince Barranco- (Percussion),
Jewel Bass- (Vocals Background),
Wayne Bennett- (Guitar),
Larry Byrom- (Guitar),
Harrison Calloway- (Horn),
Ben Cauley- (Horn),
Mickey Davis- (Strings),
Janet Dressler- (Strings),
Steve Dressler- (Strings),
Ronnie Eades- (Horn),
Carmelo Garcia- (Percussion),
Ray Griffin- (Guitar Bass),
Claudette Hampton- (Strings),
Roderick Harvey- (Guitar),
Mark Hatch- (Strings),
Catherine Henderson- (Vocals Background),
Jim Horn- (Flute), (Horn),
Wayne Jackson- (Horn),
Jimmy Johnson- (Guitar),
Tim Mika- (Strings),
Peggy Plucker- (Strings),
Jerry Puckett- (Guitar),
James Robertson- (Drums),
Charles Rose- (Guitar), (Horn),
George Soulé- (Vocals Background),
Harvey Thompson- (Horn),
Carson Whitsett- (Keyboards),
Dino Zimmerman- (Guitar),
Bob McNally- (Strings),
Linda Geidel- (Strings),
John Frantz- (Strings),
Brian Gum- (Strings),
Bernard Jenkins- (Overdubs),
Sybil Cheesman- (Flute),
Jessie Mae Robinson- (Guitar),
Rick Harvey- (Overdubs).
**
01. Two Steps From The Blues 3:20
02. St. James Infirmary 2:28
03. Members Only 4:08
04. Sunday Morning Love 5:44
05. In The Ghetto 3:54
06. Sweet Woman's Love 3:43
07. Angel 4:46
08. I've Just Got To Know 4:29
09. Can We Make Love Tonight 3:33
10. After All 3:22
11. I Hear You Thinkin' 4:38
12. Straight From The Shoulder 3:56
13. Love Me Or Leave Me 3:40
14. Second Hand Heart 3:47
15. Walkin' & Talkin' & Singin' The Blues 3:55
16. Heart, Open Up Again 3:29
**
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Bobby “Blue” BLAND - Get On Down With Bobby Bland (LP Version) 1975

Bobby “Blue” BLAND - Get On Down With Bobby Bland (LP Version) 1975

Blues

Bobby Bland earned his enduring blues superstar status the hard way: without a guitar, harmonica, or any other instrument to fall back upon. All Bland had to offer was his magnificent voice, a tremendously powerful instrument in his early heyday, injected with charisma and melisma to spare. Just ask his legion of female fans, who deemed him a sex symbol late into his career.

For all his promise, Bland's musical career ignited slowly. He was a founding member of the Beale Streeters, the fabled Memphis aggregation that also included B.B. King and Johnny Ace. Singles for Chess in 1951 (produced by Sam Phillips) and Modern the next year bombed, but that didn't stop local DJ David Mattis from cutting Bland on a couple of 1952 singles for his fledgling Duke logo.

Bland's tormented crying style was still pretty rough around the edges before he entered the Army in late 1952. But his progress upon his 1955 return was remarkable; with saxist Bill Harvey's band (featuring guitarist Roy Gaines and trumpeter Joe Scott) providing sizzling support, Bland's assured vocal on the swaggering "It's My Life Baby" sounds like the work of a new man. By now, Duke was headed by hard-boiled Houston entrepreneur Don Robey, who provided top-flight bands for his artists. Scott soon became Bland's mentor, patiently teaching him the intricacies of phrasing when singing sophisticated fare (by 1962, Bland was credibly crooning "Blue Moon," a long way from Beale Street).

Most of Bland's savage Texas blues sides during the mid- to late '50s featured the slashing guitar of Clarence Hollimon, notably "I Smell Trouble," "I Don't Believe," "Don't Want No Woman," "You Got Me (Where You Want Me)," and the torrid "Loan a Helping Hand" and "Teach Me (How to Love You)." But the insistent guitar riffs guiding Bland's first national hit, 1957's driving "Farther Up the Road," were contributed by Pat Hare, another vicious picker who would eventually die in prison after murdering his girlfriend and a cop. Later, Wayne Bennett took over on guitar, his elegant fretwork prominent on Bland's Duke waxings throughout much of the '60s.

The gospel underpinnings inherent to Bland's powerhouse delivery were never more apparent than on the 1958 outing "Little Boy Blue," a vocal tour de force that wrings every ounce of emotion out of the grinding ballad. Scott steered his charge into smoother material as the decade turned: the seminal mixtures of blues, R&B, and primordial soul on "I Pity the Fool," the Brook Benton-penned "I'll Take Care of You," and "Two Steps From the Blues" were tremendously influential to a legion of up-and-coming Southern soulsters.

Scott's blazing brass arrangements upped the excitement ante on Bland's frantic rockers "Turn on Your Love Light" in 1961 and "Yield Not to Temptation" the next year. But the vocalist was learning his lessons so well that he sounded just as conversant on soulful R&B rhumbas (1963's "Call on Me") and polished ballads ("That's the Way Love Is," "Share Your Love With Me") as with an after-hours blues revival of T-Bone Walker's "Stormy Monday Blues" that proved a most unlikely pop hit for him in 1962. With "Ain't Nothing You Can Do," "Ain't Doing Too Bad," and "Poverty," Bland rolled through the mid-'60s, his superstar status diminishing not a whit.

In 1973, Robey sold his labels to ABC Records, and Bland was part of the deal. Without Scott and his familiar surroundings to lean on, Bland's releases grew less consistent artistically, though His California Album in 1973 and Dreamer the next year boasted some nice moments (there was even an album's worth of country standards). The singer re-teamed with his old pal B.B. King for a couple of mid-'70s albums that broke no new ground but further heightened Bland's profile, while his solo work for MCA teetered closer and closer to MOR (Bland has often expressed his admiration for ultra-mellow pop singer Perry Como).

Since the mid-'80s, Bland has recorded for Jackson, MS's Malaco Records. His pipes undeniably reflect the ravages of time, and those phlegm-flecked "snorts" he habitually emits become annoying in large doses. But Bobby "Blue" Bland endures as a blues superstar of the loftiest order, resurfacing in 1998 with Memphis Monday Morning.
By Bill Dahl, All Music Guid.
**
Bobby "Blue" Bland- Vocals
Steve Madaio, Ernie Watts, Nino Tempo, Jim Horn- Horn Section
Michael Omartian– Keyboards
Dean Parks, Lee Ritenour, Ben Benay, Jay Graydon– Guitar
Scott Edwards, Wilton Felder, Chuck Rainey– Bass
Steve Barri, Victor Feldman– Percussion
Ed Greene- Drums
Michael Price, Dan Walsh, Luther Waters, Oren Waters, Maxine Willard, Julia Tillman, Ginger Blake- Vocals (Background)
**
01. I Take It On Home  4.17
02. Today I Started Loving You Again  3.47
03. You've Always Got the Blues  4.11
04. I Hate You  4.11
05. You've Never Been This Far Before  3.34
06. If Fingerprints Showed Up On Skin  3.00
07. Someone To Give My Love To  3.48
08. Too Far Gone  3.01
09. You're Gonna Love Yourself  2.55
**
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