BOBBY BLUE BLAND
''MEMPHIS MONDAY MORNING''
NOVEMBER 10 1998
49:24
1/I'm Bobby "B"
Sam Mosley/3:05
2/I Don't Want No Kickin' in My Stall
James Griffin / George Jackson / Joe Perkins/6:39
3/There's a Rat Loose in My House
Billy Ray Charles/7:00
4/The Truth Will Set You Free
Robert A. Johnson / Sam Mosley/4:55
5/Memphis Monday Morning
George Jackson / Dennis Nelson/9:00
6/I'm Glad
Robert A. Johnson / Sam Mosley/3:55
7/My Baby Is the Only One
Joseph Hardin/4:07
8/I Hate Missin' You
Joseph Hardin/4:18
9/You Left Me With the Blues
Butch Bonner / Clarence Brown/4:02
10/Lookin' for Some Tush
Frank Beard / Billy Gibbons / Dusty Hill/2:23
Thomisene Anderson /Vocals (Background)
Jewel Bass /Vocals (Background)
Bobby "Blue" Bland /Vocals
Butch Bonner /Guitar, Producer
Quanda Brooks /Vocals (Background)
Harrison Calloway /Horn Arrangements
Ray Griffin /Bass
Joseph Hardin /Horn Arrangements, Trumpet
Willie James Hatten /Bass
David Hood /Bass
Jim Horn /Flute, Guest Artist, Sax (Baritone), Sax (Bass)
Clayton Ivey /Keyboards
Bob Johnson /Keyboards
Jimmy Johnson /Guitar
Tom "Bones" Malone /Flute, Guest Artist, Saxophone, Trombone
Will McFarlane /Guitar
Doug Moffet /Flute, Saxophone
Sam Mosley /Guitar
Steve Patrick /Flugelhorn, Trumpet
James Robertson /Drums
Charles Rose /Horn Arrangements, Trombone
Harvey Thompson /Saxophone
Carson Whitsett /Keyboards
Jim Williamson /Flugelhorn, Trumpet
Dino Zimmerman /Guitar
REVIEW
by Andrew Hamilton
Age is no hindrance to Bobby "Blue" Bland doing what he does best -- recording and entertaining. The husky-throated blues singer, who was close to 70 when this CD dropped, still has that growl that makes body hair stand on end, and he forges on stronger than ever without any noticeable quality drops -- not recording-wise, anyway. Still strutting and profiling, Memphis Monday Morning commences with a taste of braggadocio à la "I'm Bobby B"; the warning to all, "I Don't Want Nobody Kicking in My Stall"; and the "I'm letting you know (that I know what you've been doing)" "There's a Rat Loose in My House." It gets even better with chilling performances of "Memphis Monday Morning" and "I Hate Missing You." The titles are interesting in themselves, and when you add Bland's Jim Beam vocals; the best musicians in Mississippi; Quanda Brooks, Thomisene Anderson, and Jewel Bass' backing vocals; and production by Tommy Couch and Wolf Stephens, you have a high-quality, potent blues grenade on your hands.
BIOGRAPHY
by Bill Dahl
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. Collected on the 1961 LP Two Steps from the Blues, they produced one of the classic full-lengths of modern blues.
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.
DoWnLoAd
''MEMPHIS MONDAY MORNING''
NOVEMBER 10 1998
49:24
1/I'm Bobby "B"
Sam Mosley/3:05
2/I Don't Want No Kickin' in My Stall
James Griffin / George Jackson / Joe Perkins/6:39
3/There's a Rat Loose in My House
Billy Ray Charles/7:00
4/The Truth Will Set You Free
Robert A. Johnson / Sam Mosley/4:55
5/Memphis Monday Morning
George Jackson / Dennis Nelson/9:00
6/I'm Glad
Robert A. Johnson / Sam Mosley/3:55
7/My Baby Is the Only One
Joseph Hardin/4:07
8/I Hate Missin' You
Joseph Hardin/4:18
9/You Left Me With the Blues
Butch Bonner / Clarence Brown/4:02
10/Lookin' for Some Tush
Frank Beard / Billy Gibbons / Dusty Hill/2:23
Thomisene Anderson /Vocals (Background)
Jewel Bass /Vocals (Background)
Bobby "Blue" Bland /Vocals
Butch Bonner /Guitar, Producer
Quanda Brooks /Vocals (Background)
Harrison Calloway /Horn Arrangements
Ray Griffin /Bass
Joseph Hardin /Horn Arrangements, Trumpet
Willie James Hatten /Bass
David Hood /Bass
Jim Horn /Flute, Guest Artist, Sax (Baritone), Sax (Bass)
Clayton Ivey /Keyboards
Bob Johnson /Keyboards
Jimmy Johnson /Guitar
Tom "Bones" Malone /Flute, Guest Artist, Saxophone, Trombone
Will McFarlane /Guitar
Doug Moffet /Flute, Saxophone
Sam Mosley /Guitar
Steve Patrick /Flugelhorn, Trumpet
James Robertson /Drums
Charles Rose /Horn Arrangements, Trombone
Harvey Thompson /Saxophone
Carson Whitsett /Keyboards
Jim Williamson /Flugelhorn, Trumpet
Dino Zimmerman /Guitar
REVIEW
by Andrew Hamilton
Age is no hindrance to Bobby "Blue" Bland doing what he does best -- recording and entertaining. The husky-throated blues singer, who was close to 70 when this CD dropped, still has that growl that makes body hair stand on end, and he forges on stronger than ever without any noticeable quality drops -- not recording-wise, anyway. Still strutting and profiling, Memphis Monday Morning commences with a taste of braggadocio à la "I'm Bobby B"; the warning to all, "I Don't Want Nobody Kicking in My Stall"; and the "I'm letting you know (that I know what you've been doing)" "There's a Rat Loose in My House." It gets even better with chilling performances of "Memphis Monday Morning" and "I Hate Missing You." The titles are interesting in themselves, and when you add Bland's Jim Beam vocals; the best musicians in Mississippi; Quanda Brooks, Thomisene Anderson, and Jewel Bass' backing vocals; and production by Tommy Couch and Wolf Stephens, you have a high-quality, potent blues grenade on your hands.
BIOGRAPHY
by Bill Dahl
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. Collected on the 1961 LP Two Steps from the Blues, they produced one of the classic full-lengths of modern blues.
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.
DoWnLoAd
