BOBBY BLAND & B. B. KING: TOGETHER FOR THE
FIRST TIME... LIVE (1975)
1) 3 O'Clock Blues; 2) It's My
Own Fault; 3) Driftin' Blues; 4) That's The Way Love Is; 5) I'm Sorry; 6) I'll
Take Care Of You; 7) Don't Cry No More; 8) Don't Answer The Door; 9) Medley;
10) Why I Sing The Blues; 11) Goin' Down Slow; 12) I Like To Live The Love.
Technically, this record should have probably
been filed under «B. B. King»: B. B. is officially given first billing on the
set, and besides, he plays and sings,
whereas Bobby, unfortunately, never took the time to properly master an
instrument — not even a tambourine. But since B. B.'s discography is so much
more vast anyway, we will bring in some balance and give Bobby extra credit. He
sure needs more credit from us than B. B. does, anyway.
This is a beautiful little sprawling double LP,
recorded in one take in some cheap sleazy L. A. bar (correction: actually, at
Western Recorders, Studio 1, but, allegedly, the audience was real, and rowdy
enough to suggest that they did mask the studio as a cheap sleazy bar) — much of
it improvised and almost all of it without any serious pre-planning or
rehearsal. It got panned by Rolling Stone upon release and continues, out of
subconscious respect for tradition, to garner cool reprimands from
mainstream-os: the All-Music Guide review mumbles something about the atmosphere
being «too relaxed» and a lack of flying sparks — as if they were expecting the
Dead Kennedys or something. For Christ's sake, these guys are public entertainers: their job has always been
to entertain, and, having gotten together, this is what they do at twice the
effort and twice the effect. Despite the critics, the album sold real well, and
in this particular case, I am completely on the side of the buying public.
On the technical side, nothing is new. The
setlist is comprised mainly of those songs that were already big hits or
personal favorites of B. B.'s or Bobby's — it is rather symbolic that they open
with ʽ3 O'Clock Bluesʼ, which was the very first commercially successful
recording for King in 1952. The singing and playing are exactly what you would
expect from both gentlemen circa 1975 (you may set your expectations pretty
high, but no particular surprises). And the «novelty» of the «together for the
first time» announcement will, of course, be dampened for everybody who knows
that B. B. and Bobby spent an awful lot of time together in the 1950s as the «Beale
Street Boys» in Memphis. They may be recording
for the first time together, but they gel like old pals — because they are old pals.
And this is, of course, the cornerstone of the
album's charm. Even if it is a commercial project, it has all the trappings of
a loose, free-flowing, informal party — just two guys showing off before each
other and a bunch of friends, cocky but amicable. Almost every track has them
shooting off insider jokes at each other, trading funny (or not so funny)
one-liners and offside remarks, and, overall, having a great time — or at least
simulating a great time so well that I honestly couldn't tell it for the real
thing.
True enough, there is very little «blues» here
if what you want is serious heart tension rather than a friendly party
environment. The atmosphere only gets bleak and smoky maybe just a couple of
times — for instance, when they put a temporary stop to the banter as Bobby
launches into a heartbroken rendition of ʽI'll Take Care Of Youʼ: then, almost
as if they simultaneously realized that things are getting too «heavy», just as
the last note of the song is sprung, they launch into the uptempo, uplifting
ʽDon't Cry No Moreʼ to compensate. The other track where they try to go over
the head of the «party mood» is ʽGoin' Down Slowʼ, with a mighty build-up
towards the end — but the show is still brought to a final stop with ʽI Like To
Live The Loveʼ, a recent hit for B. B. that has nothing for you but one hundred
percent positive vibrations.
And there is nothing wrong with that.
"Some people say that the kind of blues we're getting into now are ʽslick
bluesʼ", B. B. remarks as they wind up ʽI'm Sorryʼ, "and I don't
think so, I think they're just telling it like it is", and there certainly
is a serious slice of truth to that remark. In 1975, both of these guys were
respectable stars (if not superstars), with plenty of reputation, public
acclaim, and money to spare — so would a tense, tragically-flavored
performance, floating in misery and anger, be «telling it like it is»? What
they do here, in addition to being professionally performed and recorded, is all
perfectly natural, a fine document of their time that, even today, will make
for terrific evening party accompaniment. Thumbs up, totally.
Check "Together For The First Time... Live" (MP3) on Amazon
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