Artist: Bland, Bobby
Label: MCA Records
Released: 1974
Bobby Bland is yet another in a long line of legendary blues musicians, but with one important difference. Unlike his “blue” colleagues, he never played guitar or harmonica, relying mostly on his one-of-a-kind voice, which soon made him especially interesting to the female half of the audience. Among other things, Dreamer nicely shows Bland’s influence on later generations, especially the more blues-rock-oriented players.
The album cover alone tells you a lot about the mood in here. In plain language, wrapped in a soft soul-blues backdrop, Bland dreamily sings all the way through about everyday troubles, mostly of the love-life variety, of course. His trademark vocal, at times almost comically raspy, tints the whole thing even bluer.
As far as commercial success goes, the two opening tracks are the ones worth mentioning, and the one that stands out more is Ain’t No Love In The Heart Of The City, a song absolutely drenched in sadness that hits even harder with the orchestral accompaniment. You can really hear here how effective dead-simple lyrics can be, backed by guitar and seasoned with a simple, tender woodwind solo. A song that goes straight for the heart, and in every respect better than the later Whitesnake version. I Wouldn’t Treat A Dog (The Way You Treated Me) is a bit more energetic, a typical “up tempo” soul-blues combo where the guitar and the horn arrangements do the heavy lifting on atmosphere, underpinned by a mysterious but slightly sharp Hammond sound. Bland doesn’t let us out of his embrace of sorrow with the next two either, Lovin’ On Borrowed Time and The End Of The Road, mellow soul numbers, honestly dyed blue as you’d expect.
Ain’t Gonna Be The First To Cry shows that Bland isn’t only about giving up. It’s a track with an appealingly choppy rhythm that’s a bit reminiscent of some of the later Free tunes, which more than obviously owe Bland a lot. A great example of how confident a simple blues rhythm can sound, in the right hands, of course. Dreamer carries us off into deep dreams, where we run into a tender Moog solo. It’s a sexy number, loaded with funk-laced erotic charge, and it quickly becomes clear why the old man was so popular with the ladies, though Yolanda, the devil dressed up as a woman, was probably never one of them. What can you do, women are obviously nothing but trouble. This is where the guitar first shows up in a solo that would suit Mr. Moody down to the ground.
Twenty-Four Hour Blues brings a minor surprise, turning, after a soft soul intro, very resourcefully toward something other than blues. Uncle Bobby clearly just feels most at home there. The story from the start of the album basically repeats here: simple emotional sketches of everyday troubles that grab every listener without hesitation. Piano and Hammond provide the gloomy atmosphere on the very short Cold Day In Hell, which also ends rather awkwardly, and so that the whole thing doesn’t come off too “suicidal,” Who’s Foolin’ Who steps in with a more manly approach, full of much-needed optimism after all that melancholy. It’s an ideal ending to this emotional album, one that lifts the mood completely. Truth be told, apart from the opening tracks, it doesn’t serve up any highlights worth special mention, but it’s still very welcome on those especially “rainy” days.
Lineup
Bobby Bland – vocals
Ben Benay – guitar
Larry Carlton – guitar
Dean Parks – guitar
Michale Omantian – keyboards/clarinet
Ed Greene – drums
Wilton Felder – bass
Production
Steve Barri
Tracklist
1.Ain’t No Love In The Heart Of The City
2.I Wouldn’t Treat A Dog (The Way You Treated Me)
3.Lovin’ On Borrowed Time
4.The End Of The Road
5.I Ain’t Gonna Be The First To Cry
6.Dreamer
7.Yolanda
8.Twenty-Four Hour Blues
9.Cold Day In Hell
10.Who’s Foolin’ Who
