BOBBY BLAND: PORTRAIT OF THE
BLUES (1991)
1) Ain't No Love For Sale; 2)
Hurtin' Love; 3) These Are The Things That A Woman Needs; 4) I Can Take You To
Heaven Tonight; 5) The Last One To Know; 6) Just Take My Love; 7) I Just Won't
Be Your Fool Anymore; 8) She's Puttin' Something In My Food; 9) When Hearts
Grow Cold; 10) Let Love Have Its Way.
Just as I was winding myself up into the
brain-wrecking procedure of writing something «original» on Bobby's fifth or
sixth Malaco album, news came in that Bobby passed away on June 23rd, 2013 —
nothing to be particularly sorry
about, since the man seems to have lived a long and generally satisfying,
well-deserved life that most of us could only envy. It would seem natural to
dedicate this review to his memory, but then, like all of his late period
records, this isn't a particularly outstanding album to deserve a «specially dedicated»
review. Rather, let us just hope this entire set of Bobby Bland reviews somehow
helps to keep that memory alive.
Anyway, Portrait
Of The Blues sounds almost completely the same way as Midnight Run. There are two relative highlights, placed at the very
start. ʽAin't No Love For Saleʼ is a moody throwback to the days of ʽAin't No
Love In The Heart Of The Cityʼ (the title of the latter is even chanted in the
background, just in case somebody happened to miss the stylistic link), with a
bit more tension than usual, generated not only by Bobby's vocals, but also by
some pretty exquisite Clapton-esque guitar work (not sure who exactly is
responsible — the liner notes list about four or five different guitarists,
none of whom are all that familiar). Then ʽHurtin' Loveʼ completely switches
the mood from desperate to optimistic, and the lead instrument switches to
organ from guitar — an equally dexterous part. No melodic inventions
whatsoever, just good vibes.
From there on, the album slows down a bit,
loosens up, and becomes the usual always-nice, never-grabby sequence of blues
ballads and lite funk, only shifting gears once on ʽShe's Puttin' Something In
My Foodʼ (slow blues-de-luxe that sounds like every other blues-de-luxe number
ever recorded, but the song title and the misogynist sentiments do look funny
wedged in between all the romantic libations elsewhere).
As usual, most of the titles are «written» by Bobby's
Malaco sidemen (quotation marks indicate that the actual writing has mostly
been confined to the lyrics, and even these mainly consist of rearranging
pre-available sets of blues idioms, in the good old folk tradition), and once
again they decide to cut down on the covers — in every other respect,
arrangements and production do not differ from Midnight Run one iota.
Check "Portrait Of The Blues" (MP3) on Amazon
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