Wikipedia

Sad Street

Sad Street is an album by the American musician Bobby "Blue" Bland.[2] It was released in 1995.[3]

Sad Street
Studio album by
Bobby "Blue" Bland
Released1995
StudioMuscle Shoals Sound
GenreBlues
LabelMalaco[1]
ProducerWolf Stephenson, Tommy Couch
Bobby "Blue" Bland chronology
Turn on Your Love Light: The Duke Recordings Vol. 2
(1994) 		Sad Street
(1995) 		That Did It!: The Duke Recordings Vol. 3
(1996)

The album was nominated for a Grammy Award for "Best Contemporary Blues Album".[4] It peaked at No. 11 on the Billboard Blues Albums chart.[5]

Production

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Sad Street was produced by Wolf Stephenson and Tommy Couch.[6] It was recorded with the Muscle Shoals house band; string arrangements were done in Miami, Florida.[7][8] The title song was written by George Jackson, with many others provided by the songwriting partnership of Sam Mosley and Robert Johnson.[9]

Critical reception

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Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic     [10]
The Commercial Appeal    [11]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music     [12]
MusicHound R&B: The Essential Album Guide     [6]
(The New) Rolling Stone Album Guide     [13]

The Commercial Appeal opined that "Bland gets deep into the blues," writing that "'Double Trouble' deals with the age-old blues dilemma of dealing with a troublesome wife and girlfriend."[11] The Tampa Tribune thought that the album "perfectly captures his wistful romanticism and raspy-smooth vocals."[14]

Texas Monthly concluded that Malaco's "synthesizer-and-strings approach has kept him contemporary without making him sound foolish."[3] The San Antonio Express-News noted that "Sad Street find Bland still working a smooth, sophisticated, but unmistakably blues-driven, groove."[15]

AllMusic wrote that "Malaco's well-oiled, violin-enriched studio sound fit Bland's laid-back contemporary approach just fine (even if his voice admittedly wasn't what it used to be)."[10] MusicHound R&B: The Essential Album Guide agreed that Bland's voice was "a ravaged hulk by this point."[6] The Sunday Times deemed Sad Street a "gritty" album that proved Bland's "Southern blues credentials."[16]

Track listing

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No.TitleLength
1."Double Trouble" 
2."Sad Street" 
3."God Bless the Child That's Got His Own" 
4."Tonight's the Night (It's Gonna Be Alright)" 
5."My Heart's Been Broken Again" 
6."I've Got a Twenty Room House" 
7."Mind Your Own Business" 
8."I Wanna Tell You About the Blues" 
9."I Had a Dream Last Night" 
10."Let's Have Some Fun" 

References

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  1. ^ "Sounding Off". Ebony. Vol. 51, no. 4. Feb 1996. p. 23.
  2. ^ D'Addono, Beth (May 3, 1996). "Smooth blues from Bobby Bland". News. Delaware County Daily Times.
  3. ^ a b Morthland, John (Aug 1997). "Royal blue". Texas Monthly. Vol. 25, no. 8. p. 58.
  4. ^ "Bobby "Blue" Bland". Grammy Awards. November 19, 2019.
  5. ^ "Bobby "Blue" Bland". Billboard.
  6. ^ a b c MusicHound R&B: The Essential Album Guide. Visible Ink Press. 1998. p. 56.
  7. ^ Farley, Charles (February 7, 2011). Soul of the Man: Bobby "Blue" Bland. Univ. Press of Mississippi.
  8. ^ Reilly, Terry (February 9, 1996). "(Red, Hot & Blue)". The Sunday Age. p. 8.
  9. ^ Kelley, Michael (April 9, 1996). "Long Time Coming, Beale Note to Go to Bland". The Commercial Appeal. p. C1.
  10. ^ a b "Sad Street". AllMusic.
  11. ^ a b Nager, Larry (November 11, 1995). "Recordings". The Commercial Appeal. p. C2.
  12. ^ Larkin, Colin (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Vol. 1. MUZE. p. 666.
  13. ^ (The New) Rolling Stone Album Guide. Simon & Schuster. 2004. p. 82.
  14. ^ Dunn, Michael (January 14, 1996). "From Beale Street to 'Sad Street'". Florida/Metro. The Tampa Tribune. p. 6.
  15. ^ Beal Jr., Jim (January 31, 1997). "Blues we can still use – Bobby Bland shows no signs of slowing down". San Antonio Express-News. p. 12H.
  16. ^ Sexton, Paul (6 Mar 2011). "Squalling the blues". Culture. The Sunday Times. p. 30.
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