One never tires of Bobby “Blue” Bland’s voice. It was strong as a gusty wind, flexible as a reed and laced with the crunchy sound of leather boots on a gravel road. Frontrunner of a hybrid style that is usually labeled as “soul blues”, Bland blended R&B and Chicago blues with southern soul, a concoction wholly his own and arguably equalled only his fellow giant of the genre, O.V. Wright.
His work on Duke in the 1960s stands as his crowning achievement, overshadowing the remainder of his career, which involved worldwide recognition, notably on stage with B.B. King, but a loss of vocal impact. I should add that “impact” strongly depends on engineering, which, as the LP reissue on Blues Joint of Two Steps From The Blues demonstrates, was a strong point of Duke Records. Obviously, from a purist’s standpoint, contemporary hi-end production is unable to match the “primitive” way that the killer voices from the 1950/60s at Duke, Chess, King etc. were recorded, ever the resonant and booming centrepieces of the sonic spectrum.
Two Steps From The Blues was Bland’s debut album from 1961, a collection of songs and singles that make abundantly clear that Bland received his sobriquet for good reason. Blues ballads are in the majority and both the title track and I’ve Just Got To Forget You showcase his natural ability for balancing wistfulness with heartbreak in all its splendid glory. It is testament to his greatness that his quintessential ballad – 1969’s eponymous (Ask Me ’Bout) Nothing But The Blues – was yet to come.
Punchy horn arrangements and fills and nifty guitar backing add sophistication to Bland’s lively jukebox entertainment, though it is evident that Bland was still tentatively searching for a personal style in the late 50s. Little Boy Blue and I Pity The Fool remind of, respectively, Fats Domino and Ray Charles. On the contrary, Bland’s gutbucket, anguished 1957 blues hit Farther On Up The Road, included here as a bonus track, was bull’s eye.
Other bonus tracks, hardly essential though worthwhile, are the slow blues songs Your Friends and Stormy Monday Blues. Blues Joint, a company that has reissued dozens of blues icons from Freddie King and Muddy Waters to Lightning Hopkins and Son House, has done a solid job, keeping the original sound and front cover intact and adding a supplement to the original notes as well as complete info on data and line-ups.
Discography
Two Steps From The Blues; Cry Cry Cry; I’m Not Ashamed; Don’t Cry No More; Lead Me On; I Pity The Fool; How Does A Cheatin’ Woman Feel; Farther On Up The Road; Who Will The Next Fool Be; I’ve Just Got To Forget About You; Little Boy Blue; St. James Infirmary; I’ll Take Care Of You; I Don’t Want No Woman; I’ve Been Wrong So Long; Your Friends; Stormy Monday Blues (41.13)
Bland (v) with collective personnel including Joe Scott (t); Bill Harvey (ts); Rayfield Devers (bar); Pluma Davis (tb); Teddy Reynolds (p); Wayne Bennett (g); Hamp Simmons (b); John “Jabo” Starks, Sonny Freeman (d). Chicago and Houston, various dates 1957-62.
Blues Joint 8028
