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AMG: Without a doubt, Two Steps From the Blues
is the definitive Bobby "Blue" Bland album and one of the great records
in electric blues and soul-blues. In fact, it's one of the key albums
in modern blues, marking a turning point when juke joint blues were
seamlessly blended with gospel and Southern soul, creating a distinctly
Southern sound where all of these styles blended so thoroughly it was
impossible to tell where one began and one ended. Given his Memphis
background, Bobby "Blue" Bland was perfectly suited for this kind of
amalgam as envisioned by producer/arranger Joe Scott, who crafted these
wailing horn arrangements that sounded as impassioned as Bland's
full-throated, anguished vocals. It helped, of course, that the songs
were uniformly brilliant. Primarily from the pen of Deadric Malone,
along with Duke head Don Robey and Scott (among others), these are the
tunes that form the core of Bobby "Blue" Bland's legend and the
foundation of soul-blues: "Two Steps From the Blues," "I Don't Want No
Woman," "Cry, Cry, Cry," "I'm Not Ashamed," "Lead Me On," "Little Boy
Blue" -- songs so good they overshadow standards like "St. James
Infirmary." These are songs that blur the division between Ray Charles
soul and Chess blues, opening the doors for numerous soul and blues
sounds, from Muscle Shoals and Stax through the modern-day
soul-bluesman. Since this, like many blues albums from the late
'50s/early '60s, was a collection of singles, it's possible to find the
key tracks, even the entire album, on the numerous Bobby "Blue" Bland
collections released over the years, but this remains an excellent,
essential blues album on its own terms -- one of the greatest ever
released.
Just Plain Fantastic Soul.
